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Chelsea are expected to join Tottenham and Manchester United in the last eight of the Champions League tonight as they take a 2-0 lead into the second-leg against FC Copenhagen at Stamford Bridge.
Two Nicolas Anelka goals in Denmark three weeks ago have given Carlo Ancelotti’s team the advantage.
Copenhagen now have to score at least twice tonight if they are to prevent Chelsea winning after 90 minutes.
The home fans will be desperate for Fernando Torres to score his first goal for the club this evening. He hasn’t opened his Chelsea account since joining from Liverpool and it would be another piece of the revival jigsaw in place if the Spaniard was to get off the mark.
Ahead of the game, Torres has been speaking about his ambition to win the Champions League with Chelsea, saying: “Just like everybody at Chelsea I’d give anything for this to be another double season – that’s the dream.”
The Champions League seems like the most likely chance for silverware for the Blues this season as they sit a daunting nine points behind Manchester United in the race for the Premier League title.
European competition is certainly the focus this evening.
As far as team news is concerned, long-term injury victim Alex has been back in training this week but will not feature in the game this evening. There are no other fresh injury concerns for Ancelotti.
Mikael Antonsson is struggling to be fit for Copenhagen and Zdenek Pospech is suspended for them, so they certainly face a tough challenge to get something from the game, let alone do enough to progress to the next round.
Manager Stale Solbakken says that ‘the key to the game is who scores the first goal’ and this will certainly set the tempo for the game, but there is no doubt Chelsea are expected to do enough to emerge victorious.
By Thomas Rooney
