Chelsea’s second game of our pre-season tour is on Saturday 25th July 6.10pm local time (11.10pm UK time). The game will be played in the North Carolina city of Charlotte at the Bank of America stadium. This venue has a capacity of 73,000. Like after our first friendly the team will fly back to Montreal after the game.
The last time Chelsea played PSG was in last seasons, last 16 Champions League knockout stage. Unfortunately we lost the tie on away goals as Thiago Silva scored a late goal in extra time to knock us out. The first leg in Paris ended 1-1 after Ivanovic finished off a great team move while the second leg at Stamford Bridge ended 2-2, after Hazard and Cahill scored for us.
Tonight’s game (Saturday) will be a tough test for Chelsea as PSG have been back in training and working on regaining their fitness for longer than us. Also with the likes of Ibrahimovic, Lucas, Veratti, Matuidi in their squad, they certainly have more quality than the New York Red Bulls, who we lost to a few days ago. David Luiz is unlikely to make an appearance against his former side tonight due to him just returning from the Copa America. Same for Thiago Silva and Edinson Cavani.
However the main purpose of tonight’s match is to gain match fitness for the start of the season. Mourinho expects tonight’s match to be a good workout for the squad as they are playing a side full of quality. He also expects to see an improvement from his side as since we played New York Red Bulls they have gained fitness and are now more fresh.
For me this is preparation. It doesn’t matter whether it is Paris St-German, New York Red Bulls or Montreal Impact, for me it means nothing to play against PSG in a friendly.
I just say they have very good players and for us to train against very good players is a very good opportunity. I prefer to play against Paris St-Germain than to play against a weak team. I expect a bit more freshness in my players. I expect a bit more adaptation to match intensity.
We are going to play against a team that has spent more time working than us and has more matches in their legs, so I can imagine it will be difficult for us because of that, but I expect my players to feel a bit better than they did because the New York game was important for us.
Jose Mourinho, Source: Chelsea FC
