Roberto Ayala has
exclusively told an website on how he hopes to win his personal
duel with Didier Drogba on Tuesday night and help steer Valencia
through to the UEFA Champions League semi-finals.
Drogba scored Chelsea's equaliser in the 1-1 draw at Stamford
Bridge as he took advantage of Ayala's misjudgement to head a long
ball past Santiago Canizares and give The Blues a foothold in the
tie.
The Ivorian will again carry the greatest threat for Jose
Mourinho's side at the Mestalla, but Ayala insists he is relishing
the chance to do battle with the 30-goal striker once more.
Valencia's experienced stopper was victorious over Drogba in the
2004 Uefa Cup final, when the striker played for Marseille, and was
also in the Argentina team that defeated Ivory Coast 2-1 at the
World Cup in Germany last summer.
"Drogba is a dangerous striker, the other day he profited from an
opening to score a goal," Ayala told the website. "That is his
quality and I am prepared for the battle in the Mestalla on
Tuesday.
"I am not a friend of statistics but I desire to have another
success against Drogba.
"This will be the fourth meeting in club and national games, but it
is never easy to stop the African. Today he is one of the best
strikers in Europe.
"Drogba is a big striker but I do not fear him. During my career I
have played and beaten better strikers than the Ivorian.
"In football it is men against men and I have never been afraid on
the field. An Argentinian player is ready for anything."
Valencia hold the advantage courtesy of their away goal, but Ayala
insists there will be no complacency creeping into Quique Sanchez
Flores' squad ahead of the second leg in Spain.
"This elimination is not decided. For Valencia it will be a fatal
error to believe that after the tie in London we have qualified for
the next round," Ayala added.
"Now I expect a hard match in Valencia with more complications than
at Stamford Bridge.
"In the second round, Inter were the favourites and now the
situation is similar. People expect Chelsea to reach the
semi-finals but after 90 minutes the ball is in our court.
"Valencia will exploit this and play with intelligence. That is our
main advantage."
A tumultuous 0-0 home draw with Internazionale was enough for
Valencia to book their place in the quarter-finals, but Ayala
believes the Che will not be adopting a defensive mentality against
a Chelsea side whose powers he believes have waned.
Indeed, the experienced defender believes he can undo the pain of
consecutive final defeats in 2000 and 2001 before he joins
Villarreal in the summer.
"A defensive match at home to maintain the 1-1? Impossible, that
will be madness. Valencia is offensive and does not know the word
fear.
"Sincerely I have never ruled out beating Chelsea because this
season I have viewed some games and The Blues are not the same
power as last year.
"This is my last season at Valencia and I desire to play in a
Champions League final and revenge the two defeats in my
career."