Mourinho Dampens Chelsea's Hopes Against Galataray

Chelsea manager, Jose Mourinho has said the state of Galataray's pitch could damage Chelsea's hopes ahead of tonight's Champions League match holding in Istanbul Turkey.

 *Mourinho

Both teams meet in the first leg of their last-16 tie at the Turk Telekom Arena with Mourinho fearing his side could suffer the same fate as Juventus did at the ground two months ago.

The Serie A club blamed the conditions for their costly defeat in the final, snow-hit group game. The match was halted in the first half and completed the following day with Galatasaray winning 1-0 to relegate Juve to the Europa League.

Mourinho also lost here with Real Madrid in the quarter-finals last April, although his team still went through 5-3 on aggregate.  Significantly, neither Chelsea nor Galatasaray trained at the stadium yesterday, which is unusual for a Champions League clash.
Mourinho is concerned how his players will cope, especially because they will also be facing a hostile crowd of more than 52,000, of which only around 1,200 will be Chelsea fans.
He said: “Even in the first match against Juventus, when there was no snow, the pitch was not in the best condition and I think it favours them because they are a very competitive side, very physical, very aggressive. They will prefer a fighting, aggressive match. They play with their strength and their experience, with their know-how. For my people like Oscar and Eden Hazard, it is an experience to grasp with both hands and learn.
“When it comes to the knockout you add the pressure of the detail: the goal, the post, the offside, the mistake.
“The stadium is difficult, the crowd is difficult, even at Stamford Bridge they will bring lots of fans and put pressure on the opponents and on referees. We will play to win but we know they are strong. They have many special attacking players.
“We have already done better [than last season] by qualifying through the group phase but what we did is nothing special. We did what we had to do in a group which was not one of the strongest.”
The game will see Didier Drogba face Chelsea for the first time since he left the club in 2012, while Galatasaray midfielder Wesley Sneijder was part of the Inter Milan side that won the Treble under Mourinho in 2010.
The Chelsea manager insists the close bond  he shares with the duo will be forgotten during the 90 minutes. “Drogba and Sneijder are two of the best in the world,” he said.
“When players belong to my  career they belong to my life but during the game you have to do your job.
“To face Drogba is difficult. It’s a strange feeling but we have to do our job. We know he wants to do his job, too.”