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Earlier today Twente lost 4-0 to Atletico Madrid. There will be two other 8pm GMT kick-offs this evening which I will try to keep you updated with as OH Leuven take on Roma and PSG play Bayern Munich.
Here’s an interview with the Chelsea captain Millie Bright, who starts from the bench this evening:
Barcelona and Chelsea are the two teams with the joint-best defensive record in the Women’s Champions League this season as they have each only conceded once.
Barcelona manager Pere Romeu said on the Blues: “Beating Chelsea is difficult, but doing it again is even harder. The last times, we achieved it thanks to our style of play, and if we have a complete performance tomorrow, we’ll be closer to winning again.”
Chelsea boss Sonia Bompastor said about Barcelona: “Every game against Barcelona is a big challenge, I don’t feel any different this season compared to previous seasons.”
“They are a really good team, but I also trust the quality we have in our squad. We are expecting the game to be a top game, but we are ready for the challenge and we’ll focus also on ourselves.”
The team news is in. Sam Kerr is out and Lauren James features from the bench for the hosts with the goalkeeper Livia Peng as Hannah Hampton is still injured.
Chelsea: Peng, Bronze, Bjorn, Girma, Baltimore, Carpenter, Kaptein, Walsh, Cuthbert, Thompson, Beever-Jones.
Bench: Spencer, Bright, Buurman, Nusken, Macario, James, Rytting Kaneryd, Charles, Jean-Francois, Hamano, Potter.
For Barcelona, the two players who have played a part in every game against Chelsea feature in Caroline Graham Hansen and Aitana Bonmati.
Barca: Coll, Paredes, Leon, Aleixandri, Pina, Graham Hansen, Putellas, Bonmati, Pajor, Batlle, Brugts.
Bench: Gemma, Sydney, Serrajordi, Kika, Vicky, Aicha, Cano, Fenger, Txell Font, Carla Julia.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to the Women’s Champions League match between Chelsea and Barcelona. A win for either side this evening could see them jump to the top of the table which would supplant Lyon, who are currently top with 10 points.
Barcelona will be the heavy favourites despite Chelsea being at home. Last season the two teams played one another in the Champions League semi-finals, in home and away legs, with Chelsea losing 8-1 on aggregate.
But the Blues do have home advantage and they have not lost a game since the last time the two teams played each other at Stamford Bridge in April.
There will be team news to bring you shortly but what we know so far is that Lauren James could be involved for Chelsea, while Sam Kerr has been ruled out of the fixture. Stay tuned for more updates before kick-off at 8pm GMT.
