Villas-Boas sure Barca’s domination can be halted

Andre Villas-Boas, the Chelsea manager, has predicted that Barcelona’s dominance of European football will end sooner or later.

The Portuguese admitted yesterday Barca had set the “benchmark” for how the game should be played in the past five years, which has seen them win the Champions League three times. But despite acknowledging the firm foundations the Catalan giants had laid in order to achieve their remarkable recent success, the Portuguese can foresee their eventual downfall.

“These past years of Barcelona’s success has collided with a multitude of events that has provided this team with the ability to play so well,” said Villas-Boas, who has already admitted Chelsea may need to beat the Spanish giants this season if they are to end their agonising wait for Champions League glory.

“The amount of talent which came through their youth teams which comes together now in the first team, a manager that defends the values of the club like nobody else.

“These past four or five years of Barcelona will be, for sure, the exception. Eventually, there are years of better talent [elsewhere] and years of drought.”

Chelsea are in the midst of their latest attempt to win the Champions League and can take a huge step towards that goal with victories in their Group E double-header against Genk.

They meet tonight in a game the Londoners will be expected to win, regardless of what team Villas-Boas fields.

Indeed, several changes are expected, with Fernando Torres almost certain to start despite his domestic three-match ban. Several first-team players are likely to be rested, possibly even captain John Terry and vice-captain Frank Lampard. “Any XI that we put across is a very, very strong XI,” said Villas-Boas.