The Blues welcome the La Liga champions to Stamford Bridge in the fifth match of our league phase campaign.

Both Enzo Maresca’s side and Barcelona have taken seven points thus far in the Champions League. Victory tonight would be another step toward automatic qualification to the knockout stage.

And James is looking forward to performing in a showpiece European clash.

The Blues captain said: ‘We know it’s a super big game and over the years it has been a big rivalry.

‘We’re expecting a high-quality game. We have prepared as best we can going into the game and we will try to hurt them.’

When asked what James felt would be vital to helping the Blues maintain our good form and claim all three points, the Academy graduate replied: ‘The basics, working as a team, working hard, and individual brilliance that at times can sometimes unlock games like this. We’ll need that tonight.