Reghecampf rallies Steaua for Chelsea rematch

FC Steaua Bucureşti may be hosting "one of the favourites to win the Champions League" in Chelsea FC, but they remain eager to bounce back from their opening 3-0 defeat at FC Schalke 04. Laurenţiu Reghecampf, whose side succumbed against the same opposition in last term's UEFA Europa League round of 16, vowed to counteract Chelsea's attacking riches with a philosophy that hinges on the subtle art of organisation. Counterpart José Mourinho, meanwhile, aims to remedy the ills of the visitors' opening 2-1 Group E reverse to FC Basel 1893.

Steaua
Laurenţiu Reghecampf, coach
We are playing against one of the favourites to win the Champions League – a team we played against last year in the Europa League. Now they are back with José Mourinho as their coach – the best in the world, in my opinion.

Both clubs have no points after the opening game so every point is important and we want to win; we want to qualify. I did not expect Basel to win in London, so the group is more complicated and Chelsea will come here to win. That's why it will be harder for us but we'll do our best.

I like Chelsea's players, even those on the bench. Our next opponents are better than Schalke, so it won't be enough to play as well as we did in the first 60 minutes in Gelsenkirchen. We will play differently this time – we will look to rein in their main players, be very organised, not leave space and play to our strengths.

Weekend result
Friday: Steaua 3-0 ACS Poli Timișoara (Piovaccari 26, Stanciu 40pen, Popa 77)
Tătărușanu; Georgievski, Szukala, Gardoș, Latovlevici; Bourceanu (Pintilii 46), Filip; Iancu, Stanciu (Popa 46), Tănase (Cristea 66); Piovaccari.

• Federico Piovaccari scored his fourth league goal of the season to add to his three in Europe. Steaua are undefeated in the league this season, winning six and drawing one of their opening seven fixtures, scoring 19 goals in the process.

Team news
"We have two players nursing injuries," said Reghecampf. "[Midfielder Mihai] Pintili did not finish the last training session and [Cristian] Tănase is still in pain, but we hope both will be fine and ready to play."

Chelsea
José Mourinho, manager
We did not play well [against Basel] and lost, but we didn't deserve to lose. However, we didn't deserve to win as we did not play well. Steaua have showed that they can play at a high level and will be competitive in this group. They will fight for points and try to qualify for the next round.

They are champions of their country, they have qualified for the Champions League group stage and are more experienced and motivated. For Chelsea, it's the same players but with a different manager. A new manager has to start things off again and normally it takes three months before the team is in top condition.

It is good that my players lost here last year. They know why they lost, they know it is not going to be easy. In terms of concentration and motivation maybe we are one step ahead of where we were for last season's game, the players were taken a bit by surprise.

Weekend result
Saturday: Chelsea 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur FC (Sigurdsson 19; Terry 65)
Čech; Ivanović, Luiz, Terry, Cole; Ramires, Lampard, Oscar (Azpilicueta 83), Mikel (Mata 46), Hazard (Schürrle 69); Torres.

• The visitors came from behind to consolidate their place in the top four, though Fernando Torres was sent off for two bookable offences on 81 minutes.

Team news
Marco van Ginkel is out for six months after undergoing knee surgery, while Eden Hazard and Kevin De Bruyne did not travel to Romania.

Match fact
• Steaua's most successful recent European campaign ended in England in dramatic circumstances. Leading 1-0 from the first leg of their 2005/06 UEFA Cup semi-final tie against Middlesbrough FC, and 3-0 up overall after 24 minutes of the return, they were then heading through on away goals until Massimo Maccarone struck after 89 minutes at the Riverside Stadium to secure a 4-2 home win – and a 4-3 aggregate success – for the English side, who had Chelsea's current back-up custodian, Mark Schwarzer, in goal.