Chelsea FC News

David Luiz and Tomas Kalas, who have not played this season due to injury, are in the squad that has travelled to Prague today (Thursday) for the UEFA Super Cup match.

Jose Mourinho has taken a 26-man party for the game against Bayern Munich on Friday evening. Willian, who signed yesterday, is not involved.

The squad is:

Cech, Schwarzer, Hilario, Blackman, Ivanovic, Cole, David Luiz, Michael Essien, Ramires, Lampard, Torres, Mata, Oscar, Mikel, Moses, Schurrle, De Bruyne, Van Ginkel, Hazard, Lukaku, Ba, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta, Kalas, Bertrand.

The players train in the stadium in Prague later today and Jose Mourinho and two of the squad will be talking at a media conference.

The Football Association has announced that Steve Holland will assist new England Under-21 head coach Gareth Southgate for two upcoming European Under-21 Championship qualifiers.

Holland, who is assistant first team coach at Chelsea, will join the coaching team at St. George’s Park as Southgate takes charge for the first time next week for matches with Moldova and Finland.

Speaking about this new work, Holland said:

‘The international break at Chelsea is always a very quiet period as we have so many players away representing their countries and often only three or four players remain at Cobham, so Jose Mourinho was very happy for me to be involved and very supportive.

‘I met Gareth Southgate this week and we spoke about plans for the England Under-21 team and the FA are looking forward with Roy Hodgson and the England senior side. We spoke about the type of player they are looking to select going forwards, the playing style that the FA are looking to apply across all the national teams now and I was very impressed.

‘I think it is an exciting time to be involved as I believe there is a strong will within the FA to try to improve the development of our young players, and I am very excited to be asked to be involved.’

Southgate said: ‘I’m delighted that we will have the input and experience of someone of Steve’s calibre joining us for these two games. He brings a great knowledge of coaching, working with some of the very best young players over a long period of time.

‘I must also thank Jose Mourinho for his support in Steve coming into the set up. To have not only the consent, but also encouragement and backing of Chelsea is very important to me.’

Having previously worked at Crewe Alexandra and Stoke City, Holland moved to Chelsea in August 2009, initially as reserve team manager before becoming assistant first team coach in 2011.

England Under-21s begin their qualification campaign towards Euro 2015 at Reading’s Madejski Stadium on Thursday 5 September, with Moldova the first opponents. They then travel to Finland for the second game on the following Monday. Todd Kane and Nathaniel Chalobah are the Chelsea players in the squad.

While Chelsea train in Prague on Thursday afternoon, the rest of Europe’s eyes will be fixed firmly on the Champions League draw taking place in Monaco.

Scheduled to start at 4.45pm UK time, the draw will see us and 31 other sides from across the continent discover our group stage opponents as we join the competition for an 11th successive campaign.

We take our place in the Pot 1 containing the eight top-seeded teams, to be joined by one side from Pots 2, 3 and 4. Other sides in Pot 1 we avoid meeting are tomorrow night’s opponents and present champions Bayern Munich, the Spanish pairing of Barcelona and Real Madrid and the Portuguese sides Porto and Benfica, while clubs from the same country cannot meet each other until the quarter-final stages, meaning Manchester United and Arsenal, also in Pot 1, would be avoided anyway.

Pot 2 is guaranteed to bring opposition we have previously faced.

AC Milan were our first ever Champions League opponents, drawing 0-0 at Stamford Bridge in 1999 before Dennis Wise netted a famous equaliser to earn us a 1-1 draw in the San Siro. They beat PSV in last night’s play-off second leg in Italy.

Atletico Madrid, with our on-loan goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois in their ranks, were opponents in 2009 at this stage, while CSKA Moscow and Paris St-German were both opponents during Jose Mourinho’s first season at the club in 2004.

Ukrainian champions Shakhtar Donetsk, former employers of Willian, were beaten 3-2 at Stamford Bridge last season after beating us 2-1 in Ukraine, while Italian champions Juventus earned a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge and beat us 3-0 in Turin.

Marseille won and lost against us at this stage in 2010, and we also met Schalke en route to Moscow in 2007, winning 2-0 at home and drawing 0-0 in Germany.

Pot 3 brings a mixture of old and new, with English rivals Manchester City also included.

We played FC Basel in the Europa League last season. We beat the Swiss side home and away on our way to Amsterdam.

Olympiacos and Galatasaray are also fairly recent opponents, the Greeks having been knocked out at the first knockout round in 2008, while Galatasaray were group opponents in 1999, when we recorded a 5-0 win in Turkey which remains our largest Champions League away win. Didier Drogba is of course now among their number.

Bayer Leverkusen were group stage opponents in 2011, when Andre Schurrle was representing the Germans, as we won at home but lost to two late goals away in Germany.

We have never met Zenit St Petersburg, Ajax or last season’s finalists Borussia Dortmund competitively, and there are also three new sides we could face in Pot 4.

Scottish champions Celtic and Czech champions Viktoria Plzen would be new territory for the Blues with goalkeeper Petr Cech no doubt keen to find out if we are drawn against his first club, from his hometown, while we have never met Real Sociedad, fourth in Spain last season, competitively.

There is familiar opposition also, in the form of FC Copenhagen, who we beat in 2011 in the knockout stages, and Napoli. Rafael Benitez, our interim manager last season, who led us to Europa League success, is now in charge of the Italians, who we eliminated after extra-time in 2012 on our way to our Champions League win in Munich.

