Steaua Bucharest vs Chelsea - Team News, Match Preview & Likely Line-Ups
Date: Thursday 7th March Venue: National Arena, Bucharest K/o: 18:00
Team News
Chelsea's interim manager Rafael Benitez has stated that he will field "a competitive team" against Steaua Bucharest in the Europa League last-16 tonight, despite an FA Cup quarter final against Manchester United on the horizon. Benitez is resisting the urge to rest key individuals ahead of that game and instead stressed the importance of progressing in all competitions available to the Blues. Demba Ba however is ineligible for the Romania trip, having already played for Newcastle in this season's competition prior to his January move. Victor Moses has not travelled, so Fernando Torres will start in attack. Steaua virtually have a full squad available for selection, with just forward Stefan Nikolic ruled out with a knee injury.Match Preview
Having suffered the ignominy of becoming the first team in history to fail to defend their Champions League crown in the knock-out stages of the competition, Chelsea are hoping to put their embarassing group-stage exit behind them and make the most of a bad situation in the Europa League. Games are coming thick and fast for the Blues and with just three days to go until their titanic clash with Manchester United in the quarter final of the FA Cup, Benitez is resisting the urge to rest key individuals ahead of the clash with Bucharest. The Spaniard explained:"We will put a very competitive team out. "We have a good group of players, we have to manage them because we have a lot of games, but we want to progress in every competition. "The players know it's another trophy to compete for, they are very professional and want to win."The stats show Benitez may be wise to field his best team tonight. Bucharest have lost only five of their previous 20 European home games, while in contrast, Chelsea have managed just four wins in their last 12 away ties in Europe.