LONDON (Sporting Alert) — Jose Mourinho is set to start with Fernando Torres in his attack, while Samuel Eto’o could be on the bench for Chelsea’s Champions League quarter-final second leg clash with the visiting Paris St Germain.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE QUARTER-FINAL SECOND LEG
Place: Stamford Bridge
Date: Tuesday, 8 April
Kick-off: 19:45 BST
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Torres and the rest of his striking-mates have been heavily criticized this season by Mourinho, who believes his forwards have let him down thus far in this campaign.
However, with Chelsea needing to overturn a 3-1 deficit after losing the first-leg tie in Paris, Mourinho is ready to try with Torres in the attack again, hoping this time he can find some form in front of the net.
Eto’o has been recovering from his hamstring problem and Mourinho is not ruling out using the Cameroon international at some point during the game.
Coming back from a two-goal deficit will not be easy against PSG, but Mourinho says they are all believers.
“I believe and my players believe and that’s the most important thing,” the Chelsea boss said.
“If Paris are knocked out (Tuesday) it will be a big disappointment for them; if we are knocked out then it is something that a lot of people are expecting.
“We have to enjoy the risk of the situation. At 9.30pm [UK time] we can be out, and we know that. But at 7.45pm we have chances to be in the semi-final. So at 7.45pm we have to be ready, with smiles on our faces, to go out and see what happens – but at 7.45pm we believe we can do it.”
In other Chelsea news, Brazilian midfielder Ramires is suspended and will not feature, while Nemanja Matic and Mohamed Salah are both cup-tied and are ineligible. Marco van Ginkel could be on the bench.
For PGS, in the meantime, leading striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic will miss the game because of a hamstring injury sustained in the first leg at the Parc des Princes last week.
This means that Edinson Cavani will now play through the middle as the center forward and he could very cause the same kind of problems as Ibrahimovic.
