5 things Chelsea must be aware of against PSG

Chelsea vs PSG was a quarter-final fixture in the Champions League last season where Laurent Blanc and his men went to Stamford Bridge with a 3-1 advantage from the first leg. PSG fans were optimistic as they were supposed to be. And it was all going well until Demba Ba scored a goal in the 86th minute to give Chelsea a 2-0 win and a place in the semi-finals.It was a devastating blow for the French club. At that point, they had a 13-point advantage in the French Ligue 1 and Chelsea were lagging behind Liverpool and Manchester City in the EPL. Right now, however, the tides have reversed PSG trail Lyon by a point and Chelsea are 5 points clear of their nearest rival, Manchester City.If history repeats itself following the same pattern, then Chelsea might as well bow out of the Champions League after tonight. However, for that to not happen, here are 5 things they must be aware of.

#1 The threat of Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Simply put, Ibrahimovic is a game-changer. In football, there are a very few players who can turn the tide of a game single-handed. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is one of them. While he doesn’t have a great record in big games, he can never be ignored given his unique skillset as a footballer. The one way to describe him best would be: he is very predictable about one thing – being unpredictable. No one can ever really know what he is going to say or do next. 

He could be anonymous in the whole game, but then – out of nowhere – score a peach of a goal which would later go on to become viral on YouTube. And he is in the form to do something like that. He has scored 3 goals in his last 4 games and looks fully recovered from the injury he suffered earlier this season.

In the first leg, Ibrahimovic had a decent game, but far from what he is capable of. Gary Cahill and John Terry didn’t have much trouble dealing with the physical and aerial threat that he possesses, although the Swedish forward did have a couple of half-decent chances to score. However, now that he is fully fit, they might have a harder time repeating that.

And Jose Mourinho knows exactly what he is capable of. The Portuguese knows that when Ibrahimovic is on fire, no amount of water can extinguish it. Thus, Terry and Cahill must have to be on their toes while facing him tonight – and, definitely, the Special One must have instructed them how.