Aside from the Champions League they is not too much for us to discuss today , the FIFA Club World Cup does get underway in Morocco , but Raja Casablanca - Auckland City hardly gets the heart beating a little faster and we can wait until the bigger boys arrive. They do not come any bigger in Asia than Guangzhou Evergrande and I must admit that I am a little excited to see how our email favourites get on, but the competition does not start in earnest until Saturday and we can wait until then.

UEFA Champions League:

Good Luck.

Champions League : Steaua Bucharest-Chelsea (written 01/10)

These two met last March in the knockout stage of the Europa League, ahead of the second leg I wrote .... Chelsea completely outplayed Manchester United for the last hour of the match at Old Trafford last week and were unfortunate not to have come away with the win. Rafael Benitez made the tactical changes and Sir Alex didn't react, with his team clearly losing the midfield battle. The Blues were buzzing afterwards and I expect them to build on that momentum this evening and turn this tie on it's head. Steaua lead 1-0 from the first leg, but dispite a lacklustre display from Chelsea, the hosts created little from open play and it will be even harder for them to do so at Stamford Bridge, if the Blues are motivated to turn this around. Rafa will surely name a much stronger side than the one we saw in Bucharest and with the visitors already having conceded twice at both Stuttgart and Ajax, looking especially vunerable aerially in both and with Terry, Ivanovic, Cahill all poising a big threat from set pieces and having 15 goals between them this season, whomever starts from that trio ,will probably fancy their chances of adding to their tally at circa 7.5-8.5 to score at anytime. This is all about attitude for me, if Chelsea really want this they should win by two plus and with a degree of comfort.

The Blues won that 3-1 and missed a late penalty, John Terry scored with a headed goal (hey, nice preview !) and I see a lot of similarities tonight. After the home loss to Basle, Chelsea really need a win this evening and are also coming off a very good last hour showing against a big club at the weekend. Before the sending off of Fernando Torres the derby match at White Hart Lane was only heading one way, after Chelsea took control after the break and there was plenty for them to take from that performance and onto the plane to Romania. There will be no weakened line up this time, Steaua could not hurt them from open play last time and this match is so important for Chelsea and such a gulf in quality ( Cahill, Mata, Eto'o, André Schürrle, Willian , Lampard, Torres and de Bruyne have all been on the bench for the last two games, Willian did not even make the bench against Spurs !), that I just cannot see beyond the away win.

Hosts are decent enough, but did lose heavily to a struggling Schalke on group Matchday 1 and will have to open up tonight, as they also need points and that can only benefit Chelsea. They lost Raul Rusescu (47-26-13 all comps last season... including the goal and assist... he won and converted the penalty against Chelsea here) to Sevilla and Vlad Chiriches ( who scored the goal at Stamford Bridge in the defeat) to Tottenham in the summer and do look weaker this time round. I expect a very competent, professional performance from the visitors and they really ought to win this.

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