The ‘Guru’ of Indian cinema gives his take on the high profile Champions League clash tonight at the Allianz Arena
EXCLUSIVEBy Rahul Bali
Saturday’s long-awaited Champions League finale between Bayern Munich and Chelsea is likely to be the most watched club game in the world. And the rage has caught up with Bollywood as well, as they seem to pay close attention to the contest between the two juggernauts of European football.
Goal.com pays a visit to an ardent Chelsea supporter - Abhishek Bachchan. A football enthusiast, the 'Bluffmaster' of Indian Film Industry took time out for us to answer where his loyalties lie in tonight’s clash of the titans.
Question: Please suggest your starting line-ups for Chelsea and Bayern - given that they have a lot of players suspended?
| ABHISHEK BACHCHAN'S CHELSEA XI |
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Petr Cech |
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José Bosingwa |
David Luiz |
Gary Cahill |
Ashley Cole |
John Obi Mikel |
Michael Essien |
Frank Lampard |
Daniel Sturridge |
Juan Mata |
Didier Drogba |
Well, I can speak about Chelsea - I think our defence is going to be the biggest problem because as we have John Terry and Ivanovic who are both suspended – so I will start with Ashley Cole on the left, Gary Cahill and Luiz at centre-back and Jose Bosingwa right back. Then I would like to move in to Mikel, Essien and Lampard in the centre with Sturridge and Mata playing the wings and Drogba at centre forward. That would be my ideal line up – obviously at some point of time to bring on Torres to get more firepower upfront.
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Question: Your prediction for the match
It is going to be tough – Chelsea as the underdog therefore I would love for them to win – we have never won the Champions League – I am going to go with 2-1 to Chelsea.
Question: Why do you think Di Matteo should/should not start with Torres and Drogba together upfront?
Well, unfortunately Torres and Drogba have not really performed very well together up front - I think going with the 4-3-2-1 would be a great system to work with, it has proven good for us in the past and I think let us start with Drogba and then bring on Torres a bit later. Best that he should stick with the one single set forward.
Question: Do you think that apart from letting Mourinho go, selling Robben was one of the major mistakes of Abramovich era?
Robben, unfortunately was troubled with injury when he was playing for Chelsea so he did not get much pitch time – you win some and you lose some, he is a great player of great quality, he is a wonderful winger but for some reason was not performing to his best at Chelsea. Maybe the system in Bayern suited him better so no regrets for letting go of him now. But with regards to letting Mourinho go … of course!
Question: Where do you think the game will be won tactically speaking? Would you prefer Chelsea to attack a lot more and try to play 'beautiful football' or follow the usual 'park the bus' and hit on counter tactic?
| THE DAMAGED BUS TO MUNICH |
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| Can Chelsea afford to use the same tactics against Bayern Munich? | |||
I think we will have to wait to see what kind of system Di Matteo adopts for the finals, I think Chelsea would start with their normal flair, if they do fall back, I am pretty sure they will fall a lot more deeper and become more defensive. At the end of the day its all about winning the game – its not how you do it – its only about winning the game and I think that’s all Chelsea is interested in doing right now.
Question: Where will you be watching the final and with whom?
I will be at home watching it with my wife - I am a little superstitious about it so, wearing the same jersey, sitting in the same spot and watching it from home and wishing the Blues ‘all the very best!’
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