Chelsea 1-1 Barcelona: Champions League highlights and recap

Chelsea and Barcelona drew 1-1 at Stamford Bridge in the first leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie. Here are all the highlights from the match.

Barcelona came from behind to secure an away draw at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday, Lionel Messi’s strike — his first ever against Chelsea — canceling out Willian’s earlier finish in a cagey match between two sides who clearly aware of the damage their opponents were capable of when afforded the necessary space.

Chelsea’s approach was clear immediately, as they put 11 men behind the ball and allowed Barca to dominate possession, looking to play on the counter-attack through Eden Hazard, Willian and Pedro. The tactic proved effective, as the Blues generated twice as many shots in the first half despite keeping only 29 percent of the ball.

The best of these fell to Willian, who hit the post twice, first in the 33rd minute, curling the ball from 20 yards to Marc-Andre Ter Stegen’s left, then again in the 41st, when he drilled one from a similar distance onto the opposite post. Chelsea hadn’t exactly carved Barca open, but it was a sign of their danger on the break.

As for the visitors, their attack lacked bite. Messi had some nice touches, but Chelsea did a good job limiting his space in the final third. Still, he created Barca’s best chance in the first half, beating a man and playing a cross to Paulinho just outside the six-yard box. The Brazilian headed well wide from a decent position.

Outside of Messi, however, no Barca player showed any sign of punishing the Blues. Victor Moses defended diligently (and deep) to deny Jordi Alba the space with which he usually punishes team, while Luis Suarez was isolated against Chelsea’s back three and Paulinho lacked quality when he got the ball in good positions.

The second half followed an almost identical pattern to the first, except this time, in the 62nd minute, Willian took his chance, curling an exquisite finish, from outside the width of the post to in, past ter Stegen. There was nothing particularly inspired about the approach play, but a reminder why Antonio Conte favored the Brazilian over Alvaro Morata in the starting XI.

With a lead to defend, however, Chelsea began to sit deeper, and Barca’s territorial dominance proved decisive in the 75th minute, Andreas Christensen mis-playing a pass across his own box that Andres Iniesta picked off and rolled back to Messi for an easy finish. It was an awful giveaway by the Dane, but probably a deserved equalizer on the balance of play.

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Highlights

The second leg will take place at the Camp Nou on Wednesday, March 14.