Chelsea brace up for Barca onslaught

Chelsea are bracing for a Barcelona onslaught here on Tuesday as the wounded Catalans bid to recover from domestic disappointment by reaching their third Champions League final in four seasons.

The holders – stunned 1-0 by Chelsea in last week’s semi-final first leg – completed a week to forget on Saturday when a 2-1 defeat to Real Madrid at Camp Nou effectively handed the domestic title to their bitter rivals.

Chelsea will hope to exploit any lingering hangover from Saturday’s traumatic reverse to Real as they attempt to avenge their agonising elimination to Barca at the same stage three years ago.

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola refused to hit the panic button after his side’s loss to Real, expressing confidence that his players would be able to raise themselves again for the visit of Chelsea.

“We’ll see on Tuesday if these two defeats have affected us, we have to rest now and then pick oursleves up and see if we can find a way to beat such a physical side as Chelsea,” Guardiola said.

Chelsea, too, are unlikely to lose sight of the fact that they were comprehensively outplayed for much of the first leg.

Interim Chelsea coach Roberto Di Matteo is under no illusions about the scale of the task in front of his side.