Chelsea not a bridge too far, declares confident Berbatov

TOTTENHAM striker Dimitar Berbatov is confident of getting a result at Chelsea and ending Jose Mourinho’s hopes of a quadruple.

Mourinho’s men still have the chance of a clean sweep of trophies this season, although they trail Manchester United by nine points in the league. They have to get past Spurs at Stamford Bridge tomorrow in their FA Cup quarter-final, just three days after Martin Jol’s men secured a dramatic UEFA Cup first-leg win over Braga.

Mourinho, who forged his reputation at nearby Porto, predicted Spurs would struggle in Portugal and was quoted as saying they were not a “great” team.

Berbatov stopped short of suggesting Spurs would use Mourinho’s comments as motivation, but he said: “He said we are not a great team? Everybody has their opinion, but we will be happy to prove him wrong.”

Chelsea have a formidable home record — their last defeat at Stamford Bridge was more than a year ago — but Berbatov is encouraged by Spurs beating them earlier in the season.

“They are the champions of England, but we have a great chance,” the Bulgaria striker, 26, added.

“I think some of the small teams are beaten before they go to Chelsea because they know they have such a great home record, but that isn’t the case with Tottenham.

“We are not a small team and will be going there full of self-belief and not thinking about losing.”

Meanwhile, Jose Mourinho will wait for medical clearance before deciding whether to recall captain John Terry.

Terry has not played since suffering a head injury in the Carling Cup final almost a fortnight ago but has returned to normal training this week and told Mourinho he wants to play. But the final say as to whether or not the England captain is available for selection will be made by the club’s medical staff.

Mourinho has no doubts about German midfielder Michael Ballack despite hostile crowd reaction towards him during their first half against Porto in midweek. Ballack went on to silence his critics by scoring the tie-winning goal in the 79th minute and Mourinho insists he will stick by the player.

Mourinho added: “There were a couple of boos in the first half but he showed what a big personality he is with his second half performance.

“There is more to come from him but in big matches you need players with this kind of big personality.”