Eden Hazard took on four Barca defenders showing why he’s forced himself into the elite level and toe poked the ball neatly past Marc Andre ter Stegen for Chelsea’s opener. Diego Costa should have gotten the Blues a second after being put through by Fabregas but with just ter Stegen to beat, his shot rolled just wide. Barca’s back line looked ragged in the first half.
At the other end Thibaut Courtois kept Luis Suarez out with a couple of fine saves. Chelsea ended the first half a goal up.
The second half saw Barca turn on the screws and off a corner, a madcap goalmouth scramble ensued. Cesar Azpilicueta failed to clear Jeremy Mathieu’s service properly and the ball fell to Suarez’s feet who sized up Courtois’ height and scooped it over the Chelsea goalie. Kurt Zouma got to the ball just as it crossed the line. With the equalizer scored, there were wholesale changes in both sides. Barca went ahead through Sandro’s perfectly curled strike beating Courtois far post. Just when it looked like Barca would pull through, a Chelsea free kick was booted up by the defense and as the ball ballooned into the air, Joel Masip in for ter Stegen was slower getting to it than Gary Cahill, who rose higher than the Barca goalie to get his header into goal but in the process got his nose bloodied by a hefty swipe.
Chelsea easily won on penalties as all their players were on target with Loic Remy scoring the winner. On his part Masip dove the wrong way on all four spot kicks. For Barca, only Andres Iniesta was able to convert.
Impressions. Chelsea’s danger men looked dangerous. Cesc Fabregas was clinical in his distribution, Eden Hazard dipping his shoulder down like a running back was a beast and hard to stop, Diego Costa was a thorn making some stellar runs although his finishing let him down, Nemanja Matic was spot on with his enforcement, and Courtois forced Barca to come up with something special to beat him.