Mourinho's little blue Horse gallops to Madrid

14 April 2014 10:02

Following the announcement of the semi-final fixture between Atletico Madrid and Chelsea, many football fans may conclude that Chelsea have drawn a short straw.

And rightly so, because Atletico Madrid have won 8 games without losing a game and conceded fewer goals than any other team in the semi-finals. On the other hand, Chelsea are the least scoring side and the second team in terms of goals conceded. As a result, Atletico must fancy their chances of defeating Chelsea to book a place in the final.

Unless you have blue blood running in your veins, I won't blame you for not giving Chelsea a chance. Nevertheless, historical statistics on paper do not necessarily translate into victory on the football pitch. This is one of the reasons I believe that Chelsea can upset the favourites.

Another reason is that Chelsea have an advantage of playing the first leg at the Vicente Calderón Stadium. The quality of not conceding too many goals and experience of performing in intimidating stadiums (like Galatasaray’s Türk Telekom Arena) will provide confidence to get a result in Madrid.

But the most important reason is Jose Mourinho. Under his guidance, Chelsea have demonstrated bouncebackabilty (from three defeats) and desire to win en route to the semi-finals. Week in week out, Jose has efficiently deployed a plethora of tactics that have been implemented by a well drilled team to achieve results. I won't bet against his blue “little horse" upsetting the favourites.

Source: DSG