Key events
FULL TIME: Chelsea 3-0 Barcelona
Chelsea were excellent to a man. Estêvão in particular.
90 min +2: Chelsea pass it around, and their fans enjoy them doing it. You know the drill.
90 min +1: Christensen tries to mark his return to the Bridge with a goal … but only manages to send his long-range effort miles wide right. Sanchez shepherds it out of play.
90 min: There will be three additional minutes.
88 min: If the scoreline stays the same, this will be Chelsea’s biggest-ever victory over Barcelona, surpassing this one from March 2005.
86 min: Cucurella and Fernandez play a little keep-ball near the Barcelona corner flag. Raphinha considers throwing a tanty, but his heart isn’t really in it, and he stops waving his arms around fairly quickly.
84 min: This match is petering out now. Chelsea’s work long done. Barcelona have nothing. “Chelsea’s XDG (expected disallowed goal) metric has been excellent tonight,” writes Justin Kavanagh. Ssh, for goodness sake, you’ll be giving people ideas. “But that last one confused me. Does it go down as an XUDG because it was undisallowed? Football used to be much simpler. And Barcelona used to be so much better at doing goals and defending and stuff.”
82 min: Chelsea respond with a double change of their own. George and Acheampong replace James and Estêvão, the latter departing to the sort of ear-splitting ovation his performance – and that goal – deserves.
80 min: Yamal and Balde are replaced by Olmo and Martin. Estêvão has certainly won the battle of the teenage geniuses this evening.
78 min: Delap crosses from the left. Estêvão, coming in from the right, traps but allows the ball to get stuck under his foot. He lays off to Fernandez, who aims a low drive towards the bottom left. Garcia claims. Chelsea clearly want more.
76 min: That’s Neto’s last contribution to this rout. He’s replaced by Gittens. Chelsea have been magnificent, though Barcelona’s defence has been a shambles from the get-go.
74 min: … but then the flag goes up for offside. Is this a fourth disallowed goal?! For a moment, it would seem so … until VAR gets out the rulers to confirm that the goal stands! Bedlam!
GOAL! Chelsea 3-0 Barcelona (Delap 73)
Neto dribbles down the middle, then slips Fernandez clear down the inside-left channel. Fernandez unselfishly rolls across to Delap, who whips a sidefoot into the bottom right. So, so easy.
71 min: Estêvão is found in more space down the right; he enters the box and cuts back for Fernandez, when he’d have been better taking a shot himself. The move breaks down, but Barcelona are being opened up repeatedly, with almost contemptuous ease.
70 min: Sanchez bowls out to Neto, who embarks on a high-speed romp down the inside-left channel. He knocks the ball past Cubarsi and backs himself in a footrace … which he wins easily. He enters the box and aims for the bottom left. Garcia spreads himself well to block at the near post, and nothing comes from the resulting corner.
68 min: A pause in play so Estêvão can retie his boots. His magic boots. The shot for his goal has been recorded by Amazon Prime at 64 miles per hour.
66 min: A loose ball is deflected down the inside-left channel. Had Delap been on his toes, he could have raced clear on goal with it, but he doesn’t react, and it dribbles through to Garcia.
64 min: Barcelona can’t get hold of the ball. Chelsea in total control. “Magic to see Steve score that blinder,” writes Matt Leonard. “Was starting to worry about the amount of disallowed goals. It was like the spirit of Tom Henning Ovrebo was haunting the Bridge.”
62 min: Barcelona need something to happen, so send on Raphinha for the uncharacteristically quiet Lewandowski. Meanwhile Fermín López makes way for the erstwhile Chelsea defender Christensen.
60 min: James hoicks the free kick over everyone in the box. Garcia flaps worryingly underneath it. The keeper has been all over the shop since the restart … though you can’t blame him for being beaten at his near post by that Estêvão shot, such was its quality.
59 min: Estêvão is far from done. He sashays down the right touchline and confuses Balde into a foul. A free kick from a dangerous position coming up. Before it can be taken, Delap comes on for Garnacho.
57 min: That was one heck of a dribble and finish. A high-speed slalom that twisted Cubarsi’s blood. The shot roofed! Stamford Bridge en fête.
