Chelsea travel to European champions Barcelona in confident mood knowing a victory today will put them through to the knock-out stage of the Champions League.
A win for the Londoners in the Camp Nou could even ensure them first place in Group A with two games to spare if Germany's Werder Bremen fail to beat Levski Sofia.
Barcelona really need to beat Jose Mourinho's team following the 1-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge two weeks ago.
PHOTO: AP
"[Today's] game is really vital for us," Barca defender Oleguer Presas said. "We cannot afford to drop any more points at all in this group."
Barca will again be without long-term injury victim Samuel Eto'o. Full-backs Giovanni Van Bronckhorst and Juliano Belletti, however, are fit again, although the latter is likely to be a substitute with Gianluca Zambrotta getting the nod instead.
Argentina young star Lionel Messi could also be on the bench due to his recent ankle problems. This means that Ludovic Giuly will probably start in attack, along with Ronaldinho and Eidur Gudjohnsen.
Meanwhile, Chelsea strike pair Didier Drogba and Andriy Shev-chenko have given the English champions a boost by both traveling to Barcelona with the rest of the squad.
Shevchenko was rested for the weekend victory over Sheffield United due to a minor leg muscle injury, while Drogba was withdrawn at half-time after picking up a slight knock.
Barcelona will have one eye on events in Sofia where high-scoring Werder Bremen are in confident mood after a 6-1 victory over Mainz in the Bundesliga on Friday.
Following a 2-0 win over Levski at home two weeks ago, the Bundesliga leaders are gunning for a further three points which would set them up for a crunch game in Barcelona on Dec. 5.
Victory would at least ensure third spot in the group and a place in the UEFA Cup, but coach Thomas Schaaf said: "We want to stay in the competition as long as possible. We are not playing in the Champions League in order to reach the UEFA Cup."
Werder have scored 15 goals in their last three league matches, but midfielder Torsten Frings said the players would not be underestimating the Bulgarian champions who have lost all three games.
"Only success counts and not how we play," he insisted. "We have enough players in the team who will keep our feet on the ground. If we go into this game with a swagger we'll concede six ourselves."
Meanwhile, German champions Bayern Munich need just a home draw with Sporting Lisbon to earn qualification from Group B. Bayern could can even secure first place if they beat Sporting and Inter Milan fail to win three points at Spartak Moscow.
The Serie A champions travel to Moscow after an intense 4-3 win over AC Milan for a match that neither team can afford to lose.
Inter's Serbian midfielder Dejan Stankovic said: "If we are as concentrated as in the derby, no one can beat us. Already in the first half, two weeks ago, there was a clear difference between us and Spartak."
Coach Roberto Mancini will miss French midfielder Patrick Vieira, who hurt an ankle in the derby, and fears for the aching back of Brazilian keeper Julio Cesar.
In Group C, both Liverpool and PSV Eindhoven need home victories against Girondins Bordeaux and Galatasaray respectively to secure places in the last 16.
After three successive wins, Valencia will advance from Group D if they defeat Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their
RSS