Ancelotti wants Chelsea to kill off Atletico

Carlo Ancelotti has told Chelsea to go for the knockout blow when they face Atletico Madrid in Wednesday’s Champions League tie.

Ancelotti sees Atletico as Chelsea’s main rivals for first place in Group D and he knows a victory at Stamford Bridge will move the Blues eight points clear of the Spanish club.

With only nine points left to play for in the last three group games that would leave Atletico, who so far have just one point, with virtually no chance of catching Ancelotti’s team.

“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,” Ancelotti said on Tuesday.

“To get first place in the group we need 12 or 13 points so it is important to win on Wednesday.”

Ancelotti’s team have suffered a wobble in the Premier League of late, losing their last two away matches against Wigan and then Aston Villa on Saturday.

They have yet to hit top gear in Europe either after grinding out narrow wins over Porto and Apoel Nicosia.

But Ancelotti knows what it takes to win Europe’s elite competition after leading AC Milan to two triumphs and he would gladly take another scrappy win over Atletico to ease Chelsea towards the knockout stages.

“We had difficult games so far. Porto was not easy because they have good organisation. People think playing in Cyprus (against Apoel) is easy but it is not easy because football in Cyprus has improved,” he said.

“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.”

Ancelotti will be without Portugal defender Jose Bosingwa after he suffered a knee injury at Villa and Ancelotti is aware that his back-four, who were heavily criticised for Villa’s goals at the weekend, will need to be sharper to subdue Atletico strikers Diego Forlan and Sergio Aguero.

“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,” he said.

“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.”

Blues midfielder Michael Ballack, who is expected to return from an ankle injury, has warned his team-mates not to reach much into Atletico’s poor form.

They lost 3-0 at Osasuna at the weekend and have won only once in La Liga all season, but Ballack said: “Everyone knows what we have to do but it is a dangerous match because Atletico didn’t start the season well and now everyone expects us to win.

“But we don’t feel the pressure, we have experience, we have a good situation in the group after winning both games and we play at home.

“The past shows we always play well in Europe and have reached many semi-finals. We believe in ourselves and we need to do the same again.”