UCL : Porto Vs Chelsea

ghimpheng SG

Prediction : 1 - 2

eemtij SG

More likely Porto 0 - 1 Chelsea.

Shev to score.

ghimpheng SG

PORTO PLAN TO ATTACK CHELSEA
20/02/2007
PORTO, Portugal (Reuters) - Jesualdo Ferreira's Porto will stick to their own style and spirit and play to win their first knockout round Champions League game against English champions Chelsea on Wednesday.

"Porto will play in the style they are known for: playing to win," the Porto coach told a news conference on Tuesday.

"We will face the game with a strong will to win. We want to win and build here a springboard for success in the tie," Ferreira said.

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Porto travel to Stamford Bridge for the second leg in two weeks' time.

The wealthy London side, owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich and coached by Jose Mourinho, the man who led Porto to the Champions League title in 2004, start favourites to qualify for the quarter-finals.

"Chelsea are strong collectively and as a group that has had the same leadership for more than two years," Ferreira said.

Ferreira is the fifth coach Porto have employed since Mourinho's departure, which sparked an exodus of talent from the northern Portuguese side. Two defenders, Ricardo Carvalho and Paulo Ferreira, followed Mourinho to Chelsea.

The Chelsea manager arrived in the city on Tuesday to a surprisingly warm welcome and happily signed autographs at the airport.

The 43-year-old expected a mixed reception with many fans angry that he deserted the club immediately after the Champions League triumph.

He was taunted two seasons ago when the sides met in the group stage of the competition. Chelsea won the home tie 3-1 and lost in Porto 2-1 after already qualifying for the next round.

ghimpheng SG

MOURINHO CONFIDENT CHELSEA WILL PREVAIL
20/02/2007
PORTO, Portugal (Reuters) - Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho expects a difficult Champions League game against his former club Porto on Wednesday but is confident his current team's pragmatic approach will prevail in the end.

"We should not become emotional but instead use our pragmatism since it is a game of 180 minutes and not 90 minutes," he told a news conference on Tuesday.

"I have to win the qualification and not the game," Mourinho added ahead of the first knockout round match.

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The wealthy west London side, owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, start as favourites to reach the last eight.

"I feel protected by the fact that I am playing the second leg at home, where Chelsea are very strong and win. In three seasons only one team won there (Barcelona)," said Mourinho.

The Chelsea manager, who led Porto to the Champions League title in 2004, arrived in the city on Tuesday to a surprisingly warm welcome and happily signed autographs at the airport.

Mourinho said while Porto are difficult to beat, Chelsea's strong defence and scoring ability should swing the tie.

"Chelsea defend well and don't suffer in a lot of games and during this Champions League season we didn't score in only three games, which shows that we are a balanced team and that we came here (Porto) to get a good result," he said.

Mourinho was taunted by fans two seasons ago when the teams met in the group stage. Chelsea won the home leg 3-1 but lost 2-1 in Porto after having already reached the next round.

ghimpheng SG

seems like my prediction is going to come true again

1 - 1 half time
hopefully 2 - 1 full time

stellazio SG

quaresma is dangerous.. we need to keep possession more and create more chances instead of just defending now that terry is out again. Crying or Very sad

stellazio SG

i hope terry isn't out for too long, suspicion of broken metatarsal. Sad

well, we need to play more positive at stamford bridge thats for sure, we kept possession better in 2nd half but failed to really create much threat.

eemtij SG

At least Shev scored.

I really don't understand why we decided to play defensively during the 2nd half. It was quite obvious that we are content to keep Porto at bay.

Did Mourinho have the Arsenal game in mind so he slowed the game down?

I thought if we pushed a bit more, we could have scored a second goal.

Apart from that, there is only two player who did not do well tonight, Ballack & Drogba. I think Mourinho should sub Ballack at half time or a bit later. Put Geremi in at left back and push Diarra up to midfield. Geremi with fresh legs can contain that Brazilian guy.

Kalou could have come in for Drogba towards the end. It was clear that Drogba was frustrated. He was closed down most of the time leaving space for Shev to move about.

The referee had a good game but the 4 Chelsea bookings were too harsh. Needed Ballack to roll around after a challenge to get a Porto player booked.

Chelsea was playing for a draw. This can be seen by the smiles on the players' faces after the final whistle.

I don't like it.

eemtij SG

Nope. Just a sprain but ruled out for the Carling Cup final.

red_amoeba SG

1-1 is a fair result to bring back to Stamford Bridge. They have at least scored an away goal. Depending on the outcome of Chelsea vs Arsenal (praying no injuries or sorts), Chelsea just need to scrub out a goal-less draw at home and viola, they are through !

No need to win spectacularly or what, a win will do. Given the amount of fixtures they have, it is not difficult to imagine Mourinho doing that.

ghimpheng SG

Chelsea boss Mourinho hails "amazing, brilliant" Sheva
tribalfooball.com - February 21, 2007

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho was full of praise for scorer Andriy Shevchenko after last night's 1-1 draw at Porto.
The Blues suffered a nightmare start when they lost captain John Terry to injury after eight minutes and fell behind just four minutes later to Raul Meireles' deflected strike.

However, Ukrainian striker Shevchenko blasted Chelsea level after 16 minutes with a superb left-footed finish.

The Portuguese coach also hopes to have Arjen Robben, taken off at half-time with a muscle problem, fit for Sunday.

Mourinho added: "Andriy scored a crucial goal for us. He was brilliant. His effort for the team is amazing and so is his improvement.

"I think Robben's injury is a consequence of not warming up. I wanted to put Mikel Jon Obi on but they scored while we were down to 10 men, and so I put Robben on instead.

"He had to go straight on. I don't think it is a big thing. At half-time, he wanted to try and play on but I didn't want to lose another player for a long time so I decided to put Mikel on."

Porto boss Jesualdo Ferreira insisted his team would play better in the return leg at Stamford Bridge and made light of what had been a very aggressive encounter between the two sides.

Porto had been the better team in the opening half, but Mourinho's decision to replace substitute Arjen Robben with Mikel Jon Obi at half-time curtailed the home side's attacking thrust.

Ferreira said: "We think the game was very aggressive in a positive way.

"Porto were clearly better in the first half, but there was a decisive moment in the game when Chelsea scored their goal because it helped their confidence.

"The draw is clearly a negative result, but we think Porto as a team will play better in the second game in London.

"In London, we expect to play exactly the same, but there is another 90 minutes. We lost some confidence in the last 15 minutes but we are a young team.

"Both teams showed physical weaknesses towards the end. Chelsea tried to control the game, and we tried to win. That is what happened."