Chelsea in the mood for Euro run, says Ancelotti
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Chelsea's Ramires (left) vies for the ball with FC Copenhagen's Domingues Claudemir during their Champions League round-of-16 second-leg match at Stamford Bridge in London on Wednesday. The game ended 0-0. Stefan Wermuth / Reuters |
Carlo Ancelotti insists Chelsea is in perfect condition to win the Champions League even though his side made hard work of killing off Copenhagen in the last 16.
Ancelotti's side advanced to the quarterfinals of Europe's elite club competition with a 2-0 aggregate victory over the Danish champion, but it made life difficult for itself in the goalless second leg at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday.
The Blues squandered a host of chances to dismiss Copenhagen, while riding their luck at the other end when Dame N'Doye's freekick hit a post in the first half.
However, Chelsea can now look forward to Friday's draw for the last eight and Ancelotti sees no reason why it can't go all the way to the final at Wembley.
Although Ancelotti acknowledged Chelsea's finishing must improve, the Italian believes the Premier League champion is finally back on track after its recent rocky patch.
"The team is fresh and it is a good moment for us," he said. "I think we have the squad to win it.
"At this moment all the players are fit. If we are able to play at 100 percent we are able to arrive in the final.
"The feeling is good. We slept for two months and now we are fresh and in good condition.
"We are calm and quiet. The atmosphere now is really good. After the first-leg win against Copenhagen the results and performances have been good."
Chelsea was on top from the start against Copenhagen, but Yuri Zhirkov missed two good chances in the first half, while Nicolas Anelka failed to take advantage of two defence-splitting passes from Didier Drogba.
John Obi Mikel went closest for the Blues when the Nigerian midfielder hit the crossbar with a header in the second half.
Ancelotti refused to criticize Chelsea's wasteful finishing, preferring to focus on the large number of chances created.
"The only thing missing was a goal. There was good attitude, spirit, speed on counter-attack and good defense," Ancelotti said.
"We didn't need to score a goal tonight. The performance was good in my opinion. We didn't want to take risks in this game and we had good control defensively.
"If you have so many chances we have to score obviously. We have to be a little more precise up front but it is a little detail."
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