Chelsea chief’s peace mission

CHELSEA chief executive Peter Kenyon emerged from peace talks with one of UEFA’s top officials yesterday insisting the club had many friends around Europe.

Kenyon, present for the Champions League draw which paired the runaway Premiership leaders with Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals and set up a potential all-English semi against Liverpool, met with UEFA chief executive Lars-Christer Olsson earlier in the day.

The London club had been widely condemned throughout the continent following their acrimonious victory over Barcelona and subsequent retirement of Swedish referee Anders Frisk, who was heavily criticised by Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho for his performance in the first leg of the last-16 tie.

However, Kenyon insisted any feuding was over and that the club and boss Mourinho's image was not tarnished.

Asked whether the Portuguese boss had to change his ways, Kenyon replied: "No, no, no. Those are internal issues and that is the way they will stay.

"We have got lots of friends in Europe, we have great relationships with all the clubs here and generally a good relationship with the governing body. Jose is completely rounded. He joined Chelsea to make Chelsea one of the biggest clubs in Europe and he understood what that meant in terms of not just winning trophies but building Chelsea as a football club.

"We are well on our way to doing that and I think we had better put the events of last week in proper context and get on with playing football.

"We are leaders of the Premiership and in the quarter-finals of the Champions League; that is a great achievement by Jose, the management and the boys. They should be complimented on what they have done."

UEFA distanced themselves from referees' supremo Volker Roth's comments that Mourinho was the 'enemy of football' earlier this week and have absolved the Chelsea boss of any blame for the retirement of Frisk, who received death threats in the aftermath of Barcelona's 2-1 win in the Nou Camp.

Meanwhile Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez predicts his side will overcome Juventus to reach the Champions League semi-finals, as the two clubs vowed to use the opportunity of their meeting to mark the 20th anniversary of the Heysel disaster.

It is 20 years since 39 supporters, the majority of them Italian, died when a wall in the decrepit Heysel stadium gave way ahead of the European Cup final between the teams. English clubs were banned from Europe and Liverpool's name was tarnished but Benitez now has a chance to guide Liverpool to an improbable semi-final against either Chelsea or Bayern Munich.

But for the club and the city of Liverpool the clash with the Italians brings bitter memories flooding back.

Chief executive Rick Parry said: "There is a deep friendship between the two clubs, and between the two sets of supporters.

"It is 20 years since Heysel and we as clubs had already mentioned some sort of commemoration; it is something we will give some thought to.

"It shows how far football has come in 20 years and I am confident we will get that side of things right."

His words were echoed by Juventus director Romy Gal, who said: "This will be the first time we have met on the field since 1985, so we will plan something more than just a normal game.

"I have been talking to Rick Parry already and we have said that there is the opportunity to mark what happened 20 years ago. Now Liverpool and Juventus are great friends, we co-operate together in plenty of things at international level."

Liverpool will be at home in the first leg and Benitez commented: "I am confident we can do well, even though Italian teams are always tough to play against and you always know you will be in for a difficult game.

"They haven't conceded many goals in the competition this season so that means they have a good defence, but they also have good forwards. They are very strong.

"We're at home in the first leg and our idea will be to be careful and not to concede any goals if possible. Then we will see what we can do."

Former Liverpool assistant manager and defender Phil Thompson appreciated the significance of the draw, but insists the Anfield club can triumph.

"Last season, from the quarter-finals onwards, nobody even looked at Porto because they were complete outsiders. It can happen, Liverpool can do the same, who would have picked Greece to win the European Championship? Stranger things have happened and Liverpool have an outside chance; why not?"

In the other half of the draw AC Milan take on city rivals Inter for the right to meet French league leaders Lyon or Dutch club PSV Eindhoven.