The blues will look to overturn the 3-1 deficit in their quarterfinal against Paris Saint-Germain
Chelsea players at a training session in Stoke d'Abernon, near London, on Monday, the eve of their Champions League quarterfinal second leg match against Paris Saint-Germain. The London side lost the first leg 1-3 in Paris last week
London: Chelsea will hope to draw inspiration from their 2012 Champions League triumph when they attempt to overturn a 3-1 deficit in their quarterfinal against Paris Saint Germain on Tuesday. Javier Pastore’s 90th minute solo goal in last week’s first leg at Parc des Princes gave PSG a two goal advantage that puts them firmly in control of the tie ahead of the second leg at Stamford Bridge.
Only 24 per cent of the teams have lost 1-3 in the away leg of a Uefa tie since 1970 have gone on to reach the next round, but Chelsea can take heart from the fact that they pulled off just such a feat two years ago. A 1-3 defeat at Napoli in the last 16 precipitated the sacking of coach Andre Villas-Boas, but his successor, Roberto di Matteo, oversaw a 4-1 win after extra time in the return leg, before leading the west London club to victory on penalties over Bayern Munich in the final.
Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho has never lost a European quarter final, and defeat by PSG would be doubly difficult for the Portuguese to swallow in the light of di Matteo’s achievement in 2012 and last year’s Europa League success under interim manager Rafael Benitez. Furthermore, with Chelsea’s Premier League title challenge wobbling, success in the Champions League has taken on even greater importance.
Mourinho is relishing the prospect of Tuesday’s game, declaring that his side can approach the match “without fear”. “I want to enjoy that game. I enjoy the difficulty. Now we know that we need to win 2-0, 3-1, 4-1, 5-2. We know that we need a crazy result against Paris. We must be ready to go without fear, go at them, and see what happens,” Mourinho said.
Chelsea have kept eight consecutive clean sheets at Stamford Bridge, but PSG are on a club record run of 11 successive wins and have lost by two clear goals only once in their last 110 fixtures.
Dortmund pray for Real miracle
Borussia Dortmund insist they have not given up hope of a Champions League miracle in the quarterfinal second-leg against Real Madrid, even with the Spaniards holding a 3-0 lead. Last season’s finalists Dortmund stand on the verge of a Champions League exit as they need to over-turn the huge deficit after last Wednesday’s defeat at Madrid’s Bernabeu. Cristiano Ronaldo is set to start after he was forced off with a knee problem during the first leg, having scored Real’s third goal, and was rested for a 4-0 win away to Real Sociedad.
( Source : AFP )
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