Chelsea v Benfica, Quarter Final UCL 2nd Leg, K/O 7:45 PM, ITV & RTE

GavRedKing

v

Chelsea could have Didier Drogba, David Luiz and Raul Meireles available for the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final against Benfica after the trio trained ahead of the game.
Centre-back David Luiz picked up an ankle injury in Saturday's league win over Aston Villa.

“"This tie is far from over. They have scored in every away game of their Champions League season, so it's a difficult task” Roberto Di Matteo Chelsea manager

Striker Drogba and midfielder Meireles both missed that game with respective foot and knee injuries.


Chelsea hold a 1-0 lead over Benfica as they try to secure a semi-final spot.

The Stamford Bridge side hold the advantage but Blues caretaker manager Roberto di Matteo has warned his side they cannot be complacent as they aim for their sixth semi-final in nine years.

"It is a danger. This is half-time and we're leading 1-0. But a 1-0 lead is basically nothing," said the Italian, whose side overturned a first leg 3-1 deficit against Napoli in the last round.

"Our players are aware of this, and we'll have to go into this game with the right attitude, the same attitude as against Napoli."

Di Matteo added: "Benfica have scored in every away game of their Champions League season, so it's a difficult task."

Chelsea have six wins and a draw from eight games since Di Matteo took temporary charge following the departure of Andre Villas-Boas.

The former Chelsea midfielder would not discuss whether he would seek a longer-term appointment but said: "I need to win games, it's as simple as that. It's a results business and that's all that matters."

He also remained guarded on Chelsea's chances of winning the Champions League for the first time.

"I don't think about that," he insisted. "I have no time to think about that anyway.

"I'm full on in my work all day to prepare the team tactically and physically for the next game.

"There's so little time between games as well, so I haven't really sat down and thought about that."

Chelsea (from): Cech, Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Terry, Luiz, Cahill, Cole, Bertrand, Mikel, Romeu, Essien, Meireles, Ramires, Lampard, Mata, Malouda, Drogba, Torres, Sturridge, Kalou, Turnbull.

Winner has a huge task playing Barca in the Semi's.

Chelsea 3-1 tonight for me. At hiem we have too much for Benfica and I expect a similar performance to the Napoli game.

---

Cech

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Ivan---Luiz---Jt---Cole

---Mikel---Ramires----

Sturridge--Mata--Kalou

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Torres

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NinjaK

Would love Benfica to go through!!

GavRedKing

I'm sure every the majority of non Chelsea fans would TBH.

Good point though, well done.

cgpg5

gavredking wrote: »

I'm sure every none Chelsea fan would TBH.

Good point though, well done.

As a neutral, I always follow the English teams in Europe, hope Chelsea go through!

Caveman1

NinjaK wrote: »

Would love Benfica to go through!!

I don't get this? Whenever there's a chance another English team can do well and it's not at the expense of my own team I always cheer them on, if Chelsea were to go out tonight it would make it far less interesting, anyway I hope Chelsea don't come out tonight thinking that the tie is over cause a 1-0 lead is nothing, I think we'll win 2-0 though, Torres 1st goal

GavRedKing

cgpg5 wrote: »

As a neutral, I always follow the English teams in Europe, hope Chelsea go through!

Re-worded.

Jagera

As a Chelsea fan I'm hoping Chelsea go through.

Sgt Pepper 64

Caveman1 wrote: »

I don't get this? Whenever there's a chance another English team can do well and it's not at the expense of my own team I always cheer them on, if Chelsea were to go out tonight it would make it far less interesting, anyway I hope Chelsea don't come out tonight thinking that the tie is over cause a 1-0 lead is nothing, I think we'll win 2-0 though, Torres 1st goal

because he's anti-english anything
Look at his previous posts

Everyones allowed their own opinion if handled democratically.

Although popping in just to say that shows what we are dealing with here!

Giggsy11

Hopefully Chelsea goes through, not that I like them just to watch Chelsea Vs Barca in the semi finals. It would be lot better than Barca Vs Benfica.

GavRedKing

Torres first goal scorer and a Chelsea win?

Think thats where I'm going to lose my money tonight.

Hopefully only on the Torres bit though.

dfx-

Whilst Barcelona v Benfica is great from a Barcelona perspective and the prospect of the Chelsea/English media/EPL fans' focus/circus is a nightmare, I think I would've preferred Barcelona v Napoli instead.

Benfica it is so...go Benfica...

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

Barca -vs- Chelsea in the semi would be very interesting indeed. Chelsea need to get their act together tho and start playing consistenly well, Barca aren't doing anything special atm, and as small as it may be, there's a chance they could beat them. They need to handle Benfica first though, hopefully Torres plays well again, starting to show some form and I think he will score again today.

GavRedKing

Hopefully Torres continues his good form, although I'll take us going through and Torres having a stinker to.

Crann na Beatha

This post has been deleted.

Sgt Pepper 64

Aquila wrote: »

Carefree!
Hope we play to our best and Torres has a great game:)

I'll be there on the sofa, beer in one hand, plastic flag in the other

"Carefree, since June 2003, we are the FAMOUS CFC!"

token101

I'd love to see Di Matteo win the CL tbh.

GavRedKing

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

I'll be there on the sofa, beer in one hand, plastic flag in the other

"Carefree, since June 2003, we are the FAMOUS CFC!"

