Chelsea turn on the style to crush 10-man Barca 3-0

Chelsea have rolled back the years with an imperious Champions League performance on Tuesday, sweeping aside a toothless Barcelona 3-0 to take a hefty step towards securing an automatic qualifying place and leaving the Spaniards fighting to avoid a playoff.

After an early own goal and a red card for Barcelona’s captain Ronald Araujo at the end of the first half, teenager Estevao smashed in a fabulous second and Liam Delap got the third, and the Londoners also had three goals ruled out.

"It is a huge night for Estevao, a huge night for the whole club," said Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca. "Winning the Club World Cup has been important for the players in terms of confidence, they realise they can win against any team. A winning mentality is the only way to build something important.

"If Barcelona don’t have the ball they don’t feel comfortable, so we tried to keep the ball."

It was like the old days at Stamford Bridge, when taking on and beating the cream of Europe was the norm, as Chelsea made all the running, passing crisply and constantly probing down both flanks.

Not for Barcelona, though, who were the palest shadow of the sides who used to keep possession with such ease before relentlessly carving out opportunities. On Tuesday they barely held the ball for three passes, let alone built any sustained pressure.

Their defence too looked ragged and they were saved only by the officials as Enzo Fernandez had a goal ruled out for handball after five minutes and another for offside.

Barcelona’s sole chance of the night fell to Ferran Torres after six minutes, but he blazed wide with the goal gaping.

Chelsea’s pressure eventually paid off after 27 minutes when Marc Cucurella crossed low from the right and, as two defenders tried to block Pedro Neto’s effort, Jules Kounde instead poked the ball into his own net.

Things got even better for Chelsea when Araujo was sent off for a second yellow after a clumsy trip on Cucurella a minute before the break.

Chelsea, unrecognisable from the team who laboured to a 2-2 draw at Qarabag in their last Champions League outing, continued to control the game and suffered a third disallowed goal by substitute Andrey Santos - ruled out for offside in the build-up five minutes after the restart.

ESTEVAO PILEDRIVER

Again, though, it was a brief respite for Barcelona as Estevao took centre stage, driving past two tackles before unleashing an absolute piledriver from a tight angle into the roof of the net.

"It all happened very quickly," he said. "I just found some space, wiggled my way through and then scored that goal. It was such a special moment for me in my career. I hope to score many more."

As one 18-year-old starlet took the adulation of the crowd, Barcelona’s version, Lamine Yamal, cut a forlorn figure, unable to make any impact before being hauled off 12 minutes from time.

Delap then got in on the action, tucking home a Fernandez cross after 73 minutes for his first goal of the season, as everything came up roses for Chelsea.

The victory hoists them provisionally into the top eight automatic qualifying slots, and well-placed with games against Pafos, Atalanta and Napoli to come.

Barcelona, who started the day level with the Londoners, now face a real fight to avoid the playoffs and will need to gain plenty of points from their remaining fixtures against Eintracht Frankfurt, Slavia Prague and FC Copenhagen.

Barcelona coach Hansi Flick tried desperately to salvage something from the ashes. "We started well and had a good chance to score the first goal and I saw some positive things,” he said.

“We need to be bit more dynamic in one v one situations, we have to fight a little bit more. But we have nine points we can win from three games and we just have to be positive about this. You will see a different Barcelona.”