Man Utd Seeks End To Nightmare At Stamford Bridge

Man Utd’s Wayne Rooney (left) putting pressure on Chelsea’s skipper, John Terry in a previous encounter.

Manchester United will be chasing their first victory against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in nearly a decade today as the English giants collide in a heavyweight UEFA Champions League quarter-final.

United are riding high in the Premier League after a weekend which saw them open up a potentially decisive seven-point lead at the top of the table, leaving them firmly on cause for a record nineteenth title. But Sir Alex Ferguson is only too aware that there are few more demanding propositions for his team than facing Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, where the Red Devils have not won since 2002.

Perhaps more pertinently, Chelsea have won their last three fixtures against United, a sequence which includes last month’s stormy 2-1 league defeat that led to Ferguson receiving a five-match touchline ban. Nevertheless, Ferguson believes his team is more than capable of repeating their 2008 Champions League final victory over Chelsea in Moscow over this year’s quarter-final legs.

Chelsea’s strong record against United, Ferguson argued, owed as much to good fortune as anything else. “I think they’ve had important breaks against us, I really do,” Ferguson said. “I think everyone recognises that in the last four games the major decisions have gone Chelsea’s way.

“We beat them in the European final, we were the better team in that final. We were the better team a few weeks ago at Chelsea. We have the quality, there’s no question about that. We could do with a bit of luck against them, but we don’t have a problem with them.”

David Luiz, the star of Chelsea’s victory over United last month and a key figure in the Blues recent resurgent league form, is ineligible for Champions League duty. But Carlo Ancelotti’s other January transfer buy – £50 million striker Fernando Torres – is available.

Many observers, Ferguson among them, believe the timing of Chelsea’s acquisition of Torres in January was specifically linked to the Spaniard’s eligibility for the business end of the Champions League, the only major title that has eluded the Londoners since Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich took the club over in 2003.

“I think Abramovich has earmarked this as the one he wants to win and that’s why they signed Fernando Torres,” Ferguson said. “That is the obvious reason to bring in a player for £50 million in January with four months of the season to go. To me, that’s the obvious target – the European Cup.”

In Chelsea’s case, barring a miraculous turnaround in the championship, Europe is also the only target. Ancelotti, whose job may be at risk if Chelsea finish the season without a trophy, denies that winning in Europe has become an obsession for the club. “We know very well how important it is for us to win this title,” Ancelotti said. “It’s not an obsession, it’s a dream.”

Meanwhile, Barcelona took a decisive step towards winning the Spanish league for the third consecutive time at the weekend and now turn their attention to the UEFA Champions League where they face Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday.

Coach Pep Guardiola has overseen a remarkable run of success since taking over at the Nou Camp in the summer of 2008 and now Barça enter the final stages of the season fighting on three fronts. When Guardiola arrived, Barcelona were in disarray with coach Frank Rijkaard having left under a cloud, unable to maintain discipline in the dressing room, and they had to play the qualifying round of the Champions League. In his first season Barça won an unprecedented six trophies and then last year they won the league and cup double while Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan knocked them out of the Champions League in an epic tie.

Barça arrive at the quarter-finals in impressive form domestically as they are now eight points clear of Mourinho’s Real Madrid after they beat Villarreal 1-0 at the weekend. It appeared a difficult game on paper but despite a number of absentees they were always in control.

In defence Carles Puyol, Eric Abidal and Maxwell were all out while Pedro Rodriguez was also injured and Leo Messi only fit enough to start on the bench. Meanwhile, Xavi Hernandez was missing through suspension. Pedro is expected to be ready to face Shakhtar with Messi and Maxwell also fit but Puyol is unlikely to  make it in time, so it is likely that Sergio Busquets will play at centre-half alongside Gerard Pique.

With Barça also playing the final of the Copa del Rey at the end of this month, striker David Villa admits that the next few weeks will be key to the success of their season. “At the moment I would not accept two out of the three titles. We have some very big games coming up now and that is the reason why I came here. We have to get a good result against Shakhtar at home so that we don’t suffer too much in the return leg,” he said, while also hoping to bring an end to his poor run in front of goal.

Despite having become the all-time top goal scorer for Spain, with two recent strikes against the Czech Republic, he has not found the back of the net in six games for Barça. “I am not going to score by sitting down here and saying it a 1000 times. When you are not scoring you think about a lot of things but what I have to do is work hard and be calm.”

Barça are looking for their ninth straight Champions League home win but Shakhtar, playing for the first time in the quarter-finals, travel with some optimism. While Barça beat them in the UEFA Super Cup in August 2009, the Ukrainians won the last time they met at the Nou Camp, a 3-2 win in their final game of the 2008/09 Champions League group stage.