On last season’s Europa League run we beat Steaua Bucharest on aggregate despite losing in Romania, and could face them again in Europe’s premier competition this time around. Romelu Lukaku will be looking to see if we are drawn against his former club Anderlecht, who we beat home and away in 2005, while Austria Vienna, then known as Austria Memphis, were the opponents in 1994 when John Spencer’s famous goal set us up for an away goals victory.

The full list of teams in the group stage draw is:

Pot 1
Bayern Munich (Ger)
Barcelona (Esp)
Chelsea (Eng)
Real Madrid (Esp)
Manchester United (Eng)
Arsenal (Eng)
Porto (Por)
Benfica (Por)

Pot 2
Atletico Madrid (Esp)
Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukr)
AC Milan (Ita)
Schalke (Ger)
Marseille (Fra)
CSKA Moscow (Rus)
Paris St-Germain (Fra)
Juventus (Ita)

Pot 3
Zenit St Petersburg (Rus)
Manchester City (Eng)
Ajax (Ned)
Borussia Dortmund (Ger)
Basel (Sui)
Olympiacos (Gre)
Galatasaray (Tur)
Bayer Leverkusen (Ger)

Pot 4
FC Copenhagen (Den)
Napoli (Ita)
Anderlecht (Bel)
Celtic (Sco)
Steaua Bucharest (Rom)
Viktoria Plzen (Cze)
Real Sociedad (Esp)
Austria Vienna (Aut)

We will be away to Swindon Town in the Capital One Cup third round.

The match will be played at the County Ground in the week commencing September 23, 2013, with ticket news available in due course.

We last met the League One side when they were a Premier League club, back in April 1994 when goals from Gavin Peacock and Dennis Wise earned us a 2-0 win in manager Glenn Hoddle’s first season in charge after joining us from Swindon.

Willian is the club’s latest acquisition after today completing his move to Stamford Bridge from Anzhi Makhachkala.

Shortly after putting pen to paper, the Brazilian, who will wear the number 22 shirt, sat down with the official Chelsea website at our Cobham training ground and expressed his delight at sealing the move, as well as outlining his hopes and expectations for the season ahead…

What does it feel like to be a Chelsea player?
I’ve always been following Chelsea and every time I came to London I would try to see a Chelsea game and see how the team was doing because it’s been my dream to come to play here. Finally it’s become a reality, and when the offer came I never gave a thought to anybody else, I said to myself that I would run here, and I’m happy to be here now. Chelsea was always my first choice.

You must be looking forward to working under one of the best managers in the game?
Absolutely, it’s going to be an immense pleasure to work with Jose Mourinho, listen to him and learn from him. I’m sure I’m going to grow as a professional and I’m looking forward to training. He’s one of the best coaches in the world with everything he’s won. I’m sure I’m going to learn a lot and improve a lot.

Have you had a chance to speak to Jose Mourinho about what is expected of you?
I’ve had a quick chat with him, he welcomed me to the club and told me he was happy that I was here. He told me to work hard. He said we have a very strong team but when you work hard there are rewards.

You have played in Russia, Ukraine and Brazil, but how familiar are you with the Premier League?
I’ve always followed the Premier League on the television and I’ve always had a desire to play in England because it’s one of the best leagues in the world. I’ve seen some games live and I’ve been to the stadiums. It’s a different league but I’m really looking forward to getting started.

Chelsea fans will remember you for the two goals you scored at Stamford Bridge in the Champions League last season, but how would you describe your style of play?
My style is that I like to dribble a lot and play with speed. I like to accelerate very fast with the ball. I’m also quite technical, I like to shoot at goal but I’ve also learnt to defend, which is something you have to do to help the team.

You have an impressive record in the Champions League, scoring nine goals in 34 appearances. What is your favourite memory from playing in the competition?
The most beautiful goal I scored in the Champions League was for Shakhtar against Roma in a 3-0 win in 2011. I’ve scored memorable goals in other competitions as well but in the Champions League I would choose that one.

As well as Chelsea, you’ve also played against Arsenal, Tottenham, Fulham and Newcastle in the past. How do you remember your matches against English opposition?
It was a great experience because English teams are very difficult to play against and each one has their own qualities. I remember losing against Fulham with Shakhtar, and we also lost 3-2 to Chelsea last season, but they were good experiences and I enjoyed the games.

At Shakhtar you won a number of trophies, including the Ukrainian title, Ukrainian Cup and UEFA Cup. How do you think that winning mentality will help you at a club which have become accustomed to success?
It will help me because every player has a wish to win everything they are competing for. I’ve won a lot of trophies in Ukraine, which is a wonderful feeling, but Chelsea are a great club who are used to winning trophies. My aim is to help Chelsea keep this winning mentality and to win as many trophies as we can. All we want is to win trophies and be successful.

What are your aims for the season, both on an individual and collective level?
I intend to help the team as much as I can in order to be successful. I want to train hard, work hard and give everything to earn my place in the side. This is a very strong team with great players. I hope I am going to start matches very strongly and help the team do the best we can, whether that’s through scoring goals, creating chances or defending. I’m sure with the squad we have we will have a great season ahead of us with many trophies to come.

With the World Cup in your home country to come at the end of the season, are you hoping your performances for Chelsea can help you earn a place in the Brazil squad?
That is definitely another aim of mine, to win my place in the squad and go to the World Cup. I will have to work hard for Chelsea to show what I am capable of, and I’m sure if I do that I will have the opportunity to be called up by the national team as a consequence. That applies to every player; if you work hard and perform well for your club, you will get those opportunities, and if the chance arrives I want to be ready to take it with both hands.

– Watch Chelsea TV’s ‘Blues News’ this evening for more exclusive interview with Willian.