Mourinho bemoans Reds advantage
Call it an attempt to take the pressure off his team, call it a ruse to lull the opposition into a false sense of security. Whatever purpose lay behind his words, Chelsea FC manager José Mourinho insists the dice are heavily loaded in favour of Liverpool FC in Wednesday's UEFA Champions League semi-final first leg.
Weary bodies
As the London club approach the final straight of the season, driven by the possibility of adding three more trophies to their English League Cup triumph, their workload is taking its toll. Apart from Michael Essien who is suspended, Chelsea are also without Michael Ballack for the Stamford Bridge game against their Premiership rivals who knocked them out at this stage two years ago en route to lifting their fifth European Champion Clubs' Cup in Istanbul.
'Not a fair fight'
Ballack injured an ankle in Sunday's 0-0 draw at Newcastle United FC while there remains a doubt over the fitness of defender Ricardo Carvalho although he did train on Tuesday. "It won't be a fair fight because the conditions are different," said Mourinho, citing the exhaustive schedule his players have undergone compared to that of the Merseysiders. "When Liverpool were in Portugal preparing for their game with [FC] Barcelona we played three matches including the League Cup final. Steven Gerrard did not play in Liverpool's last game [Saturday's 2-0 win against Wigan Athletic FC] – do you think Gerrard and Frank Lampard have the same conditions to compete?"
Contrasting records
Mourinho, who is also concerned about his players - namely, Joe Cole, Lassana Diarra and Didier Drogba – who go into the match knowing that another booking will rule them out of next week's return, added that in league terms the Premiership champions have been vastly superior to Liverpool in recent campaigns. But their opponents have a record in knockout football deserving of respect. "I am not a statistics man but in the last three years I think Chelsea have 55 or 60 points more than them," he said. "We have to praise Liverpool for what they have done in knockout competitions, they have won the Champions League and the FA Cup and they are in another Champions League semi-final.
Verbal jousting
"We do think we can win but if they only play in one competition for half a season then they arrive at this crucial moment in a great situation. They had an easy group whereas Chelsea had a group containing Werder Bremen and Barcelona and then two games with [FC] Porto and two with Valencia [CF]." Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez refused to join his opposite number in the verbal jousting and denied that his side hold an advantage. "We are in a similar position. It is two good teams against each other," he said. "I don't like to play this game of saying 'You have fresh legs or you have been playing less important games'. We are confident because we are playing well and scoring goals but we know we are facing a very good team. Chelsea always spend big money on good players. They are in finals because they have good players and a good team."
Probable teams
Chelsea: Petr Čech; Lassana Diarra, Ricardo Carvalho, John Terry, Ashley Cole; Shaun Wright-Phillips, Claude Makelele, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole; Didier Drogba, Andriy Shevchenko.
Liverpool: Pepe Reina; Steve Finnan, Daniel Agger, Jamie Carragher, John Arne Riise; Steven Gerrard, Mohamed Sissoko, Javier Mascherano, Xabi Alonso; Dirk Kuyt, Peter Crouch.
