Chelsea have routed 10-man Barcelona 3-0 at Stamford Bridge in the Champions League.
The hosts broke through in the 27th minute with a Jules Kounde own goal from a Pedro Neto shot. Things went from bad to worse for the visitors when Ronald Araujo was sent off for a second booking right before half-time.
Chelsea continued to pile on the pressure and were rewarded 10 minutes after the break when Estevao scored a magnificent goal from a very tight angle. Liam Delap then made it 3-0 with a free shot after beating Barcelona’s offside trap.
The result gives Chelsea 10 points through five matchdays and moves them into fifth place in the league phase, albeit with more games to be played tomorrow. Barcelona remain on seven points and are in danger of missing out on automatic qualification to the knockout phase.
Chelsea will hope to ride on the momentum into Sunday when they face a massive London derby against Premier League leaders Arsenal at Stamford Bridge — we’ll be covering that here on The Athletic.
Luckily for Barcelona, they face an easier test this weekend; hosting Deportivo Alaves at Camp Nou on Saturday afternoon.
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