Chelsea bidding for Barcelona revenge

Chelsea FC have a score to settle when they welcome FC Barcelona to Stamford Bridge for the first leg of the sides' semi-final – a rematch of their meeting at this same stage in 2009, when the Blaugrana prevailed on away goals.

• For Barcelona this is their fifth straight semi-final as they look to become the first team since AC Milan in 1990 to win back-to-back European Cups. Chelsea are still in pursuit of their first continental crown going into their sixth semi-final in nine years.

• Barcelona will start as favourites but Chelsea have a 100% winning record at home in this term's competition and are unbeaten in the clubs' last five encounters.

Previous meetings
• The teams have faced each other ten times in UEFA competition with three wins apiece and four draws.

• They last met on a night of high drama at Stamford Bridge on 6 May 2009. After a goalless first leg in the semi-final, Michael Essien gave Chelsea a ninth-minute lead in the return and Barcelona then lost Éric Abidal to a red card. However, Andrés Iniesta's added-time equaliser sent the Spanish side through.

• The lineups that night were:
Chelsea: Čech, Bosingwa, Alex, Terry, Cole, Lampard, Essien, Ballack, Anelka, Drogba (Belletti 72), Malouda.
Barcelona: Valdés, Alves, Touré, Piqué, Abidal, Busquets (Bojan 85), Xavi, Keita, Messi, Eto'o (Sylvinho 90), Iniesta (Gudjohnsen 90).

• Barcelona have won three of the clubs' four previous two-legged contests in the UEFA Champions League.

• Roberto Di Matteo and Josep Guardiola were on opposing sides for the first of these UEFA Champions League contests in 1999/2000. Di Matteo was a 71st-minute substitute in Chelsea's 3-1 home quarter-final win when Guardiola remained on the bench, while both featured from the start in Barcelona's 5-1 second-leg success after extra time, Chelsea's heaviest defeat in UEFA competition. Also involved were Carles Puyol, who appeared in both games, and Xavi Hernández, a starter in the first leg but on the bench for the return.

• The teams also met in the semi-finals of the 1965/66 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, trading 2-0 home wins before Barcelona ran out 5-0 winners in a third match played at the Camp Nou.

Match background
• Chelsea have been in irresistible form at home in Europe this season, recording five straight victories with 16 goals scored and just two conceded, but face their toughest test yet against Barcelona. The visitors posted four straight wins, scoring 15 times, prior to their 0-0 draw at AC Milan in the quarter-final first leg.

• The London club are undefeated against Spanish opponents, home and away, in 13 competitive fixtures. It was Barcelona who inflicted Chelsea's last defeat by a Liga team, winning 2-1 at Stamford Bridge in the 2005/06 UEFA Champions League round of 16. That was Chelsea's only setback against Spanish visitors on home soil; their record is W8 D4 L1.

• Chelsea have already beaten one Spanish side at home this term, defeating Valencia CF 3-0 on matchday six.

• Chelsea's full record against Spanish clubs is W13 D10 L6. In two-legged ties with Spanish clubs in UEFA competition, their record is W3 L5.

• Barcelona's last visit to London was for last May's UEFA Champions League final defeat of Manchester United FC. Their overall record against English clubs is W24 D18 L16, but their away record is less positive: W6 D8 L13.

• Barcelona's record in two-legged ties against English clubs in UEFA competition is W10 L9.

• Chelsea have lost their three previous UEFA competition semi-finals against Spanish opponents. Aside from the 2009 defeat by Barcelona, they lost to RCD Mallorca in the 1998/99 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and Real Zaragoza in the same competition four years earlier. Barcelona have won two and lost four semi-finals against English teams, one of those defeats coming in this competition against Manchester United in 2007/08.

• Chelsea won their first European honour by beating Real Madrid CF in the 1971 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final in Athens, prevailing in the replay 2-1 after a 1-1 draw.

• Barcelona lost the 1991 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final 2-1 to Manchester United but defeated Arsenal in the 2006 UEFA Champions League final and United in the 2009 and 2011 finals.

