Sunday, February 26, 2012

No fright night.

Romanian minnows CFR Cluj may come from Dracula territory, but Chelsea coach Luiz Felipe Scolari is confident his side will avoid any scares in their must-win Champions League qualifier at Stamford Bridge tonight. Last season's beaten finalists need to beat the visitors in their final Group A match to guarantee a place in the knockout stages. A draw could also be enough to advance if Bordeaux fail to take maximum points from their match against Roma. But Scolari is convinced the Blues will take care of business themselves against the team from Transylvania. He said: "Is it unthinkable that Chelsea go out? Well, I don't think any people in the world are thinking about this, but it is possible because we have given this opportunity to other teams. "I don't think about going out because I believe in these players. But we need to play better than we have so far if we want to go on." Roma are top of the group on nine points, one ahead of Chelsea and two in front of Bordeaux in the only pool where three teams can still qualify for the second round. The surprise is that the French side can still qualify following two heavy defeats to Chelsea and Roma early in the group stage. But the Italian side will not be taking them lightly, according to coach Lucio Spalletti, who promised his side would go all out for the win. He said: "If we did something different (than play to win) it would be a huge mistake. The psychological side will be vital in this match because Bordeaux have nothing to lose. "They have to win whereas we have two results (a win and a draw) open to us but we can't risk making calculations. Plus we have the opportunity to win the group and that's why we have to win." Spalletti had some mixed injury news, with striker Mirko Vucinic declared fit to play but Brazilian midfielder Rodrigo Taddei ruled out. "I'm very disappointed Taddei won't be at my disposal," said Spalletti. "He has had a recurrence of a muscular pain which comes from a period when he wasn't playing, which I find worrying."

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