Chelsea had been on the attack, only to lose the ball and allow Barca to counter.
As he so often is, Lionel Messi was the man to lead the attack, showing his inredible close control and low centre of gravity to full effect.
Among the opponents in his way was Antonio Rudiger, who stepped out from defence to try to help out N'Golo Kante, though he quickly discovered he would have been better off staying put.
When Rudger arrived, Messi had already beaten two players and he soon made that three as he left the centre-back in his wake with the subtlest of shimmys.
Nothing came of that particular raid but it made Rudiger think twice about getting too close to Messi in the rest of the first half.
20 February 2018