Blues pleased with draw

27 August 2009 19:16
Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon was satisfied with the draw for the UEFA Champions League group phase after landing games against Porto, Atletico Madrid and APOEL Nicosia. Last season's semi-finalists and 2008 runners-up were the top seeds in Group D and avoided being paired alongside the likes of former manager Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan side, Real Madrid and Juventus. Kenyon was not getting carried away by the draw, but expects Blues boss Carlo Ancelotti to be pleased with the outcome. "We're starting again and we're always looking to go one step further, which means we've got to get through this stage," Kenyon told Sky Sports News. "We have to be generally pleased with the draw. There's no easy games and no easy groups. "Overall, there's not too much travel and I guess we've managed to avoid one of the big ones." Chelsea faced Porto in 2004/05 and 2006/07, and have close ties with the club with Ricardo Carvalho, Paulo Ferreira, Jose Bosingwa and Deco all having played for the Portuguese giants. Kenyon added: "We've played them before and Porto players have been an important part of Chelsea's history. "I think we know them all, but Porto probably better than most." With the transfer deadline approaching next Tuesday, Kenyon also confirmed there are no plans to add to the signings of Yuri Zhirkov, Daniel Sturridge and Ross Turnbull. "I think at this stage probably not," replied Kenyon when asked about possible new signings. "We concentrated very much on re-signing the players we wanted and that's been really successful. "We've had a great start to the season and Carlo, before he joined us, was very happy with the squad. "We've strengthened that with Zhirkov and we're very happy with the squad. We've had a good start and we all believe this year we can go one step further."

Source: SKY_Sports