Chelsea ready for Barcelona, but Luiz will miss game

Chelsea centre-back, David Luiz, is resigned to missing tomorrow's (Wednesday's) Champions League semi-final first leg at home to Barcelona even though the club are continuing to assess scans on his injured hamstring.

The Brazilian was carried off during Sunday's 5-1 win against Tottenham in the FA Cup semi-final, with interim manager Roberto Di Matteo admitting he did not expect the Brazilian to be available for the biggest match of the club's season to date against the European champions.

Luiz's hamstring has been scanned and, although he does not expect to play tomorrow, there was no definitive indication on the timescale for his absence. It means there is still some hope that he could return for the second leg in Barcelona next week.

The absence of Luiz will be mitigated, however, by the willingness of captain John Terry to continue playing through the pain of two cracked ribs and the fact that Branislav Ivanovic is available for European competition despite serving a
three-game domestic ban.

Chelsea have just three days to recover from the exertions of their Wembley win over Tottenham, with Di Matteo still weighing up selection quandaries throughout his team. Didier Drogba was outstanding against Tottenham and expects to have recovered from a slight hamstring injury while Frank Lampard, who has been dropped from some key European games this season, has made it clear that he is physically ready to play.

"I think we thrive on these games," said Lampard. "We all live right these days. I'm certainly not going to ask to be rested."

Lampard said the players had taken huge confidence at how they seem to be producing their best form at this critical moment of the season. Drogba even bullishly claimed the semi-final against Barcelona was a "50-50" tie.

"Sunday was a symbol of Chelsea at our best and people know what we're about," said Lampard. "We were very strong all over the pitch. Didier came up with something special. He put in one of the performances of the season. It was an amazing goal and the second half was probably as well as we've played all season.

"If we play the way we did against Tottenham, with the focus and determination plus the ability we have in our team, we have to believe we have a chance. I don't mind if people write us off. We can't show too much fear against them. We have to respect them but we have to take them on and play the way we did against Tottenham."

Lampard, though, admitted that Lionel Messi had already surpassed Diego Maradona as the greatest player he had seen and is expecting the Argentine to be even more difficult to contain than in the 2009 Champions League semi-final between the two clubs.

"We won't go back to 2009," said Lampard. "They've probably moved on from 2009 and we've changed as well. Messi's a different player to 2009. He was a fantastic player then but now he's improved even more. The level he's taken his game to is something I've never seen before. I grew up on Maradona, who was my idol as a player, but Messi has taken it even further. To score 70 goals, which he'll probably end up with this season, that's crazy. Absolutely unbelievable."

Chelsea's renewed confidence was also outlined by Drogba. "We have some good memories as well against Barcelona so it's a 50-50, even if they are said to be the best team in the world," he said. Drogba also appeared to indicate that he would be leaving this summer when his contract expires. "It's not about my last year here," he said. "I just want to win trophies with Chelsea, with my team and that's the most important thing."

Nicolas Anelka, who has joined the coaching staff of Shanghai Shenhua, said yesterday that he wanted his former team-mate to follow him to China.

Meanwhile, Andres Iniesta, who scored a last-minute equaliser at Stamford Bridge to send Barcelona to the final when the teams met in 2009, has identified Juan Mata and Fernando Torres, plus Lampard and Drogba, as Chelsea's key players.