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King Drogba playing against Chelsea for the first time after guiding them to CL win.
If you have been following the Champions League of late, you might be tempted to predict the result for tonight’s Champions League clash to be 2-0 to Galatasaray and I might agree with you if Jose Mourinho was not present on Chelsea’s bench. The presence of the ‘Special One’ makes it interesting and unpredictable. He is the master tactician and knows how to use his resources on the big stage.
Irrespective of the opposition, you will not see his teams losing the first-leg so badly that they don’t have a chance in the second leg (despite the way Real Madrid lost to Borussia Dortmund last year). He knows how to stifle the opposition, frustrate them and make the most of the counter-attacks.
That’s precisely what we should expect from Galatasaray vs Chelsea tonight. Chelsea are not going to go and play beautiful football as Mancini’s “80% favorites to progress” tag might suggest. They will defend till their last breath and players like Willian, Ramires and Hazard will try to counter-attack with pace. For me the old guard of Cech-Terry-Lampard will play an important role as they know how to grind out results in these circumstances.
The midfield again holds the key to whether the match might be won or lost. Chelsea have some prior injury concerns i.e. David Luiz, Oscar and Mikel but all of them have been declared fit and have travelled to Turkey. We can expect both managers to field almost full strength teams. Since Salah and Matic are not eligible to play, it would be interesting to see how Mourinho copes with that as Matic has made a real difference since his move from Benfica.
Galatasaray also have some experienced campaigners in their side with the likes of Drogba and Sneijder, both of whom know Mourinho very well. It would be interesting to see who turns out be the winner in that little bout. Another important subplot is that Drogba will be playing against Chelsea for the first time after leaving them as a Champions League champion literally with his last kick.
He knows Chelsea very well and might give inputs to Mancini regarding individual characters of several Chelsea players (Terry, Lampard, Mikel etc.). As a Chelsea fan, I will always want him to score against us but not before we have scored 2 or 3 goals ourselves.
This match is also important for the EPL especially after the comments made by Roy Keane. He might not be wrong in saying that the EPL is the best brand and not the best league but Mourinho will have a different opinion. We can assume this match will be the perfect tutorial for Moyes as to how to set up your team while playing away in the elimination stages of Champions League.
As far as the final score is considered, it can go down to the wire and might take some individual brilliance from both sides to decide the fate. Galatasaray’s fans and home advantage is significant, as there fans create a very electric atmosphere but still the experienced players in the Blues side might not worry about it too much. Galatasaray have good attacking talent with them but still I believe the Blues are favourites to progress.
What I expect is that, this tie will not finish in the first leg and the second leg at Stamford Bridge will definitely have a say. This match promises entertainment, might be on the sidelines from Mourinho and Mancini. Enjoy!!
