Barça’s amazing 53-game run ended by Chelsea

Chelsea’s 3-0 Tuesday Champions League thrashing of Barcelona at Stamford Bridge saw Barcelona’s 53-match scoring streak come to an end.

Hansi Flick’s side had scored in every game since their 1-0 defeat to Leganes on Dec. 15, 2024.

Over the past year, Barcelona had often been blisteringly brilliant upfront while leaky defensively. This was most evident in last season’s 7-6 aggregate Champions League semifinal loss to Inter.

Against Chelsea on Tuesday, Barça were carved apart defensively on several occasions – relying on an offside trap which worked at times, but was insufficient in dealing with wave after wave of pressure from Enzo Maresca’s side.

Ferran Torres had a golden opportunity to score early on – which he squandered by firing wide one-on-one with Robert Sánchez – but Chelsea were generally on top from the start. Ronald Araújo was sent off shortly before half-time with Chelsea already 1-0 up via a Joules Koundé own goal. Further goals followed in the second half from Estêvão and Liam Delap.

The Blues had three goals disallowed throughout the night – one for a Wesley Fofana handball and two for offside.

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Barcelona had five shots all game – only two of which were on target. Given that they are LaLiga’s top scorers with 36 goals in 13 games and have already netted 12 times in the Champions League this season, their toothless display against Chelsea came as a surprise.

Barça sit second in LaLiga and a lowly 15th in the Champions League standings, while Chelsea moved up to fifth in the Champions League shortly after jumping into second in the Premier League.