CFR Cluj-Chelsea Preview: A Step Into The Unknown For The Blues

The season rumbles on. Now it is Matchday Two of the Champions League and Chelsea face an intriguing trip to Romania to take on CFR Cluj, participating in the Champions League for the very first time.

Alan McGuinness provides all the important info ahead of the game and rounds things off with a guess at the final score.

Initial Thoughts and Points of Interest

Cluj are virtual unknowns in European football, and won their domestic league for the first time last season. It was also the first time in 17 years that a team from outside of Budapest have won the domestic league.

While the Romanians are entering uncharted territory, this is all standard fare for Chelsea, who agonisingly missed out on winning the competition last season.

The Romanian outfit shocked Europe when they beat Roma 2-1 in the Stadio Olimpico on Match Day One, but any sort of result against Chelsea in this game would surely be much more seismic.

The 23,200 capacity Dr Constantin Radulescu will no doubt be rocking for this one.


Team News

Chelsea: Salomon Kalou has travelled with the Chelsea squad that departed for Romania on Monday, but Joe Cole misses out. Reserve team goalkeeper Rhys Taylor and winger Miroslav Stoch have also travelled. Michael Essien will still be out for a number of months, while Ricardo Carvalho and Deco are at least a couple of weeks away from full fitness.

Cluj: The Romanian champions have a fully fit squad to choose from after midfielder Sixto Peralta returned to training.

Chelsea Squad (from): Cech, Ivanovic, A Cole, Lampard, Di Santo, Drogba, Mikel, Ballack, Malouda, Sinclair, Bosingwa, Bridge, Ferreira, Kalou, Terry, Alex, Belletti, Anelka, Hilario, Taylor, Stoch


Recent Form

Chelsea: The West Londoners returned to the top of the Premier League table last weekend with a 2-0 victory at Stoke, and are yet to lose a game this season, or indeed fail to score in one.

Cluj: After replacing Ioan Andone with his assistant Maurizio Trombetta, Cluj got their season back on track with that famous win against Roma. In their most recent match they came from behind to draw 1-1 with Steau Bucharest.


Quotes

Cluj striker Yssouf Kone - who played against Chelsea for Rosenborg last season—admits that participating in the Champions League is a steep learning curve, but believes that anything can happen against Chelsea.

"You can really feel the excitement here," he said.

"Rosenborg had played in the tournament on a number of occasions, but this is our first time, so there is a big difference. You can see that our players are still learning how to compete at this level.

“But I think we are ready for Chelsea, and I believe we have a chance. Obviously we know it's going to be a tough game, but it is still eleven against eleven. Who knows what can happen?"

Meanwhile, Cluj boss Maurizio Trombetta, made his ambitions for the game perfectly clear when he remarked: "I know they have three important players who won't be playing so I am looking forward to the match. I want to defeat Chelsea and show I am a good coach."

While most Chelsea fans probably know very little about Cluj, Luiz Felipe Scolari has revealed that he knows a lot about them due to the number of Portuguese players in their ranks—which currently stands at four.

“I know about Cluj. I know more than you think,” Scolari said.

“I know they have 11 Portuguese people playing there, and I follow them. When I was with the Portugal national team, I heard news about Cluj every week.

“I have all the information I need about them. I have told my players what to expect.”

Midfielder Frank Lampard acknowledges that the game will not be a walk in the park, and echoed the sentiments of his manager by insisting that the Blues will be ready.

"We all know it is going to be tough—even though originally everyone thought it was going to be an easy one,” Lampard said.

"Now we've seen what they've done to Roma we're prepared. If we can get through this game we play Roma back to back next and if we get the right results in those games then we'll be in a position where we're almost through. So this is a vital game."


Prediction

With the way Chelsea are playing, I can't see anything other than a win, but complacency could prove to be fatal for Scolari’s men. Class should tell in the end, but Cluj could just go down fighting. 2-0 Chelsea is my forecast.

Let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment.