Chelsea FC inflicted a heavy defeat on FC Barcelona in the Champions League. Coach Hansi Flick’s team is coming under increasing pressure.
Chelsea FC have significantly improved their chances of reaching the round of 16 of the Champions League directly after an impressive performance. Coach Enzo Maresca’s team achieved a well-deserved 3-0 (1-0) win against FC Barcelona on Tuesday evening (November 25th, 2025).
With ten points from five games, the Blues are back on track. The goals for Chelsea were scored by Jules Koundé (27th, own goal), Estevao (55th) and Liam Delap (76th).
Coach Hansi Flick’s team, on the other hand, is falling short of its own expectations, not least after this high defeat. With just seven points, direct qualification for the next round is becoming more distant. The pressure on Flick and his team has increased significantly, also because the game could have ended much more in favor of the hosts.
Torres with the early lead opportunity
The game started at top speed: Enzo Fernandez scored a goal from close range as soon as the kick-off whistle sounded. However, referee Slavko Vincic overturned the apparent opening goal due to a handball by the Chelsea player. Chelsea also scored two more goals during the game, but all of them were disallowed for offside.
Almost in direct response, Ferran Torres had the opening goal on his feet, but the Barca offensive player did not hit the opponent’s goal from seven meters out. Both teams continued to show a high tempo and continued to try to score the opening goal as early as possible.
Barcelona’s Koundé scores an own goal
Barcelona, who repeatedly attacked on the right side and young star Lamine Yamal in the early stages, gained a brief superiority that increasingly caused the Blues trouble. But Enzo Maresca’s team was able to free themselves from the pressure from the Spaniards. Attacker Pedro Neto then had the chance to take the lead after 21 minutes. After his solo effort, he missed from ten meters.
Six minutes later the time had come: After great preparatory work by Cucurella, who passed the ball sharply from the baseline in front of the Barcelona goal, Neto directed the ball with his heel towards the goal line. Barcelona defender Koundé gave the ball the decisive push just in front of the goal line and the ball rolled into the net to make it 1-0 with an own goal.
Araujo sent off
After that the game calmed down a bit. However, Barcelona had difficulty converting their superiority into goalscoring opportunities because Chelsea defended with full physical effort and were able to repeatedly interrupt the opposition’s attacks.
Immediately before the break, Barcelona weakened itself. Captain Ronald Araujo had to leave the field with a yellow-red card (44th) after a rude foul on Cucurella; he had received his first warning early in the game for his complaints.
Chelsea doesn’t let up
The Blues’ numerical superiority meant that Barcelona could hardly get out of their own half in the second half. The constant pressure paid off for Chelsea: After a bad pass from Frenkie de Jong, Estevao got the ball. The Brazilian outplayed two Barca defenders and shot the ball into the Spanish goal from six meters, making it 2-0.
But Chelsea didn’t let it go: After a well-played counterattack, Delap also made it 3-0. And the English continued to press on, barely giving their Spanish opponents time to breathe. However, the Flick team managed to prevent further goals and thus a debacle.