Get ready for a blast from El Nino, warns Cech

CHELSEA goalkeeper Petr Cech has backed Fernando Torres to break his scoring duck for the Blues and warned opponents that once he does, the Spaniard will go on a scoring spree.

Cech also said that the signings of Torres and David Luiz showed the players that owner Roman Abramovich still cares about the team and they want to reward him with the Champions League title.

Torres has yet to score in eight appearances for the side he joined in January, but Cech is not worried by the barren run. “You can see in his movement and in his communication with the other players that it’s getting much better, and he’s helped create lots of good chance for others with his intelligent movement and runs behind the defence,” said Cech.

“You can see the quality he has, he knows this league, he knows English football and that’s his huge advantage. He’s been unlucky because he creates chances for himself that he’s not taken, but it’s a question of time because he’s doing the right things. I’m sure once he gets his first goal, it will start a run of them.”

Torres’s arrival at Stamford Bridge also proved to the players how much owner Abramovich still wants success, and that has given them additional incentive before tomorrow’s Champions League clash with Manchester United.

“We’ve all seen the reaction of our owner [in the transfer window]: just when it was time to react, he got the chequebook out,” said Cech.

“It was proof that he was still with the club, that he still has the same spirit and ambition for the club as at the very beginning. I think it was a very positive thing to see.

“I know Roman Abramovich quite well, I’ve been here seven years, he is still present at training sessions, he still comes to our matches. He talks to everyone and we all know we can speak to him if we want.

“He is genuinely interested in the game. Chelsea is not a toy for him. He has this spirit of wanting to experience club life with us, obviously he’s happy when we win things, and of course we all want to win the Champions League. That’s the only trophy missing from the Chelsea cabinet.”

Cech went on to look forward to Chelsea’s European tie against United — in a repeat of the 2008 final — and claimed that their come-from-behind 2-1 win over the same opposition last month changed the course of their season. “The turning-point for us was the win over United at Stamford Bridge,” he told Canal Plus.

“It was a last chance for us to keep our title chances alive. If we had lost, it was over. But with that win it was a start. We had to make sure we’re ready to take any chances that come our way. And you never know in football.”

Chelsea’s draw at the weekend with Stoke as good as ended any faint hopes they had of catching United in the Premier League and now the focus is on winning what has become the Holy Grail for Abramovich.

“The Champions League is the one thing we’ve never won and at Chelsea we have very good memories of Wembley,” added Cech.

“We’ve won lots there, we won the FA Cup in the old and new stadium and we rarely lose at Wembley. I hope we’ll be there for the final — to win at Wembley, the one trophy missing from our club’s history, would be something quite exceptional. But once you get to the quarter-finals, you know every game is going to be tough.”