Barcelona vs. Chelsea: Barca's Struggles Will Continue with Defeat to the Blues

Barcelona was demonstrating their mortality even before the pivotal El Clasico clash with Real Madrid on April 21. 

Now Barca has Chelsea to deal with, who held Lionel Messi and company to zero goals on April 18.

What Real realized, and what teams with success against Barca have discovered this season, is that forcing Messi up the pitch has the potential to disrupt Barca's rhythm. It's not so much trying to steal the pass, but rather slowing down Barca's fluid offense.

Before the El Clasico match with Real on Saturday, Barca had seen Los Blancos come from two goals down in their previous match to induce a draw. Barca have not looked as clinical as they should with players like Messi. They missed several chances against Real on Saturday to at least tie that match.

Skip forward to Tuesday's match against Chelsea.

While some believe the Blues got lucky in their previous clash, the fact of the matter is they were more opportunistic than Barca, and sometimes that's all you need. They only had possession for 21 percent of the match, but they stayed back, pressured Messi in the middle of the pitch and then attacked when they had the opportunity.

Chelsea forward Fernando Torres said, via BBC:

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"Many teams who play Barcelona think you have to steal the ball from them, but I don't think that's possible.

"You have to use different weapons against them. If you want to steal the ball, you won't manage it and you'll get tired, and then create more space for your opponent."

"

It really is all about spacing for Barcelona. That's why when you insert three capable midfielders in front of the back four and take away some of that space, Barca is going to predictably have more difficulty scoring.

Chelsea displayed tremendous concentration and teamwork against Barca in the previous matchup. That has not been lost, and Barca have been struggling as of late.

All of that gives Chelsea a great chance to topple Messi and company in the Nou Camp.

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