This week, European football produced two unforgettable matches. First, Tottenham Hotspur got an excellent result at Juventus whilst Real Madrid showed character, leadership, and quality to defeat PSG for 3-1.
Although the other two matches involving English sides were clearly less exciting, it was another opportunity to show the Premier League's strength in Europe. Liverpool and Manchester City destroyed their opponents with exciting, dynamic play, and players such as Aguero, Mané, Bernardo Silva, Salah, Gundogan and Firmino performed brilliantly during the match.
Now, next week will be the time for other English teams to follow suit. While Manchester United seem the clear favorites to beat Sevilla, despite the fact that the Spaniards have been improving in their last few games and have even reached the final of the Copa Del Rey. Chelsea, however, must play the game of their lives to have any real chance against Barcelona.
Messi to be a menace at Stamford Bridge
After a terrible start to the season, when Barcelona were beat by Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup, Valverde's team have been improving considerably. In fact, they lead La Liga, though Atletico Madrid are now seven points behind them, and they have reached the final of the Copa del Rey.
In addition, they finished first in their Champions League group and in doing so, they got their revenge against Juventus, the team that smashed them in the quarter-finals in 2017.
Though this Barcelona side shows less dynamism in its game than the one once managed by Guardiola, Valverde has nevertheless built a solid team that has conceded just one goal in the Champions League. Furthermore, they still have Messi, who is having yet another fantastic season and will surely be ready to end his drought against Chelsea.
Probably the best player in footballing history, the Argentinian has played eight times against the Londoners but has never scored against them. In spite of this, he did assist Andres Iniesta when the Spanish side ended Chelsea's Champions League hopes in 2009.
Hazard faces his personal challenge
If Chelsea are going to eliminate Barcelona, Eden Hazard must play to the best of his ability, as he has been doing for much of the Premier League season so far.
Though Hazard is considered as one of the best players in the Premier League, he still must show his greatness in the Champions League.
Since he arrived at Chelsea in 2012, he has never stamped his authority on the competition, despite a victory in the Europa League. Certainly, Chelsea supporters still remember the period between 2005 and 2009, when the team reached a final and three semifinals in just five years and hope that Hazard such a similar feat in the near future.
Obviously, the Blues were unlucky with the draw and facing Luis Suárez and Messi is indeed a huge challenge for the English side. Nonetheless, if they want to recover the prestige that once they had in Europe, they must be, once again, Barcelona's nightmare.
