Chelsea's wing wonders have revealed how the heartache of losing last year's Champions League final is driving them on to win the trophy this season.
Florent Malouda, who scored one of the goals in their 3-1 victory over Fulham on Saturday, has flourished under Guus Hiddink's managerial tenure and Salomon Kalou, who popped up with the winner against West Ham the previous week, has finally begun to realise his full potential.
"Last year, to be in the final, was a very good experience but also bad," said former Lyon winger Malouda. "We are all determined now to get to Rome and win the trophy because we have come close before."
He added: "This now means that our desire is even stronger than it has ever been. The Champions League is a very important competition for any player."
The pair hope to be tormenting the Barcelona defence on Wednesday night in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final.
But after a majestic attacking display from Nicolas Anelka and Didier Drogba against Fulham, one of them may well lose out.
Anelka and Drogba both got on the score sheet while Kalou had to be content with a place on the bench and that is where the Ivorian may remain when the team is announced for return clash with the Spanish giants.
Chelsea have a slight advantage going into the second leg after their goalless draw in Spain, but Malouda and Kalou are in unison when it comes to revealing the impetus behind the team's desire to win the Champions League.
Malouda added: "For me, my emotion started at Lyon because we tried to win it but never passed the quarter-finals and now at Chelsea, we have a very good chance because our team is strong.
"We all know going to Rome is going to be difficult but we have ambition and the ability to win the competition. We know we can do it. We need to stay focused on our target and achieve our goal."




Comment 1 - 11 of 11
when was the last time beat a chelsea team with 11 men still on the pitch,they have never done it,they are trying to influence the ref with there whining,i warn you now eufa no stitch ups platini,blue forever thai- steve
go, your are the most anti chelsea chelsea fan in the world. nil nil is an advantage as the home side is seen as the team that should score more.
and to people saying every goal for barca means chelsea need 2 are wrong. if barca score 2 chelsea need 3 not 4
This is what I don't understand....
The ideal formation in a football match is 4-4-2. It is the most balanced of them all, cos it gives you 4 midfielders and 4 attackers going forward (the fullbacks and wingers double up) yet quite a solid defensive 4-4-2. The footballing lesson aside, a team with more money than they know what to do with cannot get to play 2 really hardworking central midfielders so that they can accomodate just 2 strikers really shows that they don't know how to spend money. Look at Manchester United, in general the formation is so so simple... and yes, the players are expensive too, but everybody works hard, and thus we see good football. Barca play a similar game to Chelsea, but going forward, we see 3 strikers peppering the box, yet for Chelsea, only one. Somethings amiss with the management of that team. When Mkelele was there, it was so different. But Chelsea must realise that you only need Essien and one other to secure the centre of midfield... why so scared. I am a man u fan, but I don't understand how chelsea cannot see the threat they would pose with a conventional formation. If I wanted to fit in Ballack, Lampard, and Essien, then I would go for a diamond 4 in the centre like the way Juve used to play. But once again, as a team, can chelsea produce the WORK RATE required of a truly dominant force in football????
and what kind of advantage do we have? cuz considering the first game i only saw barcelona play football. a draw is an advantage if it has goals in it you scum writer. 0-0 favors the away team in the second leg. for every goal they score the home team needs 2 and there is no extra time if that's to happen. who is this idiot who wrote this article?
i hate this kind of asskissing article. Majestic partnership? f*** off. if drogba anelka is majestic, than there is word in the english language to describe henry-eto-messi partnership. why can't our idiot journalists keep it down to earth, instead of creating fake images of our teams? f***ng retards, than we wonder why our players are only good on paper, and fail when it matters.
chelsea 3,barca 1,amali from nigeria
Dear Barca fans,
No hard feelings. The poem for just for fun.
May the best team wins.
Cheers
Dear Barca Fans,
I have written a poem for you. Here it goes:)
Barca fans you are my man
Everything you say I ban
Cos you are not from my clan
Your Barca is built on sand
Are you sure Barca can ?
Last nite, a gypsy from Barcelona gazed into her crystal ball and saw a fearful vision.
I asked What Happened ?
Under a bridge a ball was passed to a guy called Malouda
It went from there to the legs of Anelka
From there it went to Drogba
Who shot it between the legs of Guardiola
Into the goal of Barcelona.
I asked the gypsy: And what did you see happened at the other end?
"A ball reaches the legs of Xavi
And quickly it went to Henry
He passed it to Messi
Who crashed into a bus called Terry
And that was the end of the story"
Cheers,
May the best team wins !
Yours Truly,
mikel
Cech
Essien - Terry - Alex - A.Cole
Kalou - Lampard - Ballack - Malouda
Anelka - Drogba
please win
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