Chelsea v Levski - soccer24-7.com Forums

CarefreeCFC · Dec 5 2006, 12:20 PM

Chelsea v Levski Sofia

Champions League Group C: Chelsea v Levski Sofia
Date: Tuesday 5 December
Kick off: 1945 GMT
Venue: Stamford Bridge
Coverage: BBC Radio Five Live and this website

Chelsea are without banned captain John Terry as they seek the win that would ensure they finish top of Group A.

Left-back Ashley Cole will be rested to the bench and French midfielder Claude Makelele will not feature at all.

Wayne Bridge wiill deputise for Cole and Dutch defender Khalid Boulahrouz is expected to play at centre-back.

Levski will be without first-choice goalkeeper Georgi Petkov, who had surgery on a knee injury, so Bozhidar Mitrev or Nikolay Nihaylov will play.

News conference: Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chelsea (from): Cudicini, Hilario, Ferreira, Geremi, Bridge, A Cole, Lampard, Carvalho, Boulahrouz, Essien, Ballack, Robben, Drogba, Morais, J Cole, Mikel, Diarra, Wright-Phillips, Shevchenko.

SCOUTING REPORT ON THE OPPOSITION
Who are they? History-makers. Levski Sofia are the first Bulgarian team to reach the group stages of the Champions League.

Recent form: While they have not won in the Champions League yet this term, they remain unbeaten in domestic football and are two points clear at the top of the table.

European record: Last season was pretty special when they reached the last eight in the Uefa Cup. This year was supposed to be special as well, but having been pooled together with Barcelona, Chelsea and Werder Bremen they are 90 minutes from joining Slovakian side FC Kosice as the only teams never to pick up a point in the Champions League group stages. If they concede five goals they will eclipse the dubious record of conceding more goals than any other club in the group stages. Hungarian side Ferencvaros hold the current record having shipped 19 goals in the 1997/98 season.

How did they get here? The Bulgarian champions beat Sioni Bolnisi and Chievo in the qualifying rounds.

Ones to watch: In Chelsea's last Champions League match at Stamford Bridge their goalkeeping understudy Hilario took centre stage with a starring performance and this time out either Bozhidar Mitrev or Nikolay Mihaylov will be hoping to steal the spotlight at the other end with first-choice stopper Georgi Petkov out injured. Skipper Elin Topuzakov is Bulgaria's answer to John Terry and his marshalling of the defence will be crucial, while in attack, Valeri Domovchijski and Mariyan Ognyanov will be sniffing out chances for what would be only Levski's second goal of the group stages.

Did you know? It is a Levski tradition to go and watch a film at the cinema the night before a big match. Last time out, when Barcelona visited the Bulgarian capital, it was Casino Royale. Options at the Fulham Broadway screen this week - price for an adult £8.60 - include Borat: Cultural Learnings Of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation Of Kazakhstan, Deck The Halls and Flushed Away... or they could always hang back and go to the Tuesday matinee of Noddy Saves Christmas.

BIG MATCH STATS
Definitions of terms used:-

Champions League (CL) - only group phase matches and beyond of this competition which began in 1992-93.
Champions Cup/Champions League - all matches played since it began in 1955-56 including qualification matches.
European matches - all matches played in the major European tournaments (Fairs Cup, Uefa Cup, Cup Winners' Cup, Champions Cup, Champions League).
Uefa Super Cups, Intertoto Cups and the old Intercontinental Cup competition are excluded.

Qualification

Chelsea have already qualified for the second phase of this season's Champions League. Levski Sofia are already assured of finishing last in the group.

Head-to-heads

Levski Sofia and Chelsea have met three times before. In the 2001-02 Uefa Cup, Chelsea cruised in the first round with a 3-0 home win and a 2-0 win in Bulgaria. Chelsea won the reverse fixture in this group 1-3 through a hat-trick by Didier Drogba. Mariyan Ognyanov scored the late consolidation goal.

Levski have never beaten an English side in seven attempts, whereas Chelsea have a 100% record against Bulgarian clubs (five wins out of five).

European history

This is Chelsea's fifth CL participation. They have reached the semi-final twice in 2003-04 and 2004-05 and have reached the last 16 in each of their three previous attempts.

This was Levski Sofia's debut season in the CL. They reached the quarter-finals of the Uefa Cup last season and were knocked out by Schalke 04.

Current European form

Chelsea have won their last two CL home matches without conceding a goal.

Levski have lost their first five CL matches, scoring only one goal in the process, and failing to score in the last three.

Player and disciplinary info

John Terry (Chelsea) is suspended for this match. Frank Lampard (Chelsea) returns after suspension. Joe Cole (Chelsea) will be suspended if booked. Zhivko Milanov and Daniel Borimirov (both Levski) will be suspended upon receiving another yellow card.

If he plays, Chelsea's Ashley Cole will be making his 50th CL appearance.

Other miscellaneous facts

Chelsea lie second in the Premiership table, trailing Manchester United by six points with one match in hand.

Levski Sofia lead the Bulgarian League, two points ahead of CSKA Sofia.

Tim18 · Dec 5 2006, 12:29 PM

Any chance of a Sofia win??

mancboyhudson · Dec 5 2006, 12:33 PM

16/1 with the bookies if you fancy a bit of it Tim and 2/1 just for Levski to score.

CarefreeCFC · Dec 5 2006, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim18

Any chance of a Sofia win??

