VALVERDE WARNING TO BLUES

ERNESTO VALVERDE has told Chelsea to expect to face a different Barcelona team in their Champions League showdown.

The Barca boss (above) saw his side struggle to beat Eibar on Saturday, as the Spanish giants stuttered despite remaining top of La Liga.

But Valverde insisted they will be in their best form at Stamford Bridge tomorrow night.

He said: “I don’t care much about Chelsea, our objective was to win again. In Ipurua (Eibar’s stadium) everybody suffers, nobody wins easy, but Tuesday is another story.

“This match was very important for us – it was crucial for us to win and get the momentum.

“We are delighted with how things are going, and that means we are doing something right. Now we must continue.”

Barcelona pulled off a surprise in the 2-0 victory by starting with veteran midfielder Andres Iniesta, 33, ahead of Philippe Coutinho.

Valverde insisted he wanted to give Iniesta a run-out before facing Chelsea, with Coutinho ineligible for the Champions League.

Iniesta is a big-money target for Chinese club Tianjin Quanjian, but Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fabregas says his former team-mate is still a top-class player.

Fabregas said: “He’s still good – for this type of player, age doesn’t really matter.

“Once you have a talent, once you have the class that he and so many other ‘big’ players have, they can play until their late 30s.

“Physically, it’s obviously important, because the game nowadays depends a lot on that.

“But, when you have the quality, when you have the intelligence, it can sometimes compensate.”