Familiar foes: Chelsea and PSG also faced off in last season’s quarter-finals, with Chelsea emerging victorious on away goals. Photo: AFP
With a shock defeat to third-tier Bradford City last month meaning Jose Mourinho's side were not involved in the fifth round of the FA Cup over the weekend, Chelsea were able to put their feet up and watch Paris endure the worst possible preparations for one of the glamour ties of the round.
"The rest is welcome for us. In the end they have only one game that we don't have. It's only one more game, but I welcome this little rest for the players," said Mourinho, before discovering what happened to PSG in a catastrophic afternoon against Caen.
The reigning French champions lost Yohan Cabaye, Marquinhos, Serge Aurier and Lucas to injuries during their home Ligue 1 game against Caen that saw them finish with nine men and draw 2-2 after conceding two late goals.
Paris coach Laurent Blanc later admitted that the quartet were almost certain to miss the rematch with a Chelsea side who won when the clubs clashed in the quarter-finals of the same competition last year.
With Blaise Matuidi taking a knock in the same match and Javier Pastore battling to recover from a calf problem in time, PSG captain Thiago Silva was left to complain that his side's European prospects had not been helped by the powers that be in the French game. "I think the league could have protected us," said Silva. "It is very hard to play every three days. And for a special event like this match against Chelsea, the match against Caen could have been rearranged to allow us to prepare better."
Silva was in the PSG side that beat Chelsea 3-1 at the Parc des Princes in the first leg of their last-eight tie almost a year ago, when his compatriot David Luiz scored an own-goal.
However, counters from Andre Schuerrle and Demba Ba helped Chelsea win 2-0 in the return to go through on away goals.
Nervous Bayern head east for Shakhtar clash
Arjen Robben admits Bayern Munich have a few nerves as they head to war-torn Ukraine for Tuesday's Champions League last 16 first-leg clash away to Shakhtar Donetsk.
Due to fighting in east Ukraine between government forces and pro-Russian rebels, Shakhtar host their home league games in Kiev, but have opted to play their Champions League matches in Lviv, near the Poland border.
They will host Bayern at Arena Lviv, around 1,000 kilometres from their own Donbass Stadium in Donetsk, which is being used to distribute humanitarian aid and whose facade has been damaged by shelling.
Pep Guardiola's star-studded Bayern squad head east fully aware it's far from a typical away match, just days after romping to a record 8-0 rout of Hamburg on Saturday. "Of course you are aware of the situation, it affects us all," said Robben. "You can't just go there and ignore what is going on."
Guardiola has also admitted he is "concerned about the situation in Ukraine", while chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said the ceasefire over the weekend "has made the whole thing a bit more relaxed for us".
However, European football's governing body UEFA insist there is nothing to worry about. "The safety of all participants is guaranteed," said a UEFA spokeswoman.
With the Ukraine Premier League still in a winter break, Shakhtar will come into the game short of competitive match practice and having only played friendlies in Brazil and Spain during recent training camps. Their last competitive game was a 1-1 draw at Porto on December 10 in their final Champions League group game.
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