Mata, who joined Chelsea in the summer, knows all about Barcelona from his time at Valencia - but his team-mates have wasted no time in reminding him of the history of this fixture.

The current European champions have won just once in London and that gives the Blues hope ahead of the Stamford Bridge clash against the competition favourites.

Mata said: "My team-mates did mention that if there is one stadium where Barca does not feel comfortable and struggle, that is Stamford Bridge, especially in recent years.

"Chelsea's hope is to progress.

"Barca will try to hold possession and force us to defend but we have a lot of experienced players in these type of ties."

Andres Iniesta's stoppage-time strike earned a draw for Barcelona at Stamford Bridge in the same stage of the Champions League three years ago - seeing them win on away goals after Chelsea had been denied a series of penalty decisions.

Mata added: "The previous meeting with them was a very exciting one until the end.

Different story

"Deep in stoppage-time, Andres scored a great goal but that is in the past. I hope the outcome of this semi-final will be a different story.

"As soon as we found out that we were playing against Barca, everybody knew it would be difficult but not impossible."

Barcelona have a number of players who can hurt Chelsea but there is no doubt about the main threat - Lionel Messi added goals number 62 and 63 on Saturday at Levante.

"To stop Messi is very difficult," admitted Mata. "He can appear at any time, as was the case this weekend in La Liga.

"But we cannot forget that Barca also have other dangerous players."

Chelsea will be hoping Mata can cause Barca problems at the other end and the Spaniard is happy with his own performances and his fitness levels.

He added: "I am very happy with the way I'm playing. I'm satisfied to avoid injuries.

"I've played many games this season and I'm still holding on physically so I have to continue like this."