Carlo: Terry will be fine - 7M sport

Carlo: Terry will be fine



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Posted Tuesday, October 19, 2010 by PA

Carlo Ancelotti is confident John Terry will be unaffected by painful memories of his last visit to the Luzhniki Stadium when Chelsea take on Spartak Moscow in the Champions League.

Captain Terry slipped as he took a crucial shoot-out penalty against Manchester United in the Champions League final in 2008. Had he scored, Chelsea would have won the trophy they crave, but following his miss the Blues went on to lose.

However Chelsea boss Ancelotti does not believe the former England skipper will be affected by his return to the stadium.

"John has great experience so I think what happened two years ago has no effect on him, he has experience," said Ancelotti.

"Everyone knows in football you can sometimes lose games. I lost a final in 2005 but you have to look forward. If you look forward with enthusiasm and character you can have revenge.

"Chelsea lost the final in 2008 but I don't think they will have a psychological problem with that, it is a different story now."

An artificial pitch has replaced the grass on which Terry's error led to Manchester United's third triumph in Europe's most prestigious club competition, but Ancelotti is unconcerned by the surface.

However, the Italian refused to name his team until the players had trained on it.

"I can say nothing about this because we haven't tried this kind of pitch," he added.

"We want to try it in the training session and after that we can have an opinion about this.

"We don't have a problem to play here, I hope, but it is different, it is one of the best artificial pitches. We don't complain about this."

Defender Alex, striker Didier Drogba, right-back Jose Bosingwa and England midfielder Frank Lampard have all been left behind at the club's Cobham training headquarters.

"I can't give the line-up because we want to try the pitch before," Ancelotti said.

"If the players are comfortable to play there I will take the decision after the training session.

"We don't have important players, but we are able to play a good, physical match and I don't think we have a problem with a reaction from the game against Aston Villa. We'll put out a very good line-up."

Spartak are reeling from the loss of influential midfielder Alex ahead of the game.

The Brazilian midfielder, a key figure in Valery Karpin's side, has been ruled out of the game after sustaining a thigh injury in Friday's 3-0 win over Alania Vladikavkaz.

It is a bitter blow to Spartak, who - like Chelsea - boast an unbeaten record in this season's Champions League campaign.

The Moscow side defeated Marseille 1-0 away and MSK Zilina 3-0 at home in their opening two games to lie second in the pool on goal difference to the English champions.

"Medical tests, which were done on Saturday, revealed a minor tear," confirmed Spartak coach Karpin.

"He'll need about seven to 10 days to recover."

Alex was removed from the action at half-time and his absence is one of a number of injury concerns ahead of the visit of Chelsea.

But Brazilian striker Welliton is expected to recover from a pulled thigh muscle in time to play along with Republic of Ireland winger Aiden McGeady, who did not play against Alania because of a leg injury collected on international duty.



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