Chelsea v Barcelona: Champions League – live

8.59pm GMT Half-time postbag. “This century, European football was a simple game. Dozens of teams vied for continental trophies, and at the end, a Spanish club won. But this season, neither Barcelona nor Real Madrid feel like champions in waiting, and none of the other La Liga sides in Europe seem especially strong. History tells us they’ll sort themselves out, but it feels different this year. Maybe the dominance of Spanish clubs is over” – Kári Tulinius “With apologies to Cole Palmer, it’s great to see these heavyweight clubs go toe to toe” – Peter Oh 8.51pm GMT HALF-TIME AD BREAK. The Guardian has kicked off a new chapter in puzzles with the launch of its first daily football game, On the ball. It is now live in the app for both iOS and Android … so what are you waiting for? 8.49pm GMT HALF TIME: Chelsea 1-0 Barcelona Chelsea go into the break one goal and one man up. They’ve been as good as Barcelona have been ragged. The scoreline flatters Barca. 8.48pm GMT 45 min +1: Chelsea waste the free kick for the Araujo challenge on Cucurella by overplaying. Barcelona will be relieved. 8.47pm GMT 45 min: There will be two additional minutes. 8.46pm GMT RED CARD: Araujo (Barcelona) 44 min: Araujo comes sliding into Cucurella, who was preparing to advance down the left. He mistimes the challenge terribly, scything through his man. That’s an obvious second yellow, and the Barca captain doesn’t bother complaining. He walks without fuss. Updated at 8.48pm GMT 8.44pm GMT 42 min: Barca slow things down with some patient passing around the back. Then Cubarsi suddenly looks long for Torres … but too long. The big Torres chance apart, the Catalans have done very little in attack. 8.42pm GMT 40 min: Gusto takes a huge handful of Balde’s shirt and goes into the book. Balde would have been away down the left otherwise. 8.41pm GMT 39 min: Neto considers shooting from the edge of the D. The crowd encourage him. He declines the offer. He may as well have taken a pop, because seconds later Fernandez is flagged offside down the left. 8.39pm GMT 37 min: Yamal drops deep and tries to ping Torres clear, but there’s no room between the two Chelsea centre-backs. The door slams shut. Chelsea on top at both ends of the park. 8.37pm GMT 35 min: Yamal drives hard down the right and looks to have got the better of Cucurella … but the defender doesn’t give up, and fights his way back, forcing Yamal to run the ball out for a goal kick. Yamal, who wants a corner but isn’t getting one, reacts in the frustrated style. 8.35pm GMT 33 min: Balde strides down the left and lays off for Torres, who crosses low. From the edge of the box, Yamal tries to flip a first-time shot across Sanchez and into the bottom right. But there’s no pace on the shot and it’s easy for Sanchez. 8.34pm GMT 32 min: Araújo is booked for having his say on the matter. 8.33pm GMT 31 min: The best form of defence for Barcelona is almost certainly attack. Yamal drives down the right and goes over Cucurella’s leg, but he’s not able to buy a free kick. 8.31pm GMT 30 min: James lashes over the bar from 25 yards. Barcelona are all over the shop! 8.31pm GMT 29 min: There’s a brief check for offside – did Cucurella go too early? But no, no he didn’t, and it’s third-time lucky for Chelsea! 8.30pm GMT GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 Barcelona (Kounde 27 og) A short corner routine releases Cucurella down the inside-right channel. He crosses low into the mixer. Neto backflicks in a crowded six-yard box. Torres hacks off the line but the ball pinballs off Kounde and rebounds into the net, dribbling over the line apologetically. It had been coming. Updated at 8.38pm GMT 8.29pm GMT 27 min: Garnacho dances down the left and cuts back for Fernandez, who attempts to flick into the bottom right from ten yards. Garcia sticks out a leg to deflect over the bar for a corner, from which … 8.28pm GMT 26 min: Fernandez, who already has had two goals disallowed, is not disheartened. He has another go for goal, this time from the edge of the D. Blocked. It’s all Chelsea at the moment. 