Hopefully not seeing as their without their first choice keeper. We'll make it hard for ourselves though I'm sure

**Bossanova** · Dec 6 2006, 02:13 AM

Boring Boring Chelsea FC

I mean, I like Chelsea, but the formation right now congests the middle too much and there is no spectacle.

Chelsea get criticised far too often for being boring, and unfairly alot of the time, but in the last month or 2 they truly have become stale...

Barcelinha · Dec 6 2006, 09:28 AM

okay, Mourinho only wears his magical coat for big matches i see...

it upsets me that the cretin scored.

**Sparky** · Dec 6 2006, 09:54 AM

They keep saying SWP's first goal for Chelsea, but I swear he has scored a couple before....?

mancboyhudson · Dec 6 2006, 10:41 AM

Nope he's never scored for Chelsea before Sparky.

CarefreeCFC · Dec 6 2006, 11:51 AM

He scored in a friendly against Celtic pre-season but never in a competitive match. Delighted for him though

well taken goal, didn't look like he's been bothered by the speculation about his future, even says that he doesn't want to leave

Quote:

it upsets me that the cretin scored.

Was a lovely goal though wasn't it?

Quote:

Chelsea get criticised far too often for being boring, and unfairly alot of the time, but in the last month or 2 they truly have become stale...

We've put in 2 4-0 performances in the last month, which is more than we have for the rest of the season. They did play good football at times last night, they're starting to gel together and are interchanging well, they now seem to realise just what the other players are going to do and what runs they'll make. It was never going to be a fascinating game, although I didn't expect to see quite so many empty seats partcularly in the Shed End.

At least if we need to we can put Hedman on the bench for Sunday, whether he'd been in goal during training or not I still wouldn't want Drogba to have been in goal for us

although he may not have been able to after being taken out by the keeper, I get worried whenever anyone makes a challenge on our keeper, now it seems I have to worry about the strikers too.

Bridgey did well

Jaydon will be proud (although seriously... calling your kid Jaydon?)
And congrats to Boula on getting married.. even if he did keep it rather quiet, none of the players even knew it was happening until he was given the day off on Friday

solid performance, he's no JT but he didn't need to be last night

**welshwizard** · Dec 6 2006, 12:02 PM

Chelsea seemed to be a bit nervous in front of goal and far too often when they were on the break, they chose the wrong option. That said, it often happens when you are far superior to the oppostion.

CarefreeCFC · Dec 6 2006, 12:06 PM

Sometimes it did seem like they were trying to run the ball into the goal, which doesn't work when the end product isn't always there. Sheva also needs more confidence still, there are times when you just want him to shoot but he will always go for the pass when he was in a better position himself

CarefreeCFC · Dec 6 2006, 01:37 PM

Tue, 5th Dec 2006

Speaking immediately after the 2-0 defeat of Levski Sofia, Jose Mourinho said: "I know football. I know players' mentality. I know when we just need to finish a job. And that was a perfect example."

Knowing they wanted to finish top of Champions League Group A, his players had controlled the game and "the emotion of the game".

"They know they have a big month ahead of them, and so they didn't play to their maximum."

Commenting on the efforts of a spirited opposition, Mourinho praised Levski Sofia for the way they came to play good football.

"They have good players. They didn't come here to defend, or to be aggressive. They just came here to play a good game. It was almost like a friendly.

"If they had scored a goal they would deserve to go home with a different smile."

With another clean sheet, no yellow cards and no injuries, Mourinho believes he now has three months in which to concentrate on domestic matters.

He also has the pleasure of having seen Shaun Wright-Phillips score his first-ever competitive goal for Chelsea.

Prompted by speculation about the diminutive player's possible transfer, Mourinho said: "He's a great professional and a great boy. He deserves to be happy.

"Maybe this will give him a boost. Speculation about him leaving the club is just that: speculation. I want him to stay - even without scoring like that.".

Generous in defeat, the Levski Sofia coach, Stanimir Kolev Stoilov, agreed that the better team had won, and went on to say he hoped Chelsea would "become the Champions".

For a man whose team had just achieved the distinction of becoming only the second team to fail to score any points in the Champions League, this was generous indeed.

With reports circulating that Mourinho had been unwell over the last few days, the Special One implied that he had been suffering from a "special" headache and that his medication had left him feeling a little "down".

Asked whether or not he should have been in the dugout on a chilly night in December, he said: "It was cold, but I was fine. My head was in the ice!" .

In advance of Sunday's Premiership clash with Arsenal, goalkeeping choices are also on ice. With Cech out until next year, and now Cudicini injured and Hedman unavailable for this evening's game, Mourinho revealed that Drogba had been tested between the sticks in training.

Fortunately, he wasn't called upon to act as custodian in this final Group A game.

By Francis Glibbery

Ngol_Nyi · Dec 7 2006, 04:11 AM

SWP's first goal for Chelsea is a Great Goal!!

Ngol_Nyi · Dec 7 2006, 04:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sparky

They keep saying SWP's first goal for Chelsea, but I swear he has scored a couple before....?

YES.. HE SCORED IN A GAME AGAINST BARCA

http://youtube.com/watch?v=mCw89yKoHgI

CarefreeCFC · Dec 7 2006, 03:22 PM

^^ Haha class

was that Gallas celebrating with him?

The game needs updating, we can't be having him on our team