Chelsea
boss Antonio Conte says he has suffered sleepless nights plotting the
downfall of Barcelona and Lionel Messi.
The Blues host the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie against
the Catalan giants at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday looking to maintain their
impressive record against Messi's men.
Barcelona's history against Chelsea is best summed up by their semi-final
meeting in this competition in 2012 when they surrendered a two-goal lead to
crash out at the Nou Camp as Roberto Di Matteo's side went on to lift the
Champions League for the first time.
But, despite a league win over rock-bottom West Brom and FA Cup progression
at the expense of Championship strugglers Hull, Chelsea still head into this
heavyweight contest having won just four of their last 12 games in all
competitions.
That has led to intense scrutiny on Conte's position, despite the fact the
Italian led Chelsea to the Premier League title last season.
Following the 4-0 win over Hull on Friday night, Conte admitted he has been
kept awake planning how to beat the free-flowing LaLiga leaders.
"In these days after the game in the FA Cup, I must be honest, it was a bit
difficult to sleep well," he said.
"When you have to play this type of game, you have to prepare. You have to
prepare everything. You have to prepare big things, but the smaller details
too.
"They can move a result a lot of the time. We have an idea. We have a plan
in our heads. I think that, in this specific moment, it's very important to
pick the players who are at the top of their form and then try and do our
best to win the game."
All eyes will be on Messi as the Barcelona talisman looks to score his first
goal against Chelsea, having drawn a blank in his previous eight outings in
this fixture.
Conte knows it will be difficult to keep Messi quiet.
"We are talking about the best player in the world," he said when asked
about a plan to cope with the Argentina ace.
"Messi has the capacity to solve the situation and create a chance when you
are not seeing the chance to score.
"We are talking about a fantastic player. We have to pay great attention,
but not only to Messi.
"We have to know that, during the game, we must be prepared to suffer. But,
at the same time, we must have the idea to go and score at any moment."
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