8.27pm GMT 24 min: Chelsea come again, and Neto drives into acres down the right before ballooning a shot high and wide. He only had Garcia to beat. Barcelona look very fragile at the back. 8.26pm GMT 23 min: The goal would have stood had Chalobah, in an offside position, not feather-flicked the ball towards Fernandez at the far stick. He didn’t need to flick on. 8.25pm GMT 22 min: James dummies, then Estêvão swings the free kick into the box instead. The ball bounces all the way through to Fernandez, who heads home from a couple of yards at the far post. But the flag immediately goes up for offside. Fernandez denied again! 8.23pm GMT 21 min: Garnacho is clipped by Kounde out on the Chelsea left. A clumsy challenge and a free kick in a dangerous position. Everyone lines up just inside the box, waiting for James to deliver. 8.22pm GMT 20 min: The game’s settled down a little bit after that wild and wonderful start. 8.21pm GMT 19 min: Neto, dropping deep, tries to release Gusto down the middle. Now it’s Garcia’s turn to race out of his area and blooter clear. No contact with his opponent, nothing to see here. 8.19pm GMT 17 min: Thankfully Lopez is absolutely fine. There was no sinister intent from Sanchez, and luckily the blow was more glancing than anything else. All good. 8.18pm GMT 16 min: Lewandowski looks long for Lopez down the middle. Sanchez races out of the box and high-kicks clear. He accidentally catches Lopez’s head on the follow-through. It’s not quite Toni Schumacher on Patrick Battiston, but Lopez will have felt that. On comes the trainer. Updated at 8.19pm GMT 8.17pm GMT 14 min: Yamal wanders past a couple of blue shirts with absurd insouciance, but then, having worked himself a pocket of space 25 yards out, shovels a pass forward to the invisible team-mate. Sanchez claims. Barcelona’s young superstar looks in the mood, though. So many silky touches already. 8.15pm GMT 13 min: Yamal probes down the right. He sends an inswinger towards Lopez, who tries to sweep home from six yards. But he swishes and misses, then goes over under pressure from behind from Chalobah. Barcelona claim a penalty but they’re never getting one. 8.13pm GMT 11 min: Yamal dribbles in from the right at speed. He can’t quite one-two his way into a shooting position, and the ball breaks to Lewandowski, who can’t get it out from under his feet. Chalobah blocks the eventual snapshot and Chelsea clear their lines. No way is this ending goalless. Updated at 8.18pm GMT 8.11pm GMT 9 min: James has a whack from distance. Easy for Garcia in the Barca goal. This is breathless. These two clubs rarely disappoint when they meet, one way or another, and the early signs tonight are good. 8.10pm GMT 8 min: Cucurella strides down the left and looks for Neto in the middle with a low cross. Araujo hooks clear. This is a high-octane start from both teams. “Apparently Barça’s kit is ‘Team Gold colour with touches of Persian violet and black, inspired by the classic colours of the teams in which Kobe [Bryant] played’,” reports marketing-blurb enthusiast Charles Antaki. “So maybe vibes of Harlem Globetrotters-type basketball, or perhaps classic Wolverhampton Wanderers. Though for their sake, not the current lot.” 8.08pm GMT 6 min: Barcelona should be leading. James plays a sloppy pass out from the back. Yamal intercepts and feeds Torres. He’s clear on the penalty spot! He opens his body and sidefoots towards the bottom-right corner … but wide! What a miss! Somewhere in the multiverse, it’s already 1-1. What. A. Start. 8.07pm GMT 4 min: … there’s a scramble in the Chelsea box. Fofana chests down on the right-hand edge of the six-yard box and cuts back for Fernandez, who slams home from close range. But the flag immediately pops up for handball. Chest then ball. There’s not much in it, but the on-field decision stands. Barcelona couldn’t have complained too much had that stood. Updated at 8.09pm GMT 8.05pm GMT 3 min: It’s loud in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham tonight. Louder still when Estêvão wins the first corner of the evening down the right. From which … 8.04pm GMT 2 min: A scrappy start. Chalobah rather needlessly stands on Lewandowski’s ankle. The striker goes over theatrically, some nonsense which may have saved the Chelsea defender a booking. Chalobah couldn’t have complained had the referee flashed yellow, but it’s early too, so either way, he gets away with one. 8.01pm GMT The coaches Enzo Maresca and Hansi Flick embrace … then the whistle goes and Chelsea kick off. Barcelona are kicking towards the Shed in this first half. 7.58pm GMT The teams are out! Chelsea wear their royal blue, while Barcelona sport a biscuity number with a