Soccer: Chelsea ‘may be better than 1994 AC Milan side’

FRANCE captain Marcel Desailly believes his Chelsea side may be better than the AC Milan team he helped to win the European Cup in 1994.

The 35-year-old central defender, back in the Chelsea squad after a six-week injury absence, said yesterday that the Milan side of a decade ago contained many more domestic players than the multi-national London side.

“The level is the same or maybe a little higher now at Chelsea,” Desailly said after his side’s final training session before tonight’s Champions League match against Sparta Prague.

“But the problem is to maintain that game by game, every game,” said Desailly, a member of the France teams that won the 1998 World Cup and 2000 European Championship.

Chelsea’s hastily but expensively assembled squad, financed by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, have won their last seven matches.

Their two victories over Champions League Group G favourites Lazio, including a 4-0 thrashing in Rome, put them top of the group.

The wins also gave them credibility amongst Europe’s elite, according to Desailly, veteran of 108 internationals and 75 European club games.

“Maybe we are given more consideration in Europe now,” added the defender, who also won the European Cup with Marseille. Chelsea’s big squad, coach Claudio Ranieri’s rotation policy and Desailly’s nagging hip injury have meant the Frenchman has played less this season.

“That’s the way it is,” Desailly said. “You know the rules for the season. As an individual you are not that important. It’s the team that’s important ... you have to be positive and play for the group.”

Desailly, talking alongside Ranieri, denied recent newspaper reports that he had had a row with the coach.

“You know I’m happy ... I have the desire,” he said, adding that strength in depth was one of the reasons Chelsea were playing so well because competition for team places raised the level of the squad.

“A newspaper decided to say something about it, but I’ve got nothing to add on the subject. I’m happy, I’m positive. There’s nothing to say about next season, I have to decide. A lot of players don’t know what they’re going to do next season.”

The Chelsea captain is likely to get a match, but midfield France team-mate Claude Makelele is doubtful with a neck injury and Juan Sebastian Veron is sidelined with a back strain.

Chelsea beat Sparta in the first match of the campaign in September with a goal from Desailly’s defensive compatriot William Gallas. Ranieri thinks they will be facing a far more composed and less cautious team tonight. Sparta and Lazio have four points in Group G with Besiktas of Turkey on six and Chelsea on nine.