København 'buzzing' for Chelsea challenge

After two months of anticipation – in which time they have not played a competitive game – FC København "are buzzing" ahead of the UEFA Champions League round of 16 visit of Chelsea FC on Tuesday according to coach Ståle Solbakken. Carlo Ancelotti is well aware of FCK's quality from their fine group-stage performance that ensured they became the first Danish side to progress this far.

Ståle Solbakken, København coach
Tomorrow is the night we have looked forward to for months. We have been preparing for this match since the start of January and although we haven't had a competitive match in 2011 we are in fine shape and hopefully close to the level we were in the group stage. The players are buzzing with confidence and I feel we can match Chelsea in what I expect to be a close game.

We will try to control the game, keep possession, create chances and try to exploit any eventual Chelsea errors. Chelsea are not in the best of form at the moment, but I feel they have played better than their results showed in their last couple of games. The crowd's belief in us will be a great help: 7,000 of our supporters had confidence that we could win when we played at Camp Nou and with a full stadium tomorrow we will benefit massively. I hope we will win, but a scoreless draw will not be a bad result for us

Carlo Ancelotti, Chelsea manager
The Champions League is the most important competition for us right now. We're under a lot of pressure, but even though things recently have not gone as planned, the players' behaviour has been fantastic. This is football – you can't always stay on top, but if we have patience we can turn this around. It could still be a great season.

København are a very good team who showed a lot of quality in the group stage. They have fantastic organisation and their work ethic is second to none. It will be difficult but if we have courage we can win.

Team news
København
• Martin Bergvold has not played a competitive match since 21 August because of a knee injury but has been a fixture during the winter friendlies. Zdeněk Pospěch and Dame N'Doye are within a booking of a one-match suspension.

Chelsea
• Alex (knee) and Yossi Benayoun (Achilles) are long-term absentees, but Yuri Zhirkov is back in action after suffering a calf strain in Russia's defeat by Belgium on 17 November. John Obi Mikel misses the next game if he receives another yellow card. Of Chelsea's high-profile signings, Fernando Torres is registered but David Luiz is ineligible.

Weekend results
København lead the Danish Super League by 19 points ahead of its resumption on 6 March.

Saturday: Chelsea 1-1 Everton FC (aet, Everton won 4-3 on pens)
(Lampard 104; Baines 119)
Chelsea's dream of becoming the first team in 125 years to win three successive FA Cups ended as Nicolas Anelka (saved) and Ashley Cole (miss) failed from the spot in the fourth-round replay. It is Chelsea's earliest FA Cup exit since 1997/98, when they lost to Manchester United FC in the third round. The Blues have won just one of their last five games in all competitions.

Did you know?
København are unbeaten in five European home games – winning four – stretching back to a 3-1 reverse against Olympique de Marseille in last season's UEFA Europa League round of 32.

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