In an interview today, Jose Mourinho claims that if Chelsea are to succeed in the Champions League, they need to beat Schalke away from home to silence their critics.
Chelsea’s campaign in the Champions League this season has been average at best, with a comfortable 4-0 win over Bucharest, but the home defeat to Basel at the start of the campaign has thrown a wrench into Chelsea’s plans, in a group everyone is expecting them to qualify out of.
Eventhough Schalke will be without Klaas Jan Huntelaar and Marco Hoger, Mourinho still sees them as the biggest threat to Chelsea’s group success.
‘It’s difficult for a team to be at maximum power, to play a match without somebody missing through injury or suspension,’ he said. ‘They miss a couple of players, but us too. Ashley Cole is an important player for us and is not playing. That’s not a big deal. A team is a squad, not 11 players, and they have a squad with players to replace.
‘What’s the difference between Farfan and Clemens or Meyer, between Hoger and Neustadter? It’s a good team, a good opponent, and hopefully we can be better than them.
After losing to Basel it is clear to Chelsea and Mourinho that they need a victory over Schalke to silence any doubters, and get some good forward momentum for this seasons Champions League campaign.
‘We play now two matches against the strongest opponent in the group, and need points over these two matches. That’s obvious. Tomorrow we have a game and we want to win and are going to try to win’
Steven Rout – @Steven_Rout13
