CHELSEA are 3-1 to beat Barcelona at home tonight and that tells you how much they're struggling.
Antonio Conte has a knack of pulling rabbits out the hat but he'll need to conjure up something special to shut out the magician that is Lionel Messi.
The Blues bounced back from devastating Premier League defeats to reach the FA Cup last eight with a cruise against Hull.
Bournemouth and Watford destroyed Chelsea, hitting seven goals between them, so you wonder how much damage Messi and Luis Suarez can do.
Conte might find a way of stopping them but Barca, still unbeaten in La Liga, look a good shout at 6-5 with Marathonbet to win tonight and 4-11 at Sky Bet to qualify.
One concern is they netted just one goal away in the group stage – beating Sporting and drawing 0-0 with Juventus and Olympiakos. However, Chelsea's only win came against Qarabag and their form has dipped.
Messi will be a popular first-scorer pick at 15-4 with McBookie while Suarez is 41-10 at Unibet. To net Messi is 13-10 at Paddy Power and Suarez 16-11 at Unibet.
The Argentine will be desperate to break a jinx that has seen him fail to score against the Blues in 665 minutes of Champions League football. Suarez hasn’t netted in the Champions League for 11 months (791 minutes).
Alavaro Morata knocked back a move to Barca from Real Madrid when he joined the Blues and will be keen to show what they're missing. He is 23-10 at Paddy Power to net.
Tonight's other tie sees Bayern Munich entertain Besiktas and they are extremely short at 1-6 with William Hill.
Besiktas are better than the odds suggests but lost top scorer Cenk Tosun to Everton in the transfer window.
He's been replaced by Vagner Love but it's Brazilian Talisca who is firing for them with six goals in five games.
Bayern have won 13 in a row and best bet here could be Bayern and btts at 15-8 with BetStars.
Robert Lewandowski has 32 for the season, including six in six, and is 85-40 at McBookie to score first.
Recommended Bets
- Barcelona
- Messi to score first
- Bayern & Btts
- Lewandowski to score first
Resident football tipster at Scotland's most read newspaper, the Daily Record, for over 20 years and proud host of one the best betting communities on the web with daily betting tips.
Cheers to the guy that predicted Will Grigg to score at City.
For today I have banker tips – Boro to win + Spenymoor town to win.
For Goals – Bayern to score both havles – 1.53 best price! Harrogate over 2.5 match goals + Concord – East Thurrock Over 2.5.
To be honest I see all conference matches going 1 – Harrogate, Salford, Stockport and Spenymoor priced at 6-7+
Messi scored 0 in 8 games v Chelsea.
His longest dry streak v any club.
There’s always a first time for everyone, messi to score anytime 1. 90
Chelsea win 2-1
Morata 1st goal
**Won**
My bet of the day
Salford to win and Chelsea clean sheet, no @1.89
Chelsea clean sheet no *won*
Stanford to win *lost*