The Champions league will take centrestage from Tuesday with the Continental sides looking to overhaul last season’s dominance of the English clubs
The Champions league will take centrestage from Tuesday with the Continental sides looking to overhaul last season’s dominance of the English clubs The midfielder’s presence will give Chelsea coach Luiz Felipe Scolari added confidence as he takes charge of his first Champions League match with the BluesLONDON: Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari heads into his side’s opening Champions League fixture against Bordeaux insisting he doesn’t feel under pressure to win Europe’s top club prize.
Michael Ballack will return for Tuesday’s game against Bordeaux after being sidelined for three weeks. The 31-year-old midfielder last played for Chelsea against Wigan on 24 August. “He will play but I do not know whether it will be for 45 minutes, 60 or 70,” said Chelsea boss Luiz Felipe Scolari.
Just four months after Chelsea beat a weary retreat from Moscow in the aftermath of their Champions League final defeat against Manchester United, the Blues return to European action at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday. John Terry and company would love to reach next year’s final in Rome and avenge that heart-breaking penalty shoot-out loss, but Scolari refuses to attach special importance to the competition because he knows he has to deliver success on all fronts to satisfy owner Roman Abramovich.
“The pressure for me and the players is not only for the Champions League,” Scolari said. “It is for the FA Cup, the League Cup and the Premier League - we want to win all of the games. For me, the Champions League is not more important than the League Cup. It is important but it is not more important than a league game. We need to think game by game. If I say the Champions League is the most important then my players will ask why they need to bother in the other games.”
Scolari’s glittering 26-year managerial career includes World Cup glory and success at the highest level in South America, but Tuesday’s clash will be his first taste of the Champions League’s rarefied atmosphere.
Like Scolari, Bordeaux boss Blanc will also be taking charge of his first match in the continent’s elite competition. The former France and Manchester United defender admits his side, who drew 1-1 with Marseille on Saturday, are struggling to live up to their billing as title contenders.
Probable teams:
Chelsea: Cech, A Cole, Carvalho, Terry, Bosingwa, Mikel, Deco, Ballack, Lampard, J Cole, Anelka Bordeaux: Ramé, Placente, Diawara, Henrique, Chalmé, Diarra, Wendel, Gouffran, Gourcuff, Cavenaghi, Chamakh
Bordeaux: Ramé, Placente, Diawara, Henrique, Chalmé, Diarra, Wendel, Gouffran, Gourcuff, Cavenaghi, Chamakh
Spanish international remained on the bench after suffering a hamstring injury against Aston Villa on August 31; Mascherano is also unlikely to playMARSEILLE: Liverpool are sweating on the fitness of key players Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League encounter away to Marseille. Gerrard managed 22 minutes of Saturday’s confidence boosting 2-1 win over Manchester United on his return from a groin operation.
But Spanish international Torres remained on the bench after suffering a hamstring injury against Aston Villa on August 31. Javier Mascherano is also a doubt after pulling up with a calf problem in Saturday’s game. Liverpool are second in the Premier League and head to France on a high after manager Rafael Benitez saw his team record their first victory over United in his five-year reign at Anfield.
Olympique Marseille must have no fear when they host Liverpool in their Champions League Group D opener on Tuesday despite painful memories of the English club’s last visit, said midfielder Mathieu Valbuena. “We’re full of confidence and must not show any inferiority complex,” said Valbuena, who remembers Liverpool stormed through to the last 16 of European soccer’s showcase event with a spectacular 4-0 win at the Velodrome stadium last December.
“We have no reason to be fearful,” Valbuena, who returned to action this weekend after nursing a groin strain, said. “Liverpool are the favourites in the group and it’s a good thing to start against them,” added the playmaker, who scored a superb goal to make Marseille the first French club to beat Liverpool at Anfield in October last year.
Marseille should be at full strength with Valbuena and France winger Hatem Ben Arfa, who has recovered from a knee injury, both expected to start after coming on as substitutes in an entertaining 1-1 draw at Girondins Bordeaux on Saturday.
That result left the 1993 European champions undefeated after five Ligue 1 matches and second in the standings, two points behind champions Olympique Lyon.
Liverpool, second in the Premier League, boosted their morale by beating arch-rivals Manchester United 2-1 on Saturday.
Probable teams:
Olympique Marseille: Steve Mandanda, Laurent Bonnart, Ronald Zubar, Hilton, Taye Taiwo, Hatem Ben Arfa, Modeste Mbami, Mathieu Valbuena, Benoit Cheyrou, Bakary Kone, Mamadou Niang; Liverpool: Pepe Reina, Alvaro Arbeloa, Jamie Carragher, Martin Skrtel, Fabio Aurelio, Yossi Benayoun, Steven Gerrard, Albert Riera, Xabi Alonso, Dirk Kuyt, Robbie Keane
Liverpool: Pepe Reina, Alvaro Arbeloa, Jamie Carragher, Martin Skrtel, Fabio Aurelio, Yossi Benayoun, Steven Gerrard, Albert Riera, Xabi Alonso, Dirk Kuyt, Robbie Keane
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