Chelsea will be hoping their outstanding home record will be enough to help them overturn a two-goal deficit when they play Paris St Germain in the quarterfinal, second-leg of the Champions League on Tuesday.Manager Jose Mourinho has never lost a quarter-final tie in the competition, in histime with Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan andReal Madrid, and is desperate not to break that run at Stamford Bridge.Their 3-1 defeat in Paris last week, when a last-minute goal gave PSG a two-goal cushion, made life difficult for the Englishside, who won the Champions League in 2012.But it is their home form - with 15 wins out of 17 in the league this season - that gives Chelsea fans most hope.Its the worst time of the season to get results like this but we are a different team at Stamford Bridge with our fans behind us, midfielder Andreas Schuerrlesaid. It will be difficult but it is not impossible.Mourinho has bemoaned a side with no strikers due to the lack of form of Fernando Torres, Demba Ba and SamuelEtoo this season. Torres drew a blank in the weekend win over Stoke and Mourinho is so desperate that he may bewilling to risk a semi-fit Etoo on Tuesday.If we dont score a minimum of two goals, we are out, we know that, he said. If we can have everybody available who can give us a chance to score goals then lets do that. So maybe Iwill pick him but to risk a player you need to have minimum conditions.If you think hes going to be out after 10 minutes of the game you cant take that risk. But if there is a minimum of conditions of risk, then, yes, I will pick him. Midfield stalwart Frank Lampard said Chelsea need to maintain their focus throughout, with any slip in concentration likely to be costly.The problem with Champions League football is that you cant settle for having good periods in the game like we did the other night, he said.The quality levels are so high that in little moments you can end up losing the game.That was the disappointing thing about Paris but weve got the ability and weve got the desire. We have to have confidence in ourselves and go and try and turn it around.With the squad weve got and the players weve got we can the game by two goals, for sure, but we cant be too gung-ho. Its about finding the right balance on the night.Well look at it. I think that is when you trust the manager. He is very strong in these situations.PSG meanwhile will have to compensate for the loss of Sweden striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who is expected to be sidelined for up to four weeks and wouldalso miss the semi-finals if the French side go through.Ibrahimovic, who has 10 goals in this seasons competition, picked up a thigh injury in the 69th minute of the first leg.
Posted on: Mon, 07 Apr 2014 15:59:14 +0000
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