PARIS (Sporting Alert) — Jose Mourinho is set to start striker Fernando Torres in Chelsea’s Champions League quarter-final first leg clash at Paris St-Germain on Wednesday night.
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE QUARTER-FINAL FIRST LEG
Venue: Parc des Princes
Date: Wednesday 2 April
Kick-off: 19:45 BST
Live TV Channels and Streaming: BBC Radio 5 Live, SiriusXM FC, Sky Sports 1, SuperSport, Fox Soccer 2Go.com, Fox Sports 1 USA, Fox Sports GO, beIN Sports Arabia, True Sport, RTE 2, TEN Sports
Experienced forward Samuel Eto’o, who has been favoured by Mourinho in the big games, did not travel with the English Premier League side to Paris after failing to recover from the a hamstring injury he suffered early in the 6-0 win over of Arsenal last month, while Demba Ba has struggled to get into the team.
This means that Torres will likely lead the attacking line at Parc des Princes.
Nemanja Matic and Mohamed Salah are both ineligible after representing Benfica and Basle in the group stages of the competition.
PSG claims they are the underdogs coming into this tie, but Mourinho not buying it.
He said: “Paris has a team full of fantastic attacking players, not to mention the other ones. I could speak for hours about Thiago [Motta].
“I watch a lot of Paris matches, and Laurent Blanc has a clear philosophy. They keep the same philosophy, even when they change three midfielders, like against Bayer Leverkusen in the [round of 16] second leg.”
Chelsea will need to keep a close eye on leading striker Zlatan Ibrahimović and striker partners Edinson Cavani and Ezequiel Lavezzi, attacking players Mourinho reveals will make the difference at this stage of the competition.
