Chelsea will finalize their preparations in the USA as they come up against Barcelona in their third International Champions  Cup game. The game will be played at FedExField, home of the National Football League’s Washington Redskins. An expected packed venue that holds a capacity of 74,000 seats in Landover, Prince George’s County, Maryland.
Barcelona head into the match after their recent 3-1 defeat against Manchester United. Whereas Chelsea head into the match off the back of a victory over PSG. The match finished level at 1-1 so that meant it went straight to penalties. Thibaut Courtois was the hero as he saved 2 penalties and then scored the winning penalty hitting a thunder bolt past Salvatore Sirigu.
Chelsea and Barcelona are familiar foes in Europe as the pair have met in a series of crunch Champions League encounters since the turn of the century and has made this match-up one of Europe’s biggest cross-border rivalries. 4 of the last 5 games between the two sides have ended in a draw. In the year 2000, Barça won a memorable knockout match 6-4 on aggregate, but five years later we went through, 5-4.
Barça got their revenge the following season, qualifying by virtue of the away goals rule, and the same thing happened in the 2009 semi-final, when Andrés Iniesta scored that unforgettable goal with the final kick of the game at Stamford Bridge.
We met the Catalunya again in the 2012 semis, Chelsea winning 3-2 on aggregate and going on to beat Bayern Munich in the final to collect their first continental crown.
However Jose Mourinho seems to have a different approach to this year’s pre-season games claiming he is not worried about the results. “The game against Paris was a very good one; against Barcelona it can be an even better one,†he said from the team’s base in Montreal, Canada.
I’m not worried about tactical aspects, and I’m not worried about the result. I’m just worried about the possibility to play at a higher intensity and prepare ourselves for the Premier League. Obviously nobody likes to lose even in training but if we wanted to win we would choose opponents where we could win easily.
Barcelona head coach Luiz Enrique was undaunted by the 3-1 defeat to Manchester United and agrees with the Portuguese tactician. “These games serve to complete our preparations and get ready for the start of the official season.â€
The game will prove to be a tough one for the “special one” as his side began their trip with a 4-2 defeat to New York Red Bulls and a penalty win against Paris Saint German. Barcelona on the other hand got off to a flying start as they beat Los Angeles Galaxy 2-1 and subsequently lost to Man United 3-1.
Chelsea’s starting 11 is expected to be strong like the side which was led out by John Terry against PSG a few days ago. Our Copa America stars, Radamel Falcao, Willian and Juan Cuadrado are all expected to be given around 45 minutes after playing just 20 minutes in their first game back after the Copa America.
Youngsters, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Dominic Solanke, Ola Aina, Jamak Blackman, Jake Clarke-Salter and Nathaniel Chalobah will all hope to be given some minutes due to them featuring very little in our matches so far, the latter three not featuring what so ever.
For Barcelona we know both Lionel Messi and Neymar will not feature. Luis Suarez is expected to lead the line. Pedro is also expected to feature despite recent reports linking him with a move to the Premier League champions. Youngsters Munir and Ramirez will also both be pushing for a starting spot.
