Scolari welcomes Chelsea´s Russian test

Hot foot from their successful Asian tour Chelsea continue their pre-season preparations under new coach Luiz Felipe Scolari with a game against Lokomotiv Moscow here Friday.

AC Milan face Sevilla also on Friday with the winners meeting in Sunday’s Railways Cup final.

Ahead of the clash with Lokomotiv Scolari told a press conference: “We are following our plan of preparations for the Premier League season.

“I’m really glad that I have a chance to test my team against serious opponents ahead of the its start.

“We came here to prepare the best possible way for the season-opening match with Portsmouth. It’s my dominating idea for the moment.”

The Brazilian added: “We played three good games in China but those were not strong games. Here we will face much more strong opponents.

“We will start against against the hosts Lokomotiv and then will face either Milan or Sevilla. It’s very useful experience. Now I’m already sure about 85 percents of my first line-up. I hope after this tournament I’ll be completely sure about it.”

Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon also praised the hosts for their invitation adding that this time he was hoping to achieve success in Moscow after last season’s Champions League final loss to Manchester United.

“The feedback I received from the teams that competed last year was that the organisation was excellent and the teams participating were of a very high standard,” Kenyon said.

“So when we got asked to participate it didn’t take long to say yes!” he added. “I hope this time we will be more successful here.”