Chelsea Football Club

• Nickname:Blues
• Founded:1905
• Manager:Jose Mourinho

• Ground:Stamford Bridge
• Capacity:42440

Guus goes on the offensive

28 Apr 2009 - 07:48:19

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Coach Guus Hiddink expects Chelsea to go on the offensive in Tuesday's Champions League semi-final first leg encounter with Barcelona in Spain.

The Blues have the advantage of the first leg being at the Camp Nou where an away goal could prove decisive.

And after his side put seven goals past Liverpool during the two legs of their quarter-final tie, Hiddink believes that Chelsea will again play a positive game.

"Both teams have the style to attack when they can," he said. "Chelsea is not a team with a strategy to sit back and wait until something happens.

"The team is showing a lot of initiative. It is more or less an open clash between two teams who like to go forward."

Meanwhile, Hiddink is confident that Jose Bosingwa can keep Barcelona star Lionel Messi quiet despite playing out of position.

The Portugal defender will switch from his usual right-sided role to operate at left-back in the absence of the banned Ashley Cole.

"I have full confidence Bosingwa can do the job on Tuesday," continued Hiddink.

"We have some more options, but if he is doing well he can do the job."

However, the Dutch coach has conceded that Barcelona pose a threat from a variety of positions and not just their Argentinian ace Messi.

He added: "If you go to a double man-marking system and focus too much on that you forget there are other big players that can do the damage.

"A lot of teams have shown that it is very difficult to stop them. The front line is world class, (Thierry) Henry has class and experience and Samuel Eto'o I had as a young player at Real Madrid when he was 17.

"At that time he was already impressive and then he got titles and experience."