Barca visit presents Champions League stage Conte craves

Barcelona’svisit to Chelsea today gives Antonio Conte the perfect opportunity toreaffirm his stature as one of Europe’s greatest coaches.“To playagainst Barcelona is a great challenge for us,” Conte said after easingthe pressure on his job with back-to-back home wins over West Brom andHull in the past week.“We must be excited to play this type of game,especially against this team. I consider Barcelona one of the bestteams in the world.”Conte also considers himself one of the bestcoaches in the world, referring to himself despite a recent 4-1 drubbingat Watford as “a winner.”He does so with some justification. In aglittering coaching career, Conte made Juventus title winners again withthree consecutive Serie A titles after a five-year drought.He alsosurpassed expectations by leading an Italy side short on star names tothe quarter-finals of Euro 2016, and delivered the Premier League in hisdebut season at Chelsea.However, a second season slump at theBridge and his fractious relationship with the club’s hierarchy meansmost believe the Italian won’t last at Chelsea beyond the end of theseason at the latest.The Premier League champions have recoveredfrom a poor run of form, winning consecutive matches over West BromwichAlbion in the league and Hull City in the FA Cup, but Conte is notgetting carried away.“On one hand you know this team is one of thebest in the world - maybe they are favourites to win this competition,”Conte told British media.“On the other hand we must be excitedbecause we have a great opportunity to play a massive game against areally strong team and to show which is our level.“... We have to try to have the perfect game, the perfect game to try to make the best decisions. “Forthis type of team... they have fantastic characteristics with the ball.But they can have weaknesses without the ball and we have to try andexploit this.”Barcelona’s star forward Lionel Messi has never scoredin eight matches against Chelsea and Conte is eager for his team tomaintain that record.Chelsea last defeated the Spanish side in 2012as the London outfit marched to their first Champions League title, andmidfielder Cesc Fabregas, who moved to Stamford Bridge from Barcelona in2014, is confident that Conte’s side can repeat the feat.“They try to put the first pressure very, very high – (they) always work towards the ball,” Fabregas said.“If we can (get) past this first phase of their pressure, then we have the content to do that, and not put ourselves under too much pressure, then I think we can hurt them because they will leave a lot of spaces at the back.“Hopefully we can give a good image of what we can do and do a good performance.”Whetherit is to convince Roman Abramovich and close aid Marina Granovskaia heshould remain in charge next season or to attract the attention ofEurope’s other giants who may be looking for a coach come the summer,Conte needs Champions League nights to remember.His two years in thecompetition at Juventus ended in a 4-0 quarter-final aggregatethrashing from Bayern Munich and an embarrassing group stage exit behindGalatasaray. Conte complained then it was impossible for Italian sides to compete at the latter stages of the Champions League.Itdidn’t help his case then that his successor Massimiliano Allegri thenled Juve to two Champions League finals in three seasons. Conte’s money complaintsTherehave been similarities between Conte’s final days at Juventus and manyof his public outbursts against the Chelsea ownership this season overhis lack of input over recruitment and how much is spent.“I thinkI’m a bit of a disaster to convince the club to buy the players,” Contesaid last week. “I have to speak more with the managers who are very,very good to persuade their clubs to spend money and buy top players.”Conte may then welcome his meeting with the more softly-spoken Ernesto Valverde this week.InValverde’s eight-month spell in charge, Barca have smashed their clubrecord transfer fee twice for Ousmane Dembele and Philippe Coutinho.Yet,it is in a very different way that Conte may be able to learn fromValverde as neither Dembele or Coutinho have made much impact on Barcaopening up a seven-point La Liga lead and booking their place in theCopa del Rey final.Instead, Valverde has made the best of what heinherited to turn Barca from the depths of a pre-season crisis intopotential treble winners.Neymar’s decision to walk out on the clubfor a world record 222 million euros to Paris Saint-Germain was a hugeloss that Valverde has used as an opportunity to reconstruct a moresolid side that maintains the firepower of Lionel Messi and Luis Suarezin attack.A change from Barca’s traditional 4-3-3 to a 4-4-2 hasseen them concede just once in their six Champions League games to date,and 11 times in 24 La Liga outings.Meanwhile, the space left unoccupied by Neymar has unleashed left-back Jordi Alba as an attacking threat.Albawas on target as Barca equalled a club record by avoiding defeat for a31st straight La Liga game in a 2-0 win at Eibar on Saturday.Most of all, Valverde’s calm has restored stability to a club that badly needed a steady hand after a tumultuous summer.Thatmay be the lesson Conte and Chelsea can learn from most of all beforecareering towards another messy divorce at the end of the season.