• Chelsea have won one of their five previous UEFA Champions League semi-finals:
2008/09 Barcelona, 1-1, lost on away goals (0-0 away, 1-1 home)
2007/08 Liverpool FC, won 4-3 (1-1 away, 3-2 home)
2006/07 Liverpool FC, 1-1, lost 1-4 on pens (1-0 home, 0-1 away)
2004/05 Liverpool FC, lost 0-1 (0-0 home, 0-1 away)
2003/04 AS Monaco FC, lost 3-5 (1-3 away, 2-2 home)

• Barcelona have won six of the 12 previous semi-finals they have contested:
2010/11 Real Madrid CF, won 3-1 (2-0 away, 1-1 home)
2009/10 FC Internazionale Milano, lost 2-3 (1-3 away, 1-0 home)
2008/09 Chelsea, 1-1, won on away goals (0-0 home, 1-1 away)
2007/08 Manchester United FC, lost 0-1 (0-0 home, 0-1 away)
2005/06 AC Milan, won 1-0 (1-0 away, 0-0 home)
2001/02 Real Madrid CF, lost 1-3 (0-2 home, 1-1 away)
1999/2000 Valencia CF, lost 3-5 (1-4 away, 2-1 home)
1993/94 FC Porto, won 3-0 (home)
1985/86 IFK Göteborg, 3-3, won 5-4 on pens (0-3 away, 3-0 home)
1974/75 Leeds United AFC, lost AFC 2-3 (1-2 away, 1-1 home)
1960/61 Hamburger SV, won 1-0 (replay) (1-0 home, 1-2 away)
1959/60 Real Madrid CF, lost 2-6 (1-3 away, 1-3 home)
The Spanish side advanced to the 1991/92 final as group winners.

• The winners will face FC Bayern München or Real Madrid CF in the final in Munich on 19 May.

Team ties
• Barcelona coach Guardiola has won the European Cup as a player and coach at Wembley but his record playing away against English sides was W1 D1 L3.

 • Fernando Torres scored seven goals in ten league appearances for Club Atlético de Madrid against Barcelona, helping Atlético earn four wins and four draws along with two losses. He twice scored doubles in victories at the Camp Nou but was also on the receiving end of a 6-0 home defeat on his last appearance against Barcelona in 2007.

• Juan Mata also suffered a 6-0 reverse against Barcelona during his time with Valencia in 2007/08. He did not taste a single victory in seven Liga meetings with Barcelona but did score twice in a 3-2 Spanish Cup semi-final win in 2007/08 to secure a 4-3 aggregate triumph.

• Oriol Romeu made 41 league appearances for Barcelona's B team between 2009 and 2011. For the senior side he played twice – once in the Liga, and another time in the Spanish Super Cup.

• Torres and Javier Mascherano were team-mates at Liverpool (2007-10); Mata and David Villa played together for Valencia (2007-10); Cole and Cesc Fàbregas were Arsenal colleagues (2003-06). Abidal was a team-mate of Essien and Florent Malouda at Olympique Lyonnais in 2004/05.

• Mascherano played against Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League with Liverpool – winning the 2006/07 semi-final, losing at the same stage in 2007/08 and in the last eight in 2008/09. His overall record for Liverpool against the London club was W3 D3 L4.

• Fàbregas took on Chelsea 16 times during his eight years as an Arsenal FC player, recording three wins, four draws and nine defeats in Premier League and cup matches. He scored twice, including on his last Arsenal appearance against the Blues, a 3-1 league win in December 2010.

• Gerard Piqué spent four seasons in England with Manchester United from 2004 to 2008 but did not face Chelsea.

• Iniesta scored Spain's goal in a 1-0 friendly win against Frank Lampard's England at Old Trafford in February 2007. The Spanish side that day also included Puyol, Xavi, Fàbregas and Villa.

• Lampard hit England's winner Wembley against Spain in the countries' most recent friendly encounter last November. Puyol, Piqué, Sergio Busquets, Xavi, Fàbregas, Iniesta and Villa were in the Spain team, while Cole was also playing for England.

• Villa broke the Spanish national team scoring record with two goals past Czech Republic's Petr Čech in a UEFA EURO 2012 qualifier in March 2011.

• Villa scored a late winner for Spain against Raul Meireles' Portugal in the last 16 of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

• Daniel Sturridge faced Thiago Alcántara and Martín Montoya in England's 1-1 draw with Spain at the UEFA European Under-21 Championship last June.