I'm sure we will all have our plastic flags ready for tonight.

Sure arent we all supporting Chelsea since Roman took over. :pac:

GavRedKing

token101 wrote: »

I'd love to see Di Matteo win the CL tbh.

He'd proabbly still get the sack if Pep or Jose became available.

JONJO THE MISER

Im betting on Chelsea to win and 1 or 2 goals in the match at 3/1 with Paddy Power.

JerryHandbag

Chelsea - Barca semi is the one I want to see, Chelsea to go through. 2-2 on the night.

thebison

Tonight's your night Fernando...

CFC: Cech, Ivanovic, Cole, David Luiz, Ramires, Lampard, Torres, Mata, Mikel, Kalou, Terry (c). #ChampionsLeague
Chelsea subs: Turnbull, Essien, Drogba, Meireles, Ferreira, Sturridge, Cahill.

GavRedKing

Fernando will do the business dont worry lads. :-)

MagicMarker

I hope Chelsea go through, just so I can see Barcelona slaughter them in the semis.

GavRedKing

MagicMarker wrote: »

I hope Chelsea go through, just so I can see Barcelona slaughter them in the semis.

Wont happen. Ooohhh and your sour grapes are on the way.

By wont happen I mean Barca wont slaughter us at all.

RiseToTheTop

Before the draw I thought "I hope Barca don't play Bayern, cos they'll beat them."

I know that whenever Chelsea face Barca it is always tough. Barca mightn't be the team they were under Mourinho or even Scolari, but I think they always up a gear for Barca.

MagicMarker

RiseToTheTop wrote: »

Before the draw I thought "I hope Barca don't play Bayern, cos they'll beat them."

I know that whenever Chelsea face Barca it is always tough. Barca mightn't be the team they were under Mourinho or even Scolari, but I think they always up a gear for Barca.

What?

Adolf Hipster

Caveman1 wrote: »

I don't get this? Whenever there's a chance another English team can do well and it's not at the expense of my own team I always cheer them on, if Chelsea were to go out tonight it would make it far less interesting, anyway I hope Chelsea don't come out tonight thinking that the tie is over cause a 1-0 lead is nothing, I think we'll win 2-0 though, Torres 1st goal

Look at the thread for the CL final last year, almost anyone that wasn't a Man United fan, was a Barcelona fan, and by god there was a lot of Barca fans that night.

GavRedKing

Adolf Hipster wrote: »

Caveman1 wrote: »

I don't get this? Whenever there's a chance another English team can do well and it's not at the expense of my own team I always cheer them on, if Chelsea were to go out tonight it would make it far less interesting, anyway I hope Chelsea don't come out tonight thinking that the tie is over cause a 1-0 lead is nothing, I think we'll win 2-0 though, Torres 1st goal

Look at the thread for the CL final last year, almost anyone that wasn't a Man United fan, was a Barcelona fan, and by god there was a lot of Barca fans that night.

Happens all the time. I was out with a few Utd supporting buddies and there was loads of banter and some abuse when they lost but most supporters of another english club will always begrudge each other. Personally i couldnt care.

Crann na Beatha

This post has been deleted.

GavRedKing

Theres a load of plastic flags in the ground tonight. :pac:

Adolf Hipster

Aquila wrote: »

I'm supporting chelsea tonight, never said I wasn't, just pointed something out to someone.

Turtyturd

MagicMarker wrote: »

What?

I think he meant he hopes Barca don't play Barca cos they will beat them. Whenever Barca play Barca it is always tough. Barca might not be the team they were under Barca or even Barca nut he thinks they always up a gear for Barca.

Mr.Crinklewood

Early pressure and some blocks that Terry Butcher would be proud of.

Hank Scorpio

Benfica looking lively

hots

F*ing RTE audio is too fast :mad:

Renn

RTE audio on the stream slightly ahead for everybody else?

Mr.Crinklewood

hobbit of the shire wrote: »

F*ing RTE audio is too fast :mad:

Mine is as fine as one of those blocks.

homer simpson

Stone wall penalty, what was he thinking there. Only just from Lampard :cool:

GavRedKing

Job done :pac:

weiland79

hobbit of the shire wrote: »

F*ing RTE audio is too fast :mad:

I thought was going a bit mad. It's about a half second too fast.

Get in there lamps ( crowd cheering before it went in on my tellie)

Crann na Beatha

This post has been deleted.

eagle eye

Game over already.

homer simpson

Renn wrote: »

RTE audio on the stream slightly ahead for everybody else?

weiland79 wrote: »

I thought was going a bit mad. It's about a half second too fast.

Get in there lamps ( crowd cheering before it went in on my tellie)

It's on ITV too.

Mr.Crinklewood

Ref is a bit of an arse.

Hank Scorpio

wtf was Luiz at there?

Renn

eagle eye wrote: »

Game over already.

lolz

weiland79

eagle eye wrote: »

Game over already.

I seem to remember us losing a 3 goal lead against a certain club from manchester not so long ago so lets not count our chickens just yet.

parc

andy townsend is such a massive cnut. He actually said "get in" when chelsea scored against napoli. I can understand ITV having a little bias towards the English teams but what townsend does is a joke

Hank Scorpio

ref is a joker imo

Jax Teller

What a red ?

Washington Irving

Straight red?