Venue: Stamford Bridge

Date: Tuesday 15 Sept

Kick-off: 1945 BST

Chelsea have made the semi-final of the Champions League in five of the last six years, losing the final in a penalty shoot-out against Manchester United in 2007, and after yet more disappointment in Europe last season, which ended for us with what has to be the worst ever Champions League performance by a ref and subsequent ban for two of our players, Chelsea kick off this season’s Champions League campaign with a home game against Porto tonight. 

The Portuguese outfit have had a decent start to their season with three wins and a draw so far. We’ve fared slightly better with five wins from five, which won’t please a Porto side who don’t generally win in England – although for Chelsea, that could just add to the weight of expectation.

As far as the manager’s go, Porto manager Jesualdo Ferreira is pretty experienced although is often thought to be a little over-cautious, particularly in the big games and whilst Carlo Ancelotti hasn’t always been noted for his sense of adventure either, this is a competition he’s won a couple of times.

MANAGERS’ THOUGHTS

Much has been made of Carlo Ancelotti allegedly suggesting he ‘believes’ Chelsea can win the Champions League this time, what he’s actually saying ahead of tonight’s game is “It is not really that the club asked me to win the Champions League.  They asked me to win the Champions League, the Premiership, to win the FA Cup, to win the Carling Cup.  I think that for Chelsea it is important to be in this competition and to think that we have the possibility to win.  This is not easy because it is a very particular competition the Champions League.  We have to do try to do our best to win and I think that we have the possibility because we have a very strong team and fantastic players, fantastic mental attitude. But we have to think match by match.  It’s not easy to win the Champions League, it’s important to be a bit lucky.  I don’t think there is a psychological problem. Chelsea have arrived very close and will do so again. I think there is a real possibility to do well this season.”

Jesualdo Ferreira meanwhile, mindful of Porto’s previous encounters in England, says “In the last two seasons we have started badly against English teams but still finished top of our group.  I don’t know why we have not won against English teams in England but I hope it will be different this season.  Chelsea are one of the best teams in England.  They are very difficult to start with in the group.   They have very good players who are mature and very experienced. They have been playing together for a very long time.  They are the strongest team in this phase. But we also have a very strong team. We want to keep our own identity and will play the way we always do.   We want to reach as far as we can in this competition. We have been working very hard in the last two years to improve this team and get to a level of where we want to be.  The difference between this year and last is that we have a lot more players with experience for their national teams but we will continue to play in the style we are used to.”

SQUAD NEWS

Chelsea have to manage this game without the services of both Didier Drogba and Jose Bosingwa through suspension, so Kalou is likely to partner Nicolas Anelka up front with Branislav Ivanovic covering at right-back. On the injury front, Alex (groin), Deco (calf), Joe Cole, Paulo Ferreira and Yuri Zhirkov (all knee) all miss out. And youngsters Sam Hutchinson, Jeffrey Bruma and Fabio Borini look like being added to the squad.

TEAMS

(Possible starting XI)

CHELSEA: Cech; Ivanovic, Terry, Carvalho, A Cole; Essien; Lampard, Ballack; Kalou, Malouda; Anelka.

PORTO: Helton; Fucile, Rolando, Bruno Alves, Alvaro Pereira; Belluschi, Fernando, Meireles; Falcao, Hulk, Rodriguez.

PREDICTION

I’m not sure this game will be as easy as I’d like it to be. Porto are fairly adept at getting the ball to their forwards at speed and they’re not too shabby on the break either so we can’t afford the sort of errors Ivanovic and Cech were guilty of against Stoke.  So obviously the absence of Bosingwa isn’t entirely helpful. Likewise the absence of Didier Drogba (which of course we’ll need to prepare for in January anyway) isn’t ideal either and we’ll have to hope Nicolas Anelka has got his shooting boots on if we’re going to get some points on the board.

REFEREE

K Plautz (Austria)

Filed under: Europe, Match Day, Preview