Tough tests ahead

27 August 2009 18:26
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink believes Chelsea face a tough Champions League group, but should still emerge as winners. The Blues were drawn against Portuguese side Porto, Atletico Madrid of Spain and Apoel Nicosia of Cyprus in Thursday's draw and former Chelsea striker Hasselbaink believes Carlo Ancelotti's men have some tricky ties ahead. However, Chelsea are top seeds in the group and Hasselbaink says the Stamford Bridge outfit should qualify for the knockout stage. "It could have been easier," Hasselbaink told Sky Sports News. "Porto is a hard one. Obviously there is some history there, but Chelsea have played against them before and done well. They should win that game. "Atletico Madrid, my old team, have good forward players but they leak goals. They are not the best at the back and on the night Atletico can be a tough one. It will be difficult, but Chelsea should win that as well. "It could have been a lot easier. I think those teams are very difficult and an away game at Apoel, it's not around the corner is it? "It's a tough group, a very tough group for Chelsea, but they should come out of it as winners." Meanwhile, Liverpool will travel to France to face Lyon, while games against Italian side Fiorentina and Hungarian champions Debreceni await Rafael Benitez's team. And Hasselbaink feels the biggest test will come from the big-spending French side "It's another difficult one," he continued. "Lyon were always going to be a difficult opponent. They have got good players, they've got good strikers who can score goals and they've spent around £60million this year. I think they will be well equipped for the Champions League this year. "We all know Italian football is not the best at the moment, but you still want to avoid the Italians because tactically they can make it very difficult for you. Fiorentina have Adrian Mutu and he's got a lot of stuff to prove to people. He will be up to the challenge T"hey could have done without the travel to Debreceni, but you have to do it. "But I think Liverpool will have enough to reach the qualifying stages."

Source: SKY_Sports