Blues missing Bosingwa

20 October 2009 13:02
Chelsea defender Jose Bosingwa has been ruled out of Wednesday's UEFA Champions League clash against Atletico Madrid at Stamford Bridge through injury. The Portugal international full-back is suffering from a knee problem and will not be available to make his bow in this season's competition. Bosingwa has just completed his two-match European ban imposed in the wake of his comments about referee Tom Henning Ovrebo following last season's heated semi-final defeat at the hands of Barcelona. The right-back sustained the problem in the 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa on Saturday and was replaced after 69 minutes by Branislav Ivanovic, who is expected to deputise again in the Group D meeting. Blues boss Carlo Ancelotti saw centre-back Alex come through a reserve outing on Monday night after his groin operation but he will not be considered against Atletico. Ancelotti said: "Jose Bosingwa has a problem with his knee from the game against Aston Villa and will not play tomorrow. It is not a big problem and we hope we can use him on Saturday (against Blackburn). "Alex played very well after his injury. He has to train some days and he will be ready on Saturday." The defeat at Villa saw the Blues make two uncharacteristic errors from corners which gifted the home side both their goals, and Ancelotti put his players through extra set-piece drills on Monday. He admitted: "Yes, we worked on this particular situation. It is important to work on this. It is important to pay attention to set-plays during the match. "But it is difficult to train set-pieces, it is like training for a penalty kick. It is different. "We work because we have to improve. You can do a good match like against Aston Villa but if you don't pay attention for six seconds you can get a bad result and this is not good." Ancelotti has warned his players they will have to be on their guard against Atletico's twin attacking threats of Sergio Aguero and Diego Forlan, despite the Spanish side struggling for form domestically and in Europe. And the Italian tactician has set his sights on a third successive European victory which would see them move eight points clear of their opponents and on the brink of qualifying for the knockout stages. He said: "Atletico didn't start well but they have very good qualities. They have Aguero and Forlan, they are dangerous strikers and we have to pay attention to this. "Aguero has fantastic quality and he can win matches. They are a good team but at this moment they didn't find a good tactical style. "Wednesday's match is important because we have a possibility to move eight points ahead of Atletico and that is very good because we want to arrive in first place in the group. We have a great opportunity to do this. "To get first place in the group we need 12 or 13 points so it is important to win on Wednesday. "We can play better in Champions League but at this moment it is important to win because we want to play our best in March and April when the matches are very important."

Source: SKY_Sports