Chelsea

Chelsea manager José Mourinho has claimed that he is proud of his team after they managed an improbable comeback in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Chelsea were trailing PSG 3-1 on aggregate from the first leg.

The late goal from Pastore in the first leg looked to have changed the whole dynamic of the tie because Chelsea needed two goals in the second leg in order to go through. However, they achieved this by the way of some never say die attitude, which has already been seen at Stamford Bridge in 2012.

Chelsea are expected to make a move for striker Radamel Falcao in the summer after he has been consistently linked with the West London outfit over the last few years. Jose Mourinho, perhaps, made the interest public after admitting that a player like Radamel Falcao needs to play at a big team.

He has condemned the decision by the player to move to Monaco by saying that this is a decision he should have taken only at the end of his career. Falcao is believed to be one of the highest-paid players in the world after completing his £ 50 million move to Monaco.

Michael Ballack, the former Chelsea playmaker, thinks that his former club is very much in the race for English Premier League this season, but the winter period would be very important.

Chelsea had a tough beginning in the English Premier League this season. At present, they are just 4 points adrift from leaders Arsenal. Still, the former German captain thinks that some good results would go in favor of Jose Mourinho's team and more that they would be able to lift the title.

The manager of Chelsea, Rafa Benitez, has said that if his team manages to secure a top 4 finish by defeating Aston Villa in the upcoming match, it will boost the confidence of the team big time before the all important Europa League final which is going to be played at Amsterdam Arena on 15th of May. Chelsea’s opponent in that match will be Benfica.

The new Chelsea manager Rafa Benitez has said that he feels that the Chelsea fans will understand that he is just a professional who was trying to protect his team when he was at Liverpool. The former Liverpool manager recently took over an interim job till the end of the season at Chelsea.

He replaces the manager Roberto di Matteo, who won the Champions League title only a few months ago. Due to the numerous comments he made about Chelsea and its fans when he was a Liverpool manager, the Chelsea fans have been extremely vocal in expressing their displeasure to this appointment.

Following their summer transfer spending Chelsea have already begun the process of bringing more money into the club by agreeing a renewal of their existing shirt sponsorship deal with Samsung - at improved terms believed to be in the region of £18 million a season.

However, the news will be greeted with mixed feelings amongst supporters of the club as the figures involved are considerably lower than those announced by Manchester United as part of their new shirt sponsorship deal with General Motors.

Tottenham midfielder Scott Parker is extremely confident that the England national team can be able to use the success that Chelsea have had in the Champions League this season as a blueprint for their success at the Euro 2012.

Despite not being one of the favourite games to win the Champions League this season, Chelsea managed to lift their first ever Champions League against all the odds.

They had defended their way to the title after having extremely defensive displays against Barcelona and Bayern Munich. Scott Parker reckons that there is no reason why the England national team could not use the same formula for success at the Euro 2012.

England certainly do not carry the favourite tag anymore after suffering a number of injury problems ahead of the competition and also losing their manager. England manager Roy Hodgson started with two victories in the friendly matches against Belgium and Norway. However, Scott Parker is extremely aware of the fact that they will be facing opposition of much better standard at the Euro 2012. England are in the group containing France and co-host Ukraine, who will be tough to get past in any major tournament.

"I think we have a real togetherness and commitment in the squad and, ultimately, that can get you a long way. We've seen that last season with Chelsea and other teams. Fundamentally, they are the main key ingredients of why we can go and progress further. It's going to be a very tough game against an Italian side that are very well prepared and organised, with individual qualities. If we carry on doing what we are doing, we can maybe upset them," said Scott Parker ahead of the quarter-final match with Italy. If England progress from this match, then they will face archrivals Germany in the semifinals.

Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has said that Chelsea are capable of winning the title even from this position.

Chelsea are currently 10 points behind Manchester City in the table, and almost everyone have written off Chelsea's chances of catching the league leaders. However, Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has said that dismissing Chelsea's chances of winning the title are premature and the 2009 Champions are still capable of putting up a real challenge for the title. Chelsea have lots of experience when it comes to Premier League title races, as they have not finished beyond the third position in the last eight years.

They have currently made an indifferent start to this season with heavy losses to Manchester United, Arsenal, and Liverpool. They have made Chelsea be 10 points behind the leaders Manchester City. However, the match between the League leaders and Chelsea on Monday night at Stamford Bridge will provide Andre Villas-Boas' men with the perfect opportunity to close the gap.

It will be a great tough contest between the two teams because Chelsea have a great record at Stamford Bridge against Manchester City, while the Manchester club is currently unbeaten in the Premier League. Their unbeaten run stretches to over 14 games and it will take a great effort to beat the side according to Roberto Mancini.

"I think they can win it. They have 10 points less than us but we play two times against them and there are 24 games [left]. The Premier League is very difficult and, in these two months, all the teams that play every three days will find it difficult," Mancini said. Andre Villas-Boas has come under intense criticism for these tactics in recent weeks, but they have just achieved two successive 3-0 wins in a row.