In The Zone: Chelsea's set-piece prowess vs Barcelona
mercredi 26 novembre 2025
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UEFA Technical Observer Rui Faria analyses how Chelsea took advantage of dead-ball situations and applied an intense tempo to beat Barcelona on Matchday 5 in the Champions League.
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"We know that in the Premier League they work the dead-ball situations the best of any league in Europe, even the world. Do you feel there is a big advantage for you when you play European sides like today?"
That was the question from Roberto Martínez to Chelsea full-back Marc Cucurella in a post-match interview for Amazon Prime after the Londoners' superb 3-0 UEFA Champions League win over Barcelona on Tuesday night.
Cucurella's response will have surprised nobody who saw Chelsea earn their breakthrough from a set piece and also score two disallowed goals from the same source.
"Here it's very important we spend some time together to practise it and make something special in every game," said Cucurella, elaborating on the focus on set plays by Premier League sides already noted as a theme of this season’s competition after Arsenal’s win over another Spanish team, Atlético de Madrid.
As will be explored in the following analysis, brought to you by FedEx, set pieces were a central factor behind Chelsea’s impressive success but not the only one on a night when they overwhelmed Barcelona with their intensity.
Chelsea's breakthrough, via Jules Koundé's own goal, was their seventh goal from a corner this season. As the video shows, it followed a short-corner routine involving Estevão, Alejandro Garnacho and Cucurella. "The short corner created a three v two situation that allowed Chelsea to explore the free spaces and progress to the goal," said UEFA Technical Observer Rui Faria.
Chelsea power show
This was an evening when Barcelona, by the admission of their coach Hansi Flick, struggled to cope with the high tempo and aggression of Chelsea. "We needed to play a little bit more aggressively... especially in the one-against-one situations," he said.
This second video, showing Estevão's stunning strike to make it 2-0, displays the unrelenting tempo of Enzo Maresca’s side, with the regain by Andrey Santos in Barcelona’s half, and then the quick and direct passing that ensues.
As Faria explained, by winning the ball in the opposition half, with Barcelona "organised to attack and not ready to respond", Chelsea were well placed to hurt them. "Then it’s about the speed of the ball circulation with three passes to give Estevão the chance for a one v one situation," he added.
The rest was down to Estevão. "He tries always to do the one v ones," said Cucurella of the 18-year-old, whose bewitching footwork took him past Pau Cubarsí before he held off Alejandro Balde and delivered that wondrous, thunderous finish.
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Rui Faria worked as assistant to José Mourinho, winning the UEFA Cup and UEFA Champions League at Porto, multiple domestic titles with Chelsea and Real Madrid, the 2009/10 Champions League with Inter and then the 2016/17 Europa League with Manchester United.
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