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Rediff.com  » Sports » Chelsea seek to see off Bayern

Chelsea seek to see off Bayern

April 11, 2005 09:36 IST
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A Bayern Munich side boasting key reinforcements threaten to make Chelsea's two-goal lead feel far from comfortable in Tuesday's Champions League quarter-final second leg at the Olympic Stadium.

First-choice strikers Roy Makaay and Claudio Pizarro are in line to return from injury as Bayern attempt to overturn their 4-2 defeat from the first leg, while Martin Demichelis will be back after suspension to anchor the midfield.

Bayern were hustled out of the final half-hour of last week's meeting in London, as a Chelsea side bristling with confidence and aggression took a deserved 4-1 lead.

Michael Ballack's penalty seconds from the end gave Bayern hope, as a 2-0 or 3-1 win would be enough to send them through on away goals.

The expected return of three such important players only increases the self-belief among the four-times European champions, especially with the 3-1 home victory over Arsenal in the last round still fresh in their minds.

"We've shown before that we're capable of beating anyone by two goals at home," said Ballack. "Knowing that, we're going to go for it in the return leg."

Makaay, who has scored seven Champions League goals this season, returned from a hamstring injury to play in Saturday's 2-1 win over Borussia Moenchengladbach, a result that put Bayern three points clear at the top of the Bundesliga.

Pizarro, who scored two of the goals in that stirring win over Arsenal, declared himself fully recovered after training on Sunday.

Bayern coach Felix Magath was in charge of the VfB Stuttgart side that lost out to Chelsea in the first knock-out round of last season's competition.

Magath has more quality and experience at Bayern but Chelsea are also a different proposition after further heavy investment in players and the arrival of Jose Mourinho, even if the coach will be serving the remainder of his two-match ban.

CHELSEA BELIEVE

Even without Mourinho physically on the bench last week, Chelsea still did enough in the second half at least to win by a comfortable margin -- although Ballack's late penalty made the scoreline less secure for Chelsea than it might have been.

Chelsea also dropped some rare points in the league on Saturday when they were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Birmingham City, but Mourinho opted to rest Claude Makelele, Didier Drogba and Eidur Gudjohnsen from his starting line-up.

All should return on Tuesday, with Drogba, who replaced Mateja Kezman at halftime and scored Chelsea's equaliser eight minutes from time, expected to start.

Chelsea's self-belief is so great at the moment, summed up best by Gudjohnsen after last week's first leg.

"We know that Bayern are one of the biggest clubs in Europe, but we played very well against them and are disappointed not to have won by a bigger score. It will be tough in Munich -- but there is no reason why we cannot win there and go all the way."

Bayern will have other ideas of course and the tie is still an open one.

Bayern are unlikely to defend as badly again as they did at Stamford Bridge, and even if he is not in the dugout Mourinho will be loathe to release his grip on the European Cup which he won with Porto last season. It could be a classic.

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Source: REUTERS
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