dark-blue-and-black collar that gives off strong Internazionale vibes. You’d think they’d not want reminding about the Nerazzurri, given what happened earlier this year, but people deal with heartbreak in different ways. Anyway, a rip-roaring atmosphere at the Bridge, befitting a clash of two genuine European heavyweights, and we’ll be off in a couple of minutes. Related: Inter 4-3 Barcelona (aet, 7-6 on agg): Champions League semi-final – as it happened 7.42pm GMT Here are the Champions League standings going into tonight’s match. The table is hot off the press, taking into account the results of both early kick-offs, which are just in and saw Benfica win the battle of the fallen giants 2-0 at Ajax, while Union Saint-Gilloise went to Galatasaray and emerged 1-0 winners. Ajax are now the only team in the competition without a single point, while Galatasaray miss out on the chance to join Bayern Munich, Arsenal and Internazionale at the top. Chelsea and Barcelona are both just outside the promised land of the top eight, so tonight’s game at Stamford Bridge isn’t completely without jeopardy. Neither side will want to lose any more ground in the race to automatically qualify for the last 16 and bodyswerve the play-off round. Pos Team P GD Pts 1 Bayern Munich 4 11 12 2 Arsenal 4 11 12 3 Inter Milan 4 10 12 4 Man City 4 7 10 5 PSG 4 9 9 6 Newcastle 4 8 9 7 Real Madrid 4 6 9 8 Liverpool 4 5 9 9 Galatasaray 5 1 9 10 Tottenham Hotspur 4 5 8 11 Barcelona 4 5 7 12 Chelsea 4 3 7 13 Sporting 4 3 7 14 Borussia Dortmund 4 2 7 15 Qarabag FK 4 1 7 16 Atalanta 4 -2 7 17 Atletico Madrid 4 1 6 18 Union Saint Gilloise 5 -7 6 19 PSV 4 2 5 20 Monaco 4 -2 5 21 AE Pafos 4 -3 5 22 Bayer Leverkusen 4 -4 5 23 Club Brugge 4 -2 4 24 Eintracht Frankfurt 4 -4 4 25 Napoli 4 -5 4 26 Marseille 4 1 3 27 Juventus 4 -1 3 28 Benfica 5 -4 3 29 Athletic Bilbao 4 -5 3 30 Bodo/Glimt 4 -3 2 31 Slavia Prague 4 -6 2 32 Olympiacos 4 -7 2 33 Villarreal 4 -4 1 34 Copenhagen 4 -8 1 35 FC Kairat 4 -9 1 36 Ajax 5 -15 0 7.10pm GMT Enzo Maresca speaks to Amazon Prime. “[Estêvão] is doing well since he joined us … he is ready for tonight … we try to use different players … everything starts with the gameplan … they are all good players … we expect to have some space in behind … [Barcelona] are a fantastic team … quality players … all over … they work all together … they defend well … always create chances … we go game by game … after tonight we start to think about Arsenal [in the Premier League this weekend].” 6.51pm GMT Chelsea make five changes to their starting XI after the 2-0 win at Burnley on Saturday. Moisés Caicedo, Estêvão, Alejandro Garnacho, Wesley Fofana and Malo Gusto come in for João Pedro, Andrey Santos, Liam Delap, Jamie Gittens and Tosin Adarabioyo, all of whom drop to the bench. Barcelona have plenty of goals in their starting XI. Ferran Torres leads the way with nine so far this season, while Robert Lewandowski has eight, Fermín López seven, and Lamine Yamal six. Marcus Rashford (six) and Raphinha (three) must make do with the bench. Updated at 6.59pm GMT 6.46pm GMT The teams Chelsea: Sanchez, Gusto, Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella, James, Caicedo, Estevao, Fernandez, Garnacho, Pedro Neto.Subs: Jorgensen, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Joao Pedro, Hato, George, Acheampong, Guiu, Buonanotte. Barcelona: Joan Garcia, Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde, Eric Garcia, de Jong, Yamal, Lopez, Torres, Lewandowski.Subs: Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Bernal, Dro Fernandez, Bardghji. Referee: Slavko Vincic (Slovenia). Updated at 6.52pm GMT 6.45pm GMT Preamble For some, the modern rivalry between Chelsea and Barcelona will forever be defined by this ... … and for others by this … … but whichever way you prefer it, more often than not it delivers. Goals! Memories! Drama! Throw in Chelsea’s record of scoring in each of their last 19 European games, Barcelona finding the net in their last 24 Champions League fixtures, the fact that none of Chelsea’s last 52 European fixtures have finished 0-0, and the stat of Barca’s last 20 Champions League games producing an average of 4.8 goals per 90 minutes, and this promises to be a doozy. Kick-off is at 8pm GMT, and if by pointing out all of this, we’ve tempted the Football Gods into serving up a rare stinker, then we’ll make our apologies after the game. It’s on!