Defiant Mourinho still believes in his wingless wonders

JOSE MOURINHO remained in a confident mood last night as he came to terms with the prospect of facing Barcelona without wing wizards Damien Duff and Arjen Robben.

It has been their pace and their artistry which have helped Chelsea become a major force in domestic and European football this season.

Mourinho had resigned himself to being without the electric pace and trickery of flying Dutchman Robben, but Chelsea’s strength was further diminished when Irish winger Duff was ruled out by a knee injury sustained during the latter stages of the FA Cup defeat by Newcastle on Sunday.

“When you have a bad result or injuries, you cannot look back and forget what you have to do in the future,” said Mourinho.

“We can do nothing about injuries. I cannot come here and say because of these things we cannot get a result. We must think the other way.”

Duff’s absence will be somewhat compensated by the recovery of French defender William Gallas who, although having not trained with the rest of the squad, is considered fit enough to replace the unfortunate Wayne Bridge at left-back.

Bridge is out for the rest of the season after undergoing surgery on the double fracture of his left ankle which he also sustained at St James’ Park.

It was not all doom and gloom for Mourinho however, as he revealed that Didier Drogba will return to partner Eidur Gudjohnsen in attack.

Drogba’s has shaken off the thigh strain which has sidelined him for the last three weeks and will enable Chelsea to add more physical presence to a frontline which looked distinctly lightweight at Newcastle.

“We have one more session but Drogba and Gallas will play.

“Drogba trained yesterday with no problems and will do the same today. Gallas feels he can play and wants to play. We are protecting him still but he will be okay to play. But Duff is almost impossible because he cannot run and his injury is very painful. So he is out.”

Mourinho’s side have never lost two games in a row since he took over and each time they suffer a setback, they always seem to bounce back in style.

Mourinho remains confident they can triumph out of adversity once again. He surprisingly announced his team yesterday and ran off what he also claimed was Barcelona’s line-up. Barca boss Frank Rijkaard refused to say whether his prediction was accurate.

Mourinho added: “We haven’t lost two games in a row and that is a fact at this moment in time. Maybe tomorrow it won’t be a fact any more if they beat us. We lost against Manchester City and after that we won for three months. We lost against Porto in the Champions League but we won everything in January.

“We lost against Newcastle for only the third time this season. Maybe our record will be broken but at the moment it is intact. The team has lost only three times and in three different competitions. That is not a team that loses a lot of games.

“I understand that Barcelona have the quality to beat us. It will not surprise me if they beat us. This is the reality. I only have good feelings about Barcelona and I want them to win everything but not against us.”

Mourinho knows he is in for a rough ride in the heated atmosphere of the Nou Camp this evening, but he insists that it will be even more difficult for Barcelona in the return leg at Stamford Bridge.

The loss of Robben and Duff has forced him to return to a 4-4-2 system without a natural wide man, but he is not afraid to face the Primera Liga leaders on such terms.

“The players know the team, they know the way we are going to play, they know what they have to do when we have the ball and when we don’t have it. But we don’t have many doubts at this moment. We are ready.”

Barcelona’s Portuguese playmaker Deco, who was the star man in Jose Mourinho’s Porto side who won the Champions League last season, has warned his former coach his players are in for a rough ride.

“I believe that we have more quality than Chelsea but they are a very strong team and have things that possibly we don’t have,” said Deco.

“They work a lot to win the ball, they are concentrated for 90 minutes and have some of the best defenders in Europe,” he added.

“The way to beat an English team is to keep hold of the ball as they have a very distinct way of playing but I think it is going to be very difficult to win.”

The Catalan giants are expected to be at full strength apart from defender Oleguer Presas, who is nursing a groin strain.