LUIZ Felipe Scolari has demanded Chelsea's "football machine" dish out a stiff Champions League reality check to European minnows CFR Cluj tonight.
The Romanian double- winners produced a shock 2-1 victory away at Roma on their Champions League debut a fortnight ago and tonight promises to be the biggest night in the club's 101-year history.
As a result, Scolari has been cautioning "respect
for a dangerous opponent", and he even went so far as to say it would not be a surprise if Chelsea lost in the three-sided Dr Constantin Radulescu stadium.
But, in reality, unbeaten Chelsea are homing in on a ninth straight victory that would take them a giant step closer to qualifying for the second round of the Champions League.
"We have made a very good start to the season. Cluj are more confident than before because they beat Roma and they have good players – but we know that if we are to reach the second round we need to win," said Scolari.
"When you win games you have more confidence, you are more strong. If we win we have one foot in the second round.
"I think it will need ten points to qualify and if we win we will have six points. We would just need four more from four games. We want to reach the final and to win the final so it is a very good situation for us."
Scolari has been trying to keep Chelsea's Champions League expectations in check following the disappointment of last season's final.
Ahead of his side's opening win over Bordeaux – Scolari's first Champions League match – the Brazilian insisted he would not be judged on European endeavours.
Scolari was at pains to point out the qualities of a Cluj side packed with South Americans and Portuguese players, many of whom are familiar to him and have a point to prove.
"The attention of the world is not on Cluj, it is on Chelsea but their players want to change that. They want to show the world they are good players and catch the eye of other clubs," said Scolari.
"They are in this competition because they have good players, they have something different to other teams in Romania. They need respect. We win many games in England now because we respect the opposition team.
"I have shown my players a DVD about Cluj. If they win tomorrow against Chelsea it is because they are better. It is not a surprise."
But it would be a major surprise to the Transylvanian locals, 25,000 of whom will pack into the stadium and create a bear-pit of an atmosphere for Chelsea.
Cluj, Romania's oldest club and nicknamed the Railroaders, rocketed through the divisions following some heavy investment and last year became the first side from outside of Bucharest to win the league title in 17 years.
Like Scolari, Cluj head coach Maurizio Trombetta is new in charge this season and is taking the view that Cluj have "nothing to lose" against Chelsea.
Striker Yssouf Kone said: "I think Chelsea are four times stronger than Roma. When you play against them, you should run like crazy until the last minute. Chelsea are a football machine but in the end, it's 11 against 11 and the pressure will be on Chelsea, not on us.
"If they beat us, it would be normal. If we beat them, it would be something fantastic."
Having studied Scolari's DVD, Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech is preparing himself for a busy night.
"The strength of Cluj is that they play as a team," he said.
"They are well organised. They had a plan against Roma which worked well. If there is one thing for me as a goalkeeper to be prepared for, it is that they had a lot of attempts at goal.
"But we know about (them] and we are ready for it."
The full article contains 656 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
