Jose Mourinho will consider risking Samuel Eto’o for tomorrow nights crunch second leg clash with PSG in the Champions League.
The striker has been out since a hamstring injury during Chelsea’s 6-0 demolition of Arsenal, and with Fernando Torres failing to fire again at the weekend, Mourinho has been forced to consider rushing the Cameroon striker back from injury.
The striker remains a major doubt for tomorrow nights match, but with Chelsea in need of goals, Mourinho may look to make a calculated gamble on Eto’o’s fitness with the Blues needing to win the tie by two clear goals to progress to the semi finals of the competition. Speaking to Sky Sports, Mourinho explained,
Will Eto’o be fit? Let’s see. Let’s see if he trains on Monday. Maybe he could play but to risk a player you need to have minimum conditions to take that risk,”
“If you think he’s going to be out after 10 minutes of the game you can’t take that risk. If there is a minimum of risk, then yes.
“We need to score goals. If we don’t score a minimum of two goals we are out. We know that, so if we can have everybody available who can give us a chance to score goals then let’s do that.”
Eto’o is Chelsea’s leading striker with 11 goals in 28 appearances this season and crucially all of those goals have come at Stamford Bridge. With Torres and Ba both out of sorts and out of favour, picking Eto’o for tomorrow’s match may not be such a gamble.
The Portugese also has problems in midfield with Ramires suspended and Nemanja Matic ineligible, but Mourinho believes Chelsea have enough to progress to the semi finals tomorrow night.
‘Am I nervous about the match? No,I’d have been nervous if we’d won 1-0 or 2-0 in Paris, but losing 3-1 means I am not nervous. I want to enjoy the game, I want to enjoy the fight, I want to enjoy the risk. So, no nerves.
“A big game, an almost impossible job – so let’s go.
“What’s important is that they give everything, that they leave nothing on the field. PSG as a club don’t have the experience we do.”
