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FC Copenhagen vs CHELSEA: Champions League Preview

Uefa Champions League last 16 first leg

uefa-champions-league-trophy


Venue:
Parken Stadion

Date: Tuesday, 22 February

Kick-off: 1945 GMT


With us out of the title race and both domestic cups now, it’s back to the Champions League to see what we can salvage from the season. In FC Copenhagen, we’re up against a side who haven’t played a competitive game since the start of the winter break over two months ago but to be fair, the way we’ve played during the same period of time, that should just about put us on an equal footing.

MANAGERS’ VIEWS

The Copenhagen manager, Stale Solbakken, certainly doesn’t seem all that worried about us ahead of tonight’s game, suggesting “Chelsea haven’t been that bad, but not that scary either. We played quite evenly against Barcelona at home. Chelsea are more physical, stronger at set-pieces and have a different kind of team. It’s not the same as meeting Barcelona when you know that if you lose the ball, you won’t see it for the next three minutes. We’re in fine shape. We very rarely lose at Parken and we have to try to play our natural game. Maybe Chelsea’s 120 minutes in the FA Cup on Saturday can even things out a bit. It will be in their legs. I’ll be very surprised if it’s one-way traffic. Confidence is very high. Some of my players have only lost one or two games playing in this side. They think it’s easy. Some of them are daft enough to think they’re a better side than Chelsea. Maybe I should be talking them down a bit.”

In spite of our long, drawn out defeat at the weekend, the more succinct Ancelotti seems remarkably confident, insisting “Chelsea won’t go out against Copenhagen. We have to have the right pressure because we have 180 minutes to win against them. We need to maintain a good shape, stay together and work hard together and not individually. The Champions League is not easy but it brings a lot of motivation.”


SQUAD NEWS

Having not played a game for months, the Danish leaders have a healthy side with the exception of central defender Solvi Ottesen (back).

For us, Alex (knee) and Benayoun (Achilles) remain out and David Luiz is cup-tied. Torres, Anelka, Essien and Bosingwa could all be in line for a start.


TEAM

CHELSEA (from): Cech, Bosingwa, Ferreira, Terry, Ivanovic, Zhirkov, Cole, Mikel, Essien, Lampard, Ramires, McEachran, Kalou, Malouda, Anelka, Torres, Drogba, Turnbull, Sala, Bertrand.


PREDICTION

We’ve reached the semi-finals five times in the past seven years whilst our opponents have never been this far in the competition before. Having said that, they’ve beaten United and Celtic in the past, are unbeaten in the competition at home so far this season and have even managed to hold Barcelona to a 1-1 draw. At their season’s halfway mark, they currently stand 19 points clear whilst we, as we know, are a bit of a shambles domestically right now, so we could face a bit more heartbreak tonight.

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