Scolari has high regard for Cluj

UEFA Champions League CFR 1907 Cluj v Chelsea:BIRTHPLACE OF the Cheeky Girls, recent venue for the annual world Dracula congress and home to the planet's first speleology institute, Cluj-Napoca is a surprisingly cosmopolitan place.

Tonight Chelsea will discover that the local football team are similarly eclectic. As diverse as the blend of Gothic, Byzantine and communist-era architecture on view in this imposing Transylvanian city, the Romanian champions are coached by an Italian and boast a squad featuring four Argentinians, four Portuguese, three Brazilians, two Africans and a Uruguayan.

Moreover, while this is their first season in the Champions League and tonight is the biggest game in a history which has swept them from the provincial pomp of the Translyvania championship to eclipsing the better-known Bucharest teams, Cluj are bolstered by last month's 2-1 win at Roma.

Maurizio Trombetta's team are putting this part of western Romania on the map, and during last night's packed media conference Luiz Felipe Scolari stressed that his players will not underestimate them.

"Cluj play in a South American style," said the Chelsea manager. "This is a team that wants to show the world they are now a big club. Their players want the chance to show off to other clubs that they are good. It will be no surprise if we lose tomorrow but we are very confident we can keep on winning."

Looking increasingly invincible under their new coach, Chelsea are a tougher proposition than Roma but, intriguingly, Scolari is no uber disciplinarian. Informed that John Terry had been seen nursing a bottle of beer while chatting to Stoke fans after last weekend's win in the Potteries, his reaction was genuinely relaxed.

"I don't know anything about this, I was somewhere else," he said. "But the day after the players play they are free. I am not a policeman." Not that it is exactly a case of "Win or lose, we're on the booze" at Stamford Bridge these days. As Petr Cech explained, he and his colleagues are offered licence during time off but do not push their luck. "If you want a beer you can have a beer," said the goalkeeper. "But every Chelsea player is very professional."

Tellingly, Terry was given the beer - which he eventually handed, still virtually full, to a steward - by Stoke City supporters who initially abused him but ended up applauding him after he talked them round. Certainly Scolari was more impressed by his captain's attitude than worried about any unforeseen alcohol intake.

"I'm told that, when faced with fans abusing him, he marched straight up to them and defused the situation," he said. "That says a great deal about John Terry's character."

Some Chelsea followers are a little concerned about Didier Drogba's on-field persona in the wake of his recent return from injury but, outwardly at least, Scolari remains unconcerned. "Didier will get back to the level we know he can achieve," he said.

"He needs time and I need time because he had not played for two months and the fans must understand that Didier is not yet 100 per cent. I will play him in more games and we'll see him improve. He needs eight to 10 more games but when he starts tomorrow he will be better than before - just you wait and see."

It would be fascinating if Scolari attempted to confound those who insist Drogba and Nicolas Anelka cannot play together by pairing the strikers tonight but the feeling is he will resist this temptation and leave the Frenchman on the bench.

One man guaranteed a start for Cluj is Juan Emmanuel Culio - known locally as "Emperor Culio" - following his two goals against Roma. The 25-year-old midfielder scored only once last season and, not so long ago, toiled on building sites in his native Argentina after failing to earn a professional contract.

Asked to analyse his metamorphosis, Culio simply claims the Transylvanian air agrees with him. Scolari, meanwhile, can only hope it suits Chelsea.

Guardian Service