Manchester United v Chelsea match preview

Home advantage and a crucial away goal mean that Manchester United look favourites to progress to the Champions League semi-finals at the expense of Chelsea this evening.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s side have never lost a European tie having won the first leg and only twice – Inter Milan earlier this year and Ajax in 1996 - has a club progressed to the next round having lost the first game at home.

A Wayne Rooney goal separated the two sides in the quarter final first leg at Stamford Bridge last week, but Carlo Ancelotti’s side can take inspiration from their 2-1 victory at Old Trafford last year. A similar score-line tonight would see them through to the semi-finals on away goals.

Chelsea's strikers have been misfiring of late, in particular £50 Fernando Torres

The last 10 meetings between the two sides at Old Trafford have yielded four United wins, three Chelsea victories and three draws which further suggests that the tie is far from over.

United fans will also remember that Real Madrid came to Old Trafford at the same stage of the competition in 2000 and left with a 3-2 to victory. While in 1997 Borussia Dortmund won 1-0 in Manchester, having lost the first leg at home by the same score-line, and progressed to the final after a penalty shootout victory.

However, the current Premier League leaders’ European home record in recent years has been formidable. Their only defeat in their last 35 games came in 2009 when Besiktas recorded a 1-0 victory. While AC Milan’s 1-0 win in 2005 was the last time any team won a knockout game at Old Trafford.

Chelsea’s away record in Champions League, however, is also impressive. They have scored in seven of their last eight European trips and kept clean sheets in half of these games too.

More worrying for Ancelotti is the fact that his side has failed to score in three of their last four matches in Europe and since January 31st his misfiring strikers – who have a combined value of nearly £100m – have only netted five goals between them.

Yossi Benayoun and Alex’s return to first team action on the weekend does mean that the Italian has a full squad – with the exception of the ineligible David Luiz – to choose from though.

United meanwhile are at full strength apart from right back Rafael and Darren Fletcher who both look likely to miss out.

Source : The Independent 12 April 2011

So what price now Torres, the £50m misfit who can't buy a goal?

Chelsea's gamble on a trophy striker has backfired badly and could yet cost their manager his job. Mark Fleming reports

Since joining Chelsea from Liverpool for £50m in January, Fernando Torres has spoken of his pleasant surprise that there are many more jokes flying about at his new club's training ground, Cobham, than there were at Melwood on Merseyside. The reverse may well be true now he has gone 10 games without scoring following the move, and the misfiring Spaniard is the butt of them all.

Joke is one of the nicer four-letter names given to Torres since Liverpool fans started burning his shirts outside Anfield on the final day of January. Winter has turned to spring, but Torres is still having a season to forget. The spectre of Andrei Shevchenko is starting to loom large, the last great vanity project of Chelsea's owner, Roman Abramovich, that went so horribly wrong for all involved.

Chelsea arrive at Old Trafford tonight desperate for some inspiration to salvage something from their season. In some respects, this type of situation is just why Abramovich sanctioned the £50m purchase of Torres two months ago, to recruit one of the world's finest strikers who can turn a game in a flash of genius. However, in the 10 games since Torres arrived, he has barely justified a tenth of his overblown price tag. He looks laboured, out of touch and unfit. Chelsea have consistently denied there is anything physically wrong with Torres, despite the evidence on the pitch, where he no longer seems able to beat a player with a burst of acceleration, as he would do in the past.

The former Liverpool team-mates Yossi Benayoun (left) and Fernando Torres could link up for Chelsea tonight

In last week's Champions League quarter-final first leg against Manchester United at Stamford Bridge, he raced Rio Ferdinand but could not run faster than a 32-year-old who was playing his first game in almost two months. Torres' alarming loss of pace raises the question whether his right knee has fully recovered from the two operations on it last year, one in January and a second in April.

The Spaniard tore a ligament in his knee in January 2010 in Liverpool's FA Cup third-round defeat against Reading and subsequently missed six weeks of the season. He returned but aggravated the same injury against Benfica in the Europa League in April and again went under the knife of surgeon Ramon Cugat in Barcelona.

He returned to play only a support role in Spain's victorious World Cup campaign, and had managed nine goals from 26 games for Liverpool before Abramovich swooped. Chelsea's manager, Carlo Ancelotti, admitted in February that Torres was not fully fit, but predicted the forward's turn of pace would return. "He is not 100 per cent but he will regain that speed, that acceleration, that people think he has lost," Ancelotti said.

Sources at Liverpool have recently raised doubts that Torres will ever recover his powerful burst of acceleration, that the knee injury has cost him dear, but Chelsea counter by saying they would not have spent £50m on a player without having carried out extensive medical checks that prove he is over the injury.

