Sharethematch.com ambassador Andy Gray was talking exclusively to South West Londoner….
LET’S FACE it Chelsea are massive underdogs to win the Champions League – but they have been underdogs since the Napoli second leg so anything is possible.
Of course we all know what happened against Barcelona and they were absolutely fantastic there, despite being huge underdogs, especially in the second leg when they went down to ten men.
And now they are facing Bayern Munich at their home stadium so once again it is clear who the favourites are and who the underdogs are.
But it certainly wouldn’t bother me if I were a Chelsea player. I wouldn’t expect to walk into the Allianz Arena against the team who play there and be favourites and they will be prepared to deal with that.
In fairness Bayern have lost a left back and a centre back and they don’t have the best players in the world there, and on paper they are not as strong as Barcelona or Real Madrid.
There is talk of Anatoliy Tymoshchuk who is a midfield player playing at centre back so they have their own problems.
It’s not great that Ivanovic and Terry are suspended but Bayern have also lost two out of their back four.
They are going to have to play very well. Bayern are a very good attacking side with goals in them so that is a real problem with Chelsea, but who can say the way they have played in the competition this year anything is possible.
In terms of the league you cannot guarantee now with the strength of the other teams around that you are going to get Champions League football every season.
Everybody wants Champions League but there are only so many spots so some people are going to be left disappointed. Liverpool have missed out again and it didn’t stop them spending £120million last season.
I don’t expect it to stop Chelsea if they don’t win the Champions League final and I don’t expect it to stop them appointing a new coach and trying to buy two, three or four class players and coming back stronger next year.
Andy Gray is an official ambassador for Sharethematch.com – Football’s Social Network. Available now for FREE online or at the App Store; http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/share-the-match/id450784289?mt=8
