Mourinho waits on strike pair

Jose Mourinho has arrived in Barcelona with his star strikers Andriy Shevchenko and Didier Drogba in tow.

Mourinho had revealed the £55m (€82m) duo were both doubtful for Chelsea’s Champions League tie tomorrow.

But Drogba and Shevchenko were fit enough to travel with the squad and Mourinho will see how they train at the Nou Camp today.

Shevchenko has not played since he scored against Portsmouth in the Barclays Premiership nine days ago.

He was rested from the Carling Cup tie at Blackburn and then ruled out of Saturday’s win at Sheffield United with a leg muscle problem.

Mourinho’s team have maximum points from three European games and the Portuguese knows another victory in the Nou Camp will plunge champions Barcelona into a qualification crisis.

Barca have only four points from three games after losing 1-0 at Stamford Bridge two weeks ago.

A draw in Spain will be enough to send Mourinho’s Blues into the knockout stages but a win would go some distance towards putting Frank Rijkaard’s team out of the competition they won in May.

This would be sweet revenge for Chelsea, who were beaten by Barca in the first knockout round last season.

Shevchenko has broken Barcelona hearts in the Nou Camp before.

He scored a hat-trick for Dynamo Kiev in 1997 when the Ukrainian team won 4-0 and Louis van Gaal’s Barca finished bottom of their group.

Shevchenko said: “It’s a wonderful memory. The public in the Nou Camp were waving white handkerchiefs for Barcelona and applauding the Ukraine team.

“I scored one penalty after I was fouled and two headers.”

Shevchenko was 21 at the time and he returns to the city knowing a similar display could sink Barca deep into trouble.

Rijkaard’s team could still qualify but would probably need two wins from their final two group games – away to Levski Sofia and at home to Werder Bremen.

Barcelona have not been at their most fluent this season, despite sitting top of La Liga.

They lost to arch-rivals Real Madrid after the defeat at Chelsea and found themselves at the centre of a cheat storm as they beat Recreativo Huelva 3-0 this weekend.

Former Chelsea striker Eidur Gudjohnsen was accused of diving to win a penalty for the first goal.

Ronaldinho, who has been suffering his own spell of subdued form, scored from the spot but Recreativo president Francisco Mendoza was furious.

Mendoza let rip at the referee because former Chelsea striker Gudjohnsen seemed to hit the deck without being touched.

Ronaldinho added a second, after the break, and Xavi completed a 3-0 win for the Spanish champions.

Mourinho is sure to warn his players to take extra care when defending in their own penalty area.

The Chelsea boss was quick to accuse Barca’s teenage winger Lionel Messi of acting when the clubs met in a stormy encounter last season.