Barcelona vs Chelsea LIVE: Team news confirmed, Antoine Griezmann debut, Pulisic starts | Football | Sport

BARCELONA 0-0 CHELSEA

Chelsea XI: Kepa, Azpilicueta, Christensen, Luiz, Emerson, Jorginho, Kovacic, Pedro, Mount, Pulisic, Abraham

Barcelona XI: Ter Stegen, Pique, Sergio Busquets, Puig, Dembele, Oriol Busquets, Griezmann, Alba, Roberto, Umtiti, Collado

• Antoine Greizmann makes Barcelona debut since Atletico deal

• USA star Christian Pulisic makes his first full start for Chelsea

• Mason Mount deployed in No. 10 role with Kepa back from illness

What to do…

11:20: Not long until the season starts now – so what is Frank Lampard going to do with some of his fringe players?

Fikayo Tomori, Kenedy, Danny Drinkwater, Tiemoue Bakayoko and Michy Batshuayi are all on the books but haven’t seen much game-time.

15-minutes

11:15: Not long now folks. The pitch looks in pretty good condition but it’s mighty humid. Barcelona are obviously a week behind Chelsea in terms of training and only arrived in Japan yesterday. Advantage Blues?

Responsibility and personality…

11:10: It’s been 19 days since Frank Lampard was installed as Chelsea manager.

So that’s 19 times he’s told his players to ‘take responsibility and show personality,” according to Olivier Giroud.

“We believe in the gaffer because he’s the right man for this situation,” Giroud told Chelsea’s website.

“He repeats every day that we have to take responsibility and we have to show personality.‘He’s insisting a lot on this kind of stuff, playing without fear but with confidence. I think we will learn quickly.”

The number 10 shirt…

11:00: Don’t want to open the can of worms again – but what do you think about Eden Hazard’s famous No. 1o shirt going to Willian?

The 30-year-old has been wearing the No.22 jersey since he joined from Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala in 2013 but the Brazilian is ready to take his preferred number now that it has become available.

“I was offered the number 10 jersey ahead of next season and I will take it,” he said on Brazilian TV show Desimpedidos.

Let me know (in the most polite way possible) what you think through the usual channels.

Kurt Zouma latest

10:55: Well I’ve seen people take Kurt Zouma’s latest quotes in every conceivable way possible this morning.

Frank Lampard made it clear that he wants the Frenchman at Stamford Bridge amid claims Zouma wants to join Everton on a permanent basis.

See what you think.

“That is very important for me. It was one of my targets to get into the France team. I had been there before and wanted to come back,” Zouma said.

“I managed to do that. Now the target is to play at the Euros – but to be there you have to be playing at your club. So I am working very hard – and let’s see what is going to happen.”

Sounds like ‘I want to stay – but I’d better start, Frank,” if you ask me.

Twitter round-up

Yours: Not bad at all! Seems like Pedro is on the left, Mount in the middle just behind Tammy Abraham and Pulisic on the right, 4-2-3-1. Looking forward to it! Let’s see what we got!

Dan: Gone back to this stinky formation. Thought Lampard had some unrivalled IQ?

Monchi: Something tells me Frank Lampard is an advanced Jose Mourinho 2.0 style of play. exciting times back at Chelsea.

A “stinky formation,” Dan?! Are you ten years old?

Youthful

10:45: Now that’s a seriously interesting line-up from Frank Lampard with Tammy Abraham, Mason Mount and Andreas Christensen all included.

Kepa Arrizabalaga recovers from illness to take his place between the sticks. Christensen joins David Luiz in the heart of defence with Kurt Zouma on the bench.

Looks like it could be a 4-2-3-1 with Pedro, Mount and Pulisic supporting Abraham in attack. Kovacic and Jorginho holding.

Team News – Pulisic starts

10:40: Christian Pulisic makes his first full start for Chelsea.

Chelsea XI: Kepa, Azpilicueta, Christensen, Luiz, Emerson, Jorginho, Kovacic, Pedro, Mount, Pulisic, Abraham.

Subs: Caballero, Cumming, Alonso, Drinkwater, Aomori, Barkley, Bakayoko, Zouma, Kenedy, Zappacosta, Palmer, Giroud, Batshuayi.

Ah… that backfired

10:35: Savage banter in the building folks. Yes, that’s my pathetic effort at sounding youthful.

Anyway, ahead of today’s match-up, Chelsea posted a video on Twitter which showed their famous Champions League semi-final with Barca from 2012.

The video was accompanied by a caption that read: “Barcelona v Chelsea tomorrow…” alongside a wink emoji.

Barca duly fired back at their English goes a couple hours later in what would’ve been a brilliant response.

Their reply read: “Is this a throwback to when you guys were playing in the Champions League?”

But Chelsea had the last laugh when replying: “Best not to mention Champions League throwbacks after the year you’ve had…”

Transfer round-up

10:30: Obviously the transfer ban has made it a fairly quiet summer at Stamford Bridge – but we still have a few headlines you will be interested in.

• Defender Kurt Zouma has not submitted a transfer request

• Frank Lampard wants the Frenchman at Stamford Bridge next season

• Chelsea teenager Ethan Ampadu secures a one-year loan at RB Leipzig

• The Blues have handed Eden Hazard’s famous No.10 shirt to Willian

• Chelsea reject £20m bid from Crystal Palace for defender Reece James

I’ll expand on a few of these over the next couple of hours. You lucky, lucky devils.

Weather…

10:25: While we wait for Frank Lampard to reveal his selection – let’s do something very British.

Talk about the weather. Specifically the weather in Saitama, Japan, where it’s 28 degrees with 73 per cent humidity.

That, of course, isn’t a patch on the 39 degrees expected in London on Thursday. I already have plans to clear out the fridge and spend my day chilling inside.

Team News – Griezmann debut

10:20: Antoine Griezmann makes his Barcelona debut having completed the switch from Atletico Madrid for £107million. There’s no Frenkie de Jong in the starting XI but he’s on the bench and will make an appearance at some point.

Barcelona XI: Ter Stegen, Pique, Sergio Busquets, Puig, Dembele, Oriol Busquets, Griezmann, Alba, Roberto, Umtiti, Collado.

Subs: Neto, Iñaki Peña, N. Semedo, I. Rakitic, Todibo, C. Perez, Rafinha, Malcom, Lenglet, Aleñá, F. De Jong, Monchu, Araujo, Guillem.

Good morning!

10:15: Hello everyone and welcome to our LIVE coverage of Barcelona vs Chelsea.

It’s time for the Rakuten Cup!

What the heck’s a Rakuten? Good question. Wikipedia informs me it’s a Japanese electronic commerce and Internet company based in Tokyo and founded in 1997.

So… who wouldn’t want to win such a prestigious tournament?!

Anyway, Frank Lampard’s side are in Japan for their fourth pre-season fixture where we’ll learn a little more about his thinking for the upcoming season.

As for Barcelona, they might not have Lionel Messi, Philippe Coutinho and ​Luis Suarez – but debutants Antoine Griezmann, Frenkie de Jong and Neto could fill the void.