Barcelona are still as fearsome as ever without Neymar, according to Chelsea attacker Willian.
Willian’s 62nd-minute strike was cancelled out by Lionel Messi as the teams played out a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie.
His Brazil teammate Neymar may have left Barca for Paris Saint-Germain last year, but Willian said the La Liga leaders were still difficult to beat.
‘I think Barcelona are Barcelona, with or without Neymar,’ Willian said.
‘Of course Neymar is a great player, but they have Messi, they have [Andres] Iniesta, they have [Luis] Suarez.
‘They have really good players, so Barcelona is always Barcelona,’ he added.
While he opened the scoring, Willian also struck the post twice during Tuesday’s clash.
The 29-year-old still believes his team can reach the quarter-finals with a result at Camp Nou on 14 March.
‘Of course, we can go there and do a great job again. It will be a completely different game.
‘To play there is totally different. But I think we can go there with this mentality. We can go there with great spirit and try to win the game,’ he concluded.
-This story originally appeared on FourFourTwo.co.za