Chelsea fans watching Barcelona getting handed a beating in the Champions League last night had more at stake than just a bit of midweek entertainment.
In fact technically the Blues had a player on the pitch: although not for long. Juan Cuadrado’s loan to Juventus has a compulsory purchase clause that means the Italian side will have to buy him at the end of this season for £10m if they win the league, on top of several other bonuses, as outlined by Goal here.
One of those clauses is an “extra £3.5m that can be earned by Chelsea from Juventus performing well in Europe and their domestic competitions”.
While the details are not explicit, it seems likely that making it to the semi finals of the Champions league would count as “performing well”.
If that is indeed the case, then the 3-0 win that the Bianconeri achieved last night might mean more to Chelsea fans than a cheap laugh at Barcelona’s expense.