If Torres' problem is not physical, perhaps it is mental. Chelsea have denied the Spaniard is homesick for Merseyside, although Torres admitted in an interview last month "there are moments when everything seems a mess". He has been living in a flat in Chelsea, but is reported to be buying a house near the club's training ground in the Surrey stockbroker belt.

Maybe not homesick then, but certainly suffering from a loss of confidence, as befits a striker who cannot score for love nor money. The line coming from Spain is that Torres has been assured by Abramovich that the team will be built around him next season, and not to worry too much about scoring this term, which would constitute a remarkable vote of confidence in a player who has so far failed to warrant the money invested in him. You could argue that Ancelotti has done just that already, altering his tried and trusted formation to suit the new signing. However, the Italian has stopped short of following the formation adopted by the former Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez, who went for a 4-2-3-1 system with Steven Gerrard, Dirk Kuyt and one of Albert Riera, Yossi Benayoun or Ryan Babel supplying the striker with ammunition.

The presence of Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka in the Chelsea squad probably means Ancelotti dare not consider such a move, as alienating both players could cause huge ructions in the squad. Benayoun, who moved to Chelsea last summer, gave an insight into the problem at the weekend. "Chelsea are used to playing with Didier, so that means playing up to his body, not playing behind the defenders into the space, which is where Fernando wants the ball," he said. "Slowly, slowly, the players have got to know him better. He is doing the right movement."

Torres claims he is also changing his game to adapt to Chelsea. He told a Spanish newspaper last month: "Drogba, Anelka and [Salomon] Kalou have been playing together for a long time so I watch how they train, their movements off the ball and how they link up. I would have loved to have scored 10 goals by now for my club but I was used to playing in a different formation. I can improve a lot here, but you have to realise that I play further away from the danger zone. I have to improve my team play and try to get to the box at the right time. Dry spells come to an end and the goals will soon arrive."

Soon, but maybe not soon enough to save Chelsea's season, and possibly Ancelotti's job with it.

Striking difference

* Since arriving from Liverpool in January, Fernando Torres has gone 817 minutes – 10 games for Chelsea and one for Spain – without finding the net.

* In his debut season at Liverpool, 2007-08, the striker scored 33 goals in 46 games and his longest run without scoring lasted just three games.

* Torres scored a total of 81 goals in 141 appearances for Liverpool, including eight in 20 Champions League matches.

* Since moving to Stamford Bridge, the Spaniard has managed just six shots on target in his first 10 matches for Chelsea in all competitions.        Michael Lynch

SHAKHTAR V BARCELONA

* Most teams with a 5-1 first leg advantage would be confident on the eve of the second leg of victory, but the Barcelona striker Pedro has cautioned his team-mates about Shakhtar Donetsk tonight. "Although we are defending a good result it will be difficult," he said, in the knowledge that progress will mean a likely semi-final El Clasico with Real Madrid. "There are 90 minutes and anything can happen. They have a great team. We won't change our style. We'll go there to attack." Carles Puyol, Eric Abidal and Bojan are injured for the visitors, and Andres Iniesta suspended. Shakhtar, fresh from a first home defeat in 55 games, will be missing captain Dario Srna, Olexandr Kucher and former Barça defender Dmytro Chygrynskiy. Razvan Rat is suspended.

Source : The Independent 12 April 2011

Alex Ferguson highlights importance of Antonio Valencia return



Valencia has made a huge impact since returning



Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has hailed the contribution of Antonio Valencia to the Red Devils' treble quest.

The South American's second season at Old Trafford came to an abrupt halt in September when he suffered a major ankle injury in United's Champions League opener with Rangers.

It took Valencia six months to get fit again but it now appears he has never been away.

The winger scored his first goal since August to wrap up Saturday's comfortable Premier League win over Fulham and Ferguson has already identified him as a key man in tonight's eagerly-anticipated Champions League return with Chelsea.

"We expected Antonio to come back like this," said Ferguson.

"He is an outstanding footballer, who is very capable of being a threat.

"His understanding of the game is terrific. He has a great tactical brain. The boy has everything, balance, power and speed.

"When we got nearer the time, we couldn't get him back quickly enough.

"We arranged closed-doors games to get his tempo and rhythm back.

"Nani has had a fantastic season. To have the two of them available is a tremendous boost at this time of year."

Ferguson has every reason to feel optimistic about his side booking a last-four meeting with German challengers Schalke.

Defending a single-goal advantage returning front-man Wayne Rooney gave them last week, United are bolstered by an excellent home record but also the potential for anxiety in visitors' ranks given owner Roman Abramovich so obviously wants the Champions League trophy on his mantelpiece.

"It does seem to be an obsession with Chelsea to win the European Cup," said Ferguson.

"That is why they signed Fernando Torres. The owner has every much nailed his colours to the mast in that respect. I have felt that for quite a while with him.

