• Champions League

Chelsea can KO Barcelona - Gudjohnsen

ESPN staff
April 23, 2012

Chelsea are full of belief that they can overcome Barcelona on Tuesday, according to Eidur Gudjohnsen, who had spells with both clubs.

The Premier League side produced a stubborn defensive performance to win the first leg of the Champions League semi-final 1-0 last week, and now only need a draw to book their place in a final against either Bayern Munich or Real Madrid.

And Gudjohnsen, now with AEK Athens, feels that Chelsea will need to be similarly disciplined at the back if they are to upset the odds and secure a result in Spain.

"Chelsea have given themselves great hope by the way they defended at Stamford Bridge," Gudjohnsen said to the BBC.

"They rode their luck a little bit but they believe they can win. At Stamford Bridge they were very tactically organised. They limited the space for Barcelona to play in. They will need to do that for 90 minutes in the Camp Nou. It is a very difficult task but they have done it once."

Gudjohnsen feels that interim Chelsea boss Roberto Di Matteo is in pole position to land the job on a full-time basis, having brought about such an upturn in the club's fortunes.

"I think he has shown that he can. He has already turned the season around, they are still looking for that fourth spot in the league," Gudjohnsen said. "He has got them into an FA Cup final and a Champions League semi-final. For the moment everything has gone fantastically well.

"He has made some bold decisions and they are working in his favour. He is doing the job the way he thinks is right and it looks to be going great."

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