Roma director of sport Monchi celebrated Qarabag’s draw with Atletico Madrid and helped explain tactical changes against Chelsea.
It kicks off at Stamford Bridge at 19.45 UK time (18.45 GMT), follow the build-up and action from this match and Juventus-Sporting on the LIVEBLOG.
In the same group as the Giallorossi, this evening Atleti were held to a 0-0 draw in Azerbaijan.
Roma director of sport Monchi celebrated Qarabag’s draw with Atletico Madrid and helped explain tactical changes against Chelsea.
It kicks off at Stamford Bridge at 19.45 UK time (18.45 GMT), follow the build-up and action from this match and Juventus-Sporting on the LIVEBLOG.
In the same group as the Giallorossi, this evening Atleti were held to a 0-0 draw in Azerbaijan.
“The Qarabag is very good for us and also for Chelsea. We weren’t expecting it, but we are very pleased,” the director of sport told Mediaset Premium.
“It proves that it’s not easy to win in the Champions League. When we won 2-1 at Qarabag, there was criticism because people considered the scoreline too low. Instead, Atletico Madrid failed to score against 10 men for 20 minutes, so our result wasn’t so bad.
“We are Roma and we want to win, we won’t settle for a draw at Stamford Bridge.”
Eusebio Di Francesco made several surprising decisions for his starting XI, with Gerson completing the trident attack and Maxime Gonalons in midfield.
“Yesterday the Coach worked with this option in training and in the final minutes against Milan, Gerson also held that position. He has the qualities to take the role in a different direction to Alessandro Florenzi or Cengiz Under and it makes us more unpredictable.””
Antonio Rudiger made the move from Roma to Chelsea over the summer, but the defender is on the bench.
“Chelsea and Conte were strongly interested in Rudiger, I think we agreed on a price that was fair and everyone was happy with the deal, as we had money to invest.
“Alvaro Morata is a great player and a centre-forward who has an important role for them. Chelsea have a lot of Spanish players, like Alonso, Cesc Fabregas and Pedro.”