Champions League quarter-final first leg
Venue: Stamford Bridge
Date: Wednesday, 6 April
Kick-off: 1945 BST
Here we are then, the first leg of our Champions League quarter-final against United has arrived and I don’t mind saying I’m a bag of nerves even writing this. Of course, tonight’s game is only the first of two but if we don’t get a result out of this we’re completely buggered for the return. Oh I know we can usually hold our own against United at home, which of course they’ll say is down to the ref, but at Old Trafford it’ll be a different story altogether so the pressure’s really on us at Stamford Bridge.
MANAGERS’ VIEWS
Going into tonight’s game, Carlo Ancelotti is clear nothing will be done and dusted tonight, insisting “I want to be focused on the next game — tonight will be a different history. We know we must play against a fantastic team but we have confidence to do our best. It will be different because we have to play 180 minutes, so obviously we want to start well, but we have to know that everything will be decided at Old Trafford (in the second leg). Nothing will be decided tonight.”
On the team itself, Carlo says “I have already decided the lineup. It is not easy to do this, I have fantastic players, more than 11, it is not easy to do my job. We have seen Torres play well for the team, he did not score, he is not happy for this reason, but in my opinion he played well for the team. He has an opportunity (Wednesday) to play the same.”
Alex Ferguson meanwhile, obviously glad to get the second leg at home, is hoping they get a good bit of the job done before we get to Old Trafford, saying “If we go back to Old Trafford with some advantage, we will be very difficult to beat. The name of the game is to go back with a goal or maybe two. On this occasion, I was quite happy to get the second leg at Old Trafford. It will be a magnificent atmosphere there.”
SQUAD NEWS
For us, Benayoun and Alex are unlikely to be risked as they both come back from long-term absences, whilst David Luiz is cup-tied. Ancelotti has no fresh injuries but will have to do his usual juggling act with our forwards.
For United, Fetcher (virus) remains a doubt, although Van der Sar is fit again. Ferdinand (calf), Rafael (hamstring) and Anderson (knee) could return but there’s less certainty around O’Shea (hamstring) and Wes Brown (knock) who both missed training.
TEAMS
CHELSEA (from): Cech, Bosingwa, Ferreira, Terry, Ivanovic, Zhirkov, Cole, Mikel, McEachran, Essien, Lampard, Ramires, Kalou, Malouda, Anelka, Torres, Drogba, Turnbull.
UNITED (from): Van der Sar, Kuszczak, Rafael, Ferdinand, Vidic, Smalling, Evans, Fabio, Evra, Valencia, Obertan, Park, Gibson, Anderson, Carrick, Scholes, Giggs, Nani, Berbatov, Hernandez, Owen,
LAST MEETING
Chelsea 2-1 United (1 March 2011)
PREDICTION
If we look at form, we’re unbeaten in our last eight games while United have won their last four. Historically, United haven’t had a win at Stamford Bridge for 9 years but this is different, this is the Champions League and we all know what happened the last time we met in this competition.
Blue is the colour