"To have an obsession of winning the European Cup is stretching yourself a wee bit. At the end of the day it is a very difficult competition to win.

"But I can understand it because I had the obsession myself for quite a while. I lost semi-finals and you say to yourself you are never going to do it.

"When we achieved it in Barcelona, it was the greatest feeling of all time.

"It took the monkey off my back."

Source : The Independent 12 April 2011

Ancelotti: My future has been settled – I'm staying

Italian insists his job is safe even if Chelsea fail to overcome United in Champions League tonight

The Chelsea manager, Carlo Ancelotti, made the bold claim last night that his job would still be safe even if his team were eliminated from the Champions League by Manchester United in their quarter-final second leg at Old Trafford tonight.

It was a brave statement from the Italian with Chelsea trailing 1-0 from the first leg and the prospect of a season without any trophies looming should his team fail tonight. Ancelotti claimed, "My future is already decided. I don't have a problem about this game" – because he has one more year of his contract to run after this season.

Although the consensus is that Ancelotti will not survive as manager at Chelsea beyond the summer unless he delivers the Champions League this season, the man himself was unperturbed by the continuing uncertainty around his position. "It's not important that I have to speak with Roman," he said, in reply to a question about whether he had been given assurances by the club's owner. "When I have a contract, everything is OK with him."

Ancelotti takes training at Old Trafford

He added: "I think that, a lot of times, I played this kind of game with this pressure. But it's not pressure. It's excitement. To be involved in this game is fantastic for my job, for my career. So I'm not afraid. I'm not worried about this. I'm happy to have a possibility to be involved in this game, to use my ability and my skill to give to the players the skills to play at their best."

One of the key decisions facing the Chelsea manager is whether he selects his £50m striker Fernando Torres, yet to score in 10 appearances for the club. All Ancelotti would confirm yesterday was that Torres would play some part in the match but whether he starts or not, and in which formation with which combination of attacking players, the manager was not willing to discuss.

Torres trained with the rest of the Chelsea squad at Old Trafford last night and it is anticipated that Ancelotti will start with the player. "I'm not interested in a goal for Fernando. I'm interested in Chelsea winning this game," he said. "If he scores it's good for him and for Chelsea, but it's just important to win here."

Later, Ancelotti tried in vain to deflect attention from Torres' failure to score a goal for his new club, but the issue has become sufficiently uncomfortable for the club that a Chelsea official appealed to reporters to change the subject at the press conference last night.

Before then Ancelotti had claimed that there was no pressure from him on Torres to score for the club. He said: "He's trying to score a goal. Also, in the last game, he tried to score. But I want to say he doesn't have pressure from us because our aim is that he can play for the squad, to move well for the team, work for the team-mates, so this is our aim. I never ask my strikers to score a goal. No."

There are other major selection decisions for Ancelotti. He has Alex, his Brazilian centre-back, who made a substitute's appearance on Saturday, fit again and he could go back into the side alongside John Terry in defence, allowing Branislav Ivanovic to play at right-back. There is also the possibility that Yossi Benayoun could come into the starting line-up because of his compatibility with his former Liverpool team-mate Torres.

The United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, also has virtually a full complement of players from which to select, with the possible exception of the right-back Rafael da Silva, who will undergo a late fitness test this morning but is unlikely to start. Ferguson is expected to start with the same combination of Wayne Rooney and Javier Hernandez in attack that played at Stamford Bridge.

Ferguson said that winning the Champions League had become an "obsession" for Abramovich and that the Russian had bought Torres specifically to push Chelsea on in that competition this season. The Russian rarely attends away games but he is expected to watch from the Old Trafford directors' box tonight.

In Italy there stories linking Ancelotti with the Roma job continue to circulate and he was asked yesterday about comments from the Roma captain, Francesco Totti, that he would like Ancelotti to manage the club. For his part, the Chelsea manager denied that winning the competition was an "obsession" for his club and the negative connotations that implied.

"It's not an obsession," Ancelotti said. "It's a dream. When you're going to play a qualifier so close to the final it means in three games, we have a possibility to play a final. Not just us but the other teams involved. But this moment of the competition it is a dream to reach the final."

The United defender Rio Ferdinand said that Rooney, suspended for Saturday's win over Fulham for swearing into a Sky Sports camera at Upton Park this month, was ready for tonight's game. "He'll be pumped up," Ferdinand said. "He's a professional footballer who wants to do well. He thrives on the big occasions as we've seen in the past and he's a talented footballer. So like all the other players that are out there, he will be ready and it's under the lights on a special occasion so, hopefully, we can add to that."

Ancelotti said that Chelsea would not adapt their game to deal with Rooney. "I think that Rooney is the most dangerous player in the squad," he said. "But we don't change our shape, our mentality, our philosophy to control Rooney. We want to play our football at the best level we can."

Source : The Independent 12 April 2011