Last 16, second leg, kick-off: 19:45 (BST)
Chelsea (2) v FC Copenhagen (0)
Boosted by the return of Cristiano Ronaldo, Jose Mourinho has called on the support of the Real Madrid fans as the Spanish side look to end their run of six straight round of 16 defeats.
With the tie finely poised at 1-1, Mourinho admits that his side’s advantage is slight.
“We all have a positive and negative past, but our history in the competition doesn’t [come into] play,” said the Portuguese coach. “It’s an open match. Real Madrid have a little advantage but it’s not enough.
“One team will be alive in the competition tomorrow at midnight. Everybody wants to play in this match and nobody is scared. There is no special pressure.
“Lisandro is a great player, I know that well from Portuguese football. Lyon are more than Lisandro. They are a well-organised team with a very good coach. They have been very competitive without Lisandro.
Mourinho enthused about the recent performances of Karim Benzema, who has started to score regularly after a disappointing first half to the season.
“Karim Benzema is the main person responsible for his good form,” he added. “His team-mates and [Zinédine] Zidane have helped him a lot. Our fans should play tomorrow because we always play against 12 players in our away matches, I haven’t seen the Santiago Bernabéu really playing with its team yet.”
Ronaldo came through a full training session on Tuesday afternoon and is set to return from his thigh injury. Pedro León, Fernando Gago, Gonzalo Higuain and Kaka are all definitely out, though.
Lyon coach Claude Puel, who has Lisandro available after injury, is confident his side can prevail over Madrid at this stage for a second successive season.
“Last year we came here needing to score and now we are in the same situation,” he said. “We have to fight in defence but we also must play offensively. We have a great, tactical match ahead of us.
“Real Madrid have many individual threats but we can compete with them as a team; I don’t care about stats. This is a match between two confident teams who are winning their matches.
“Real Madrid are not only Ronaldo, there are others. It would be great if we could beat them with all these players. Benzema is showing that he can be a great player. He is improving and scoring for Real Madrid and France. We know we can be tough opponents. Real Madrid are the favourites because they scored in Lyon and now they play at home, [but] we must be focused on our game.”
Aly Cissokho, Yoann Gourcuff and Cris sat out the weekend league game, although Cissokho did train at the Santiago Bernabéu on Tuesday. Michel Bastos is suspended for the French side.
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