GOAL! Chelsea 2-0 Barcelona (Estêvão 55)
… and here it is! Estêvão dribbles down the inside-right channel. Hard. Fast. Elegant. Cubarsi twisted inside and out. Balde unable to knock him off balance. A rising shot into the top-right corner from a tight angle. Garcia no chance with an unstoppable effort! What a goal! Estêvão winning the battle of the prodigies tonight!
54 min: Garnacho advances down the left again. Onside this time. He wins a corner. James sends it to the near post, where Cubarsi heads clear. A Chelsea second looks much more likely than a Barca equaliser.
52 min: Enzo Maresca is booked for arguing the toss over a garden-variety trip by Cucurella on Yamal. All a bit disproportionate.
51 min: Fernandes slips a cute pass down the inside-left channel for Garnacho, who reaches the byline, swivels, and sits Kounde down. He cuts back for Santos, who aims a first-time flick into the bottom left, through the weak hands of Garcia. But there’s no goal, because Garnacho had gone too early. That’s three disallowed Chelsea goals now!
49 min: Chelsea, who are now kicking towards the Shed End, stroke it around patiently. They’re in charge, and in no rush.
47 min: A measure of how miserable that first half was for Barcelona: they’re the first team in 14 years of Champions League football to score an own goal and have a man sent off. Milan against Barcelona in 2011, seeing you ask. What goes round comes round.
Barcelona get the second half started. They’ve made one change, replacing the ineffectual Ferran Torres with Marcus Rashford. Meanwhile Chelsea send on Andrey Santos for Malo Gusto.
Half-time postbag. “This century, European football was a simple game. Dozens of teams vied for continental trophies, and at the end, a Spanish club won. But this season, neither Barcelona nor Real Madrid feel like champions in waiting, and none of the other La Liga sides in Europe seem especially strong. History tells us they’ll sort themselves out, but it feels different this year. Maybe the dominance of Spanish clubs is over” – Kári Tulinius
“With apologies to Cole Palmer, it’s great to see these heavyweight clubs go toe to toe” – Peter Oh
HALF-TIME AD BREAK. The Guardian has kicked off a new chapter in puzzles with the launch of its first daily football game, On the ball. It is now live in the app for both iOS and Android … so what are you waiting for?
HALF TIME: Chelsea 1-0 Barcelona
Chelsea go into the break one goal and one man up. They’ve been as good as Barcelona have been ragged. The scoreline flatters Barca.
45 min +1: Chelsea waste the free kick for the Araujo challenge on Cucurella by overplaying. Barcelona will be relieved.
45 min: There will be two additional minutes.
RED CARD: Araujo (Barcelona)
44 min: Araujo comes sliding into Cucurella, who was preparing to advance down the left. He mistimes the challenge terribly, scything through his man. That’s an obvious second yellow, and the Barca captain doesn’t bother complaining. He walks without fuss.
42 min: Barca slow things down with some patient passing around the back. Then Cubarsi suddenly looks long for Torres … but too long. The big Torres chance apart, the Catalans have done very little in attack.
40 min: Gusto takes a huge handful of Balde’s shirt and goes into the book. Balde would have been away down the left otherwise.
39 min: Neto considers shooting from the edge of the D. The crowd encourage him. He declines the offer. He may as well have taken a pop, because seconds later Fernandez is flagged offside down the left.
37 min: Yamal drops deep and tries to ping Torres clear, but there’s no room between the two Chelsea centre-backs. The door slams shut. Chelsea on top at both ends of the park.
35 min: Yamal drives hard down the right and looks to have got the better of Cucurella … but the defender doesn’t give up, and fights his way back, forcing Yamal to run the ball out for a goal kick. Yamal, who wants a corner but isn’t getting one, reacts in the frustrated style.
33 min: Balde strides down the left and lays off for Torres, who crosses low. From the edge of the box, Yamal tries to flip a first-time shot across Sanchez and into the bottom right. But there’s no pace on the shot and it’s easy for Sanchez.
32 min: Araújo is booked for having his say on the matter.
