Jype

He still has 8 goals this season (more than Torres btw and 5th highest from the whole team) and he has played the majority of games in midfield and lately a few matches on the wings, which is not even his natural position. His main job isn't to score goals so can't blame him for occasionally being a bad finisher. Having said that, his miss from yesterday is still horrible and that has got to haunt him at nights.

Didn't your sports director Andoni Zubizarreta confirm AVB's claims in February by saying Barcelona have "first option" on Romeu? That is different from a buy back clause as far as I know. No matter what the clauses are it's been confusing these past couple of months. First he was a first team regular, then he is "injured" despite clearly being in training with everyone else and now we haven't seen him even on the bench for a very long time. It's like he doesn't even exist anymore. I get the feeling we aren't being told everything about this matter.

Voted for Mikel too and mostly for the same reasons. Also a foul on him made the referee give Maxi Pereira a sending off which turned out to be a key moment in the match. Chelsea hardly kept the lead when playing against 10 men so I don't even want to know what could have happened if they had 11 for all of the match.

First leg is on Wednesday the 18th at 19:45 and second leg is a week after that on Tuesday at 19:45.

If it were United or Liverpool I'm sure they would but we all know that's not going to happen for Chelsea and 6pm on Sunday it is.

Not the best performance but a good result nonetheless. Should have killed the tie in 2nd half when playing against ten men and with all those wonderful goal-scoring chances we got but I guess this is the Chelsea we all love, always keeps things interesting till the end no matter what. Barcelona it is then. Wonder if they're going to bring Ovrebo back from retirement for this one?

A good lineup for Chelsea and looking at Benfica's starting lineup I got even a little bit more confident about getting the result tonight. Their central defense is a joke with Emerson & Garcia neither even being a proper CB. Also looking forward to Ramires vs Capdevila on the right wing, that guy is slow as hell compared to our little Brazilian. 4-1 to Chelsea.

Only seen him play a bunch of times for Dortmund but based on those matches I'd certainly welcome him to Chelsea. His stats are very impressive for a 23-year old player who's playing only his second season in Europe after moving from Japan (27 goals and 12 assists in 64 games). His contract is running out in 2013 so wouldn't be too expensive either.

Torres to score a hat trick today. You heard it here first. :blue scalf:

I'd say you're not a supporter if you don't hope Chelsea win the CL. What's wrong with acknowledging that the other remaining teams are three of the best in the world at the moment and most likely Chelsea won't win the whole competition but still hope for the (almost) impossible to happen?

Nah, there's a difference between being a realist and being delusional (like Liverpool fans ). If we even make it to the semifinals tomorrow there is Barcelona waiting and knowing them it would take a huge performance from Chelsea to beat them even if they didn't get help from UEFA. And we all know how much UEFA loves those catalan cunts and how Platini wants Barcelona to face Real Madrid in the final so it will be twice as hard for Chelsea to progress to the final when the opponents always have the referee on their side as well.

It is official now that Barcelona can not be beaten in a UEFA competition. Chelsea don't stand a chance against their 4-3-3-3 formation.

Haven't decided between Mata, Luiz and Ivanovic yet but one of those three will win it.

WTF man? Of course that result would mean victory for Chelsea because then it would be 5-2 on aggregate. Only if Benfica win 1-2 or 2-3 etc. or by a margin of 2 or more then Benfica goes to the semifinals.

Good luck trying to convince someone to pay 6m for Bosingwa or 9m for Malouda. Also, if Kalou is to leave after this season he will go for nothing because his contract will expire in the summer.

A very good choice. My addition to the mix is Kenny Dalglish.

Luiz and Cole at least.

You forgot Bosingwa. I blame him.

Ivanovic again with some crucial goals. Anyone else fancy him to score the winning goal against Barcelona perhaps?

Not a lot of attacking options on the bench. WTF Di Matteo, where is Lukaku? Would have though he'd at least make the bench now that Drogba was unavailable. Mata, Luiz, Cole etc. should be rested as well. Not happy with that lineup at all and if we don't get the 3 points it's all for nothing and it makes competing in the Champions League and the FA Cup much harder when players are tired.

Why Meireles and 10 mil for Sahin? Sahin was bought by Madrid for something around 10m if I remember correctly and so far he has been a flop for them so why should they make a profit on him? Straight swap with Meireles and Sahin sounds much better to me.

Or just the opposite, we'll never know until after the match.

First Muamba and now him. This is too much.

Ramires is always fresh, no need to rest him. Other than that I pretty much agree on that lineup but I'd rather see Meireles over Malouda and if he's fit to play another match only a couple of days after the first leg against Benfica I would give good old Ferreira a start as well. If not, then we're going to have to put up with Bosingwa and not risk Ivanovic so soon after his injury to keep him available for more important games.

I like this year's kit a lot and would be nice to stick with it for another season but sadly it's all about money these days and it will never happen.