Scolari starts out on long road to Rome

He has won the FIFA World Cup as well as a host of club trophies in his native Brazil but, two months short of his 60th birthday, Luiz Felipe Scolari will tread new ground when last season's runners-up Chelsea FC begin another UEFA Champions League campaign at home to FC Girondins de Bordeaux.

'More quality'
The former Brazil and Portugal coach, appointed to succeed Avram Grant in the summer, has twice lifted the Copa Libertadores – the South American counterpart to this competition – but he insists the fight for supremacy on this continent is a far tougher proposition: "In Europe there are many teams that are strong. In South America it is the same two or three countries that arrive every year in the final but here there are different countries [capable of winning it]. That means more competition, more quality, more difficulties."

Final loss
A 3-1 win at Manchester City FC on Saturday continued Chelsea's impressive start to the Premier League season, and the manager is eager to launch this latest adventure "in a good way" by beating Bordeaux. "I need to win, my team need to win, and the way [to the final] is hard and long," Scolari said. The Brazilian is all too aware how important the UEFA Champions League has become to the west London club, given the frustrations they have encountered with three semi-final defeats in addition to last term's penalties loss to Manchester United FC in the Moscow final.

English challenge
Scolari – who seems sure to have Michael Ballack available after injury, though Didier Drogba misses out through suspension and Michael Essien with a serious knee problem – was asked if he considered the three other English challengers as Chelsea's main rivals for the crown. "All the teams will be dangerous," he said. "For now the most difficult team for us is Bordeaux. I know everything [about them] – I saw five tapes, the staff have prepared many things for me."

Scoring mark
Bordeaux coach Laurent Blanc is also leading out a side in the competition for the first time, but at least the former France defender has experienced it as a player. Indeed, he remains the oldest – at 36 years and 339 days – to have scored in the tournament, when he netted for United against Olympiacos CFP in October 2002. The 42-year-old led Les Girondins to second place in the 2007/08 Ligue 1 table in his debut season as a coach, yet knows his team face a huge test of their mental and technical capabilities both at Stamford Bridge and in Group A.

Menegazzo available
He said: "We have not got the set-up and players that Chelsea have, but one of the charming things about football is that any team can beat another if they have the right desire. We are not apprehensive and we are not here to make up the numbers, but we are facing one of the best three or four teams in the world." Bordeaux are likely to recall Fernando Menegazzo after a domestic suspension kept the Brazilian out of Saturday's 1-1 draw against Olympique de Marseille, while Diego Placente and Franck Jurietti are poised to deputise for suspended full-backs Matthieu Chalmé and Benoît Trémoulinas.