Closed Steaua Bucharest v Chelsea

[fifa1973 0]

P

[Farid ChelseaIndo 1]

We must beat Steaua, like UEL last season....

[ChelseasMessiah 304]

We'll go all guns blazing for this one!

[Merih 10]

Eden Hazard, Marco van Ginkel and Kevin De Bruyne are the three players missing from the squad list for the competition announced at the beginning of the month. Hazard joins Van Ginkel on the injured list while De Bruyne is not selected.

Ohh Hazard.

Sounds like Willian will be getting another crack at things.

Probably Willian-Mata-Oscar, no?

[S3ra 15]

as stated previously, since the last time we met (and i posted on this forum) we have lost 2 of our best players to Tottenham and Sevilla respectively and the replacements we have brought in are not at the same level according to what they've shown so far (Chiriches alone was sold for around 9,5 million euros and we briought in 3 players that together cost us around 1,5 million. Schalke by comparison bought Kevin Prince Boateng and Dennis Aogo this summer and they were both massive against us). The lack of competition in the Romanian league is also not helping, as genuinely tough and challenging matches are few and far between. when that other romanian guy on here said that this would be a dissapointing season for us, what he meant was that, compared to last season, when we won the league after 7 barren years and were knocked out by Chelsea in the Europa, this year we were really thought we might have a shot at second spot in this group. We are still most likely going to win the national league, but in the CL the prospect of 0 points after 2 games is as dark for us as it is for you. Realistically we would love third spot in this group to continue on in the EUropa League as we do need to get a bit stronger before challenging realistically to go past the group stage.

last year was the first quiet and somewhat normal season Steaua has had in a long time (no owner overstepping his boundaries and firing coaches at will, bringing in players chosen by him etc) and the results were good. in the meantime our owner has been jailed for 3 years (yay! ) which is a very positive thing, maybe not so much financially but certainly from a sporting and managerial point of view.

For all our players on the pitch on matchday 1, the game against Schalke was their first ever in the Champions League and this kind of showed. Even so, up until the 67th minute it was very finely balanced. When they scored we came apart and Schalke banged in 2 more. we are still growing.

to sum up, we haven't played CL football in 5 years. we are really happy to be here, we are not playing the best football our team is capable of atm but we will definitely give you a run for your money

[didierforever 7,349]

no hazard. now just hope for no cole. without kdb too, i hope to line up in the following way :

cech

iva cahill JT bertrand

mikel rambo

willian/oscar mata schurlle

torres

[hjperdeath 2,226]

Jose storms out of press conference? Someone spoiled Breaking Bad's finale for him.

[Barbara 15,149]

did he storm out? I read he called it off, ending it earlier, no mentioning of him storming out.

Now why the media is making a circus out of de Bruyne, I don't get... unless it's Belgian press - which makes sense they insistently ask, but other than them, I don't see why general press would be making a big deal of Bruyne not being selected. one out of him, willian and andré wouldn't...

[Ankit 3,176]

did he storm out? I read he called it off, ending it earlier, no mentioning of him storming out.

Now why the media is making a circus out of de Bruyne, I don't get... unless it's Belgian press - which makes sense they insistently ask, but other than them, I don't see why general press would be making a big deal of Bruyne not being selected. one out of him, willian and andré wouldn't...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cU87Yc4E6o

[nachikethas 1,149]

Should win this at any cost. After last season im taking group stages very seriously! Think gone are the days of easy progressing.

hope azpi gets a chance and Willian too.

[chelseathebest 150]

I hope Willian and Mata start this one.

It is going to be a tough match for sure. It's always tough when you have to win.

In the past years we would win those matches, even if our game was bad at that particular time. Our team had a huge character.

But this is a new team with new players and they are definitely not that mentally strong yet. So I think this is a huge test. If we lose this one we could easily mentally collapse.

[Jase 43,479]

Steaua Bucharest v Chelsea Match Preview by @Rmpr.

Have a read.

[robsblubot 3,573]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cU87Yc4E6o

prob the greatest interview ever!

And he *is* right about the irony of what reporters are interested in.

BTW, wish there was a camera on lampard during the entire interview....

[CHOULO19 24,332]

I read Mourinho stormed out and expected a furious reaction from him and yelling and shouting...very disappointed.

He's doesn't look angry, he looks like he's late to the start of that TV show everyone is talking about but I've never seen

[Namika 922]

I read Mourinho stormed out and expected a furious reaction from him and yelling and shouting...very disappointed.

He's doesn't look angry, he looks like he's late to the start of that TV show everyone is talking about but I've never seen

You need to watch Breaking Bad asap. It's as good as our CL win.

[The_Flash 1,144]

Just re-watched Chanpions of Europe DVD and Luiz has scored some beauties if he or Mata could get a goal it would be great

[Pascal Newton 33]

Oscar to continue his European form!

[Cosmin 2,484]

Steaua had a good start in the domestic competitions, but in the UEFA Champions League they only managed to win against Vardar Skopje (home & away) and Dinamo Tbilisi (away). Against Legia, both matches ended as draws and against Schalke they lost by 3-0. In the domestic competitions, they won against weaker teams (well, everyone is weaker than them in the Romanian League, but still, I don't know how relevant a win by 5-0 against Sageata Navodari is). What I'm trying to say is that their not as good as they were in the last season.

But if you look at the things from another perspective, you might say that Steaua is the kind of team that knows how to play an European match. Even if I support Dinamo and, naturally, Steaua is for a Dinamo fan what Tottenham is for a Chelsea fan, I have to agree with that. They will be very motivated and very strong physically, but mentally they will fall if they concede. The fans will make a lot of noise, but even 50.000 monks will make a lot of noise if they get together and start talking. I have a lot of friends who support Steaua, but most of them agree that the atmosphere at their games is not even close to the best atmosphere that could be created by so many people.

We're clearly favourites, we must and we will win. Come on, Chelsea!