Battle of nerves at Nou Camp

A Champions League semi-final between Chelsea and Barcelona should be judged on its own merits, but these sides have scores to settle at the Nou Camp tonight as old enemies and grievances came to the fore in the pre-match jousting.

There is a sense building that, after years of being the competition’s nearly men, Chelsea could finally climb to the summit of European football in the year that nothing was expected of them.

They have been here before of course. Defeat by Manchester United in the 2008 final was their nadir in the Champions League, but it is hard not to argue that their last-minute semi-final loss to Barcelona a year later did not cut them just as deep.