Chelsea v Paris Saint-Germain preview
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Article summary
"If somebody has to be a little bit magic, it's the crowd," said José Mourinho as Chelsea FC welcome Paris Saint-Germain with the score 1-1 and Laurent Blanc excited.
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Article body
• Chelsea hold a slight edge against Paris after the 1-1 first-leg draw
• The Londoners beat Laurent Blanc's men 2-0 at Stamford Bridge in 2014
• José Mourinho is hoping luck and the crowd are on his side
• Blanc believes a Paris win would "change perceptions" of the club
• Paris to wear black armbands after eight French nationals died in a helicopter crash
Possible lineups
Chelsea: Courtois; Ivanović, Terry, Cahill, Azpilicueta; Ramires, Matić, Willian, Fàbregas, Hazard; Costa.
• Out: Mikel (knee)
Paris: Sirigu; Maxwell, Thiago Silva, Marquinhos, Van der Wiel; David Luiz, Thiago Motta, Verratti, Matuidi; Cavani, Ibrahimović.
• Out: Aurier (thigh), Lucas (groin)
José Mourinho, Chelsea manager
We will try to win. When you are losing 3-1 from the first leg you are on the limit of risk. If you concede one goal you are in big trouble. You know you have to score a minimum of three. Tomorrow is different. The result has a complete balance, but we are trying to win.
[Our experience] helps us to sleep well tonight. You feel comfortable to play if it's something you do a lot of times. It's one more game, in spite of being a knockout game and the second leg, so you're calm. But during the game the players play. You are speaking about teams with very good players, some of them very comfortable playing at this level. I think it's more about them.
Champions League, in the knockouts, you need a bit of luck in the details in specific moments. To score a goal in the last minute, even if you do a lot to try to be lucky, it's a lucky detail. Last season we had that. If somebody tomorrow has to be a little bit magic, it's the crowd. We played a semi-final here against Liverpool a few weeks ago and it was fantastic. The crowd was extra. So, the same way in Paris we had a fantastic stadium supporting the home team – hopefully tomorrow we can have that in our favour.
Laurent Blanc, Paris coach
[Victory] would change our perception in France, but also across Europe and maybe with you guys, the press. But we still need to do that. It's easy to talk about, but harder to go out and do it. We're halfway through a two-legged tie. Chelsea have a slight advantage with the away goal, so our aim is to do what Chelsea did in Paris and get through. We'll prepare well. We know what we will be going to do. Chelsea have to work out a balance between attacking and defending. That's their problem. But we know we have to score at least one goal to qualify.
We just prepare normally. Maybe you go into greater detail than for other games, but these are opponents we know better than last year. Nothing will change in terms of the way we train. But there is plenty that is said behind closed doors. To progress, you need experence. Paris have more experience [ than last year] but we're still off what Chelsea have. They took a while to get where they are – and invested heavily. It takes time to become one of the top five or six sides in Europe. That is the process Paris have embarked upon.
We don't have a choice. The first-leg result is what it is. As things stand, once this match starts, we're going out because Chelsea have the away goal. We have to come out and look to qualify. There were some encouraging signs in the first leg. We know we played better than them in that first leg. I have been frank about that. But we know Chelsea can play better tomorrow.
We have to attack and score, regardless of whether Chelsea score, and to be clever and try to play our game. One of Chelsea's main weapons is that they are good on the counterattack, so we can't go gung-ho. We have to be solid and take our chances. I hope we do better than Chelsea did in the first leg, where Chelsea created only one chance and scored from that.
Chelsea start with a slight advantage and we have to take some risks but not too many. We've only had the first act of this tie. Now we need to stand up and be counted, but also stay in the game. We need to stay solid as well as attack and create chances.
Weekend results
Chelsea did not play
Paris 4-1 RC Lens (David Luiz 43, Ibrahimović 60pen, Matuidi 80, Pastore 82; Touzghar 68
Form guide (all competitions)
Chelsea: WWDDWW
Paris: DDWDWW
Match fact
• Chelsea have kept five clean sheets in six home matches against French teams. Against whom was the exception? Find out in our extensive match background.