SPORT

Preview Chelsea vs Inter Milan Uefa Champions League 16/03/2010

Chelsea - Inter Milan, Tuesday March 16th, Kick-off time 20.45 CET hours, Stamford Bridge Stadium, London. First leg Inter-Chelsea 2-1 When Chelsea and Inter Milan head to the dressing room after tonight’s second leg of their second round encounter, one of the favourites for winning this years Champions League edition will have been eliminated.

Chelsea has reached the semi-final five times the last six seasons, losing the 2008 final after penalties to Manchester United. Last year they were only seconds away from their second Champions League final in a row when Andres Iniesta destroyed the Londoners dreams with a crackling shot from the sixteen yard line in overtime, sending Barcelona to the Rome final that ended in a 2-0 victory for the Spaniards.

Internazionale is managed by former Chelsea-boss José Mourinho, hungry for international success with a side that has won five national championships in a row and is leading the serie A again this year. But having lost striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Barcelona and showing bad form for the past couple of weeks, the bookies give the nudge to Chelsea. The last time the Italians reached the quarter finals was in 2006, after beating Ajax Amsterdam in a one-sided match up. The last three years the Italians were eliminated in the first round of the knockout phase.

The London team, third on the current European ranking versus an eleventh place for Inter, seems more stable, more solid and more dangerous in attack. Where Inter relies on the individual qualities of former Barcelona striker Samuel Eto´o, Argentinian attacker Milito and Dutch attacking midfielder Wesley Sneijder, Chelsea looks to be the leaner, meaner fighting machine.

The biggest handicap for the London side seems to be a relatively great number of. Manager Carlo Ancelotti won´t be able to field goalkeeper Petr Cech, Ashley Cole, Mickaël Essien José Bosingwa or Henrique Hilario. But of those listed only Cech and Essien are considered to be key players.

Inter will have to do without injured central defender Cristian Chivu and striker Mario Balotelli, who was left out of the side that travelled to London after a clash with Mourin´. Wesley Sneijder’s appearance is uncertain, the Dutch star suffers from a mild flue, but Inters medical stuff has gotten orders to get him fit and onto the pitch. One promising statistic for the Italians is that Inter never lost two games in a row with Mourinho on the bench. The last match they played ended in a 3-1 defeat at lowly placed Catania.