Chelsea, Liverpool eye Champions League knockout stages

Both Chelsea and Liverpool can pretty much assure themselves of a place in the Champions League knockout stages with victories over AS Roma and Atletico Madrid on Tuesday.

Victory for Chelsea — who will travel to Italy full of confidence after thrashing Sunderland 5-0 at the weekend — would put them on 10 points and even if Bordeaux beat Romanian side Cluj, it would need the latter side to win their final two matches and Chelsea to lose both of theirs for the Londoners to miss out on a place in the last 16.

Liverpool — who will be looking to bounce back after their unfortunate 2-1 defeat to Spurs in the Premier League on Saturday — need a win at Anfield, combined with a PSV Eindhoven loss to Marseille, which would guarantee the top two finish needed to reach the knockout stages.

Chelsea look to have the easier of the tasks given Roma's appalling form at the moment which has seen them lose six of their first nine Serie A matches and their last four.

Their coach Luciano Spalletti, who has guided them to the runner's up spot in the past two seasons, has also been given the dreaded vote of confidence.

“Spalletti is not in discussion. That's the fact of the matter and that's the result we've arrived at for now,” said technical director Bruno Conti.

“But we are united and I always repeat to our lads that we can't forget what we've done over the last three years.

“We need to talk less and concentrate on events. Hence the retreat continues because on Tuesday we have a huge match in the Champions League at home to Chelsea and we can win if we remain united.”

The team have been hiding away in a hotel for nearly a week which one could interpret as resembling a siege like mentality.

That should be good news for Chelsea's unpredictable French striker Nicolas Anelka, who scored a fine hat-trick in the defeat over Sunderland and has got the nod for the Roma clash ahead of fit-again Ivory Coast star Didier Drogba.

“Drogba is back but my decision against Roma is easy,” said manager Luiz Felipe Scolari.

“Anelka is in better condition so he plays,” added the Brazilian maestro, who will have to do without the injured Ashley Cole.

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez looks set to throw Spanish marksman Fernando Torres into the fray against his former side after he missed their first clash because of injury.

“Fortunately, Fernando is ready to play,” Benitez said. “I don't know if he will start, but he will definitely be on the bench, barring anything unexpected.

“Clearly he is very important to us. He can win games when we are not playing well. He can change games.”

Benitez is dearly hoping that Liverpool can seal the deal on Tuesday and then be able to relax a bit before the knockout stages.

“Clearly we want to be qualified for the knockout stages as quickly as we can and a win on Tuesday will almost certainly settle that,” he said.

“But Madrid are a fine side, and away from home they are very dangerous on the counter-attack with some outstanding players of pace and quality.”

The hosts will be especially wary of Portuguese international Simao, who has made a habit of scoring against them once for Benfica and then in their first match a fortnight ago, and against a side that the 29-year-old has been linked with in the past.

However despite still wanting to play in England one day Simao realises how important the Champions League is to Atletico after being absent from it for so long.

“It's really important for the club, as it gives us a very positive image,” he told uefa.com. “It's a very important competition and all the best players want to play in it.”

By contrast to their cross channel neighbours the two French sides in action are in desperate need of victories to keep their hopes of qualifying alive.

Marseille, who are pointless, host PSV on the back of a morale boosting 3-1 win over St Etienne at the weekend and certainly if they play as they did in the opening match against Liverpool then they can think of claiming all three points.

Bordeaux, though, lost to Nancy in the league and coach Laurent Blanc has made it clear to his side what he expects of them when they travel to Cluj — another win over the Romanians.

“The defeat to Nancy was a very negative thing for us,” confessed the former France central defender. “Now we have to rebound in the Champions League..that is imperative.”