Chelsea hoping for home heroics

Chelsea must rescue their Champions League dream against Barcelona tonight without the inspiration of winger Arjen Robben or the finishing of Didier Drogba.

Looking to overcome a 2-1 deficit from the first leg, manager Jose Mourinho had hoped Dutchman Robben might recover in time from a broken foot but revealed the bad news on Monday.

Ivory Coast striker Drogba is suspended after he was sent off in the first leg two weeks ago at the Nou Camp.

The Chelsea clash is the pick of Tuesday's three first knockout stage matches.

In other action, AC Milan protect a 1-0 lead over Manchester United at the San Siro and Lyon are virtually assured a place in the last eight after beating Werder 3-0 in Bremen two weeks ago.

Werder, however, will be hoping history repeats itself having once before come back from a similar deficit to beat Lyon in the UEFA Cup 4-3 on aggregate, but Paul Le Guen's Lyon team have lost only twice all season and look odds-on to qualify.

That is Chelsea's dream too when they face Barcelona at Stamford Bridge in a match that has developed almost as much baggage as the luggage carousels at Heathrow Airport.

If the on-field action matches the off-field allegations, and insults following the first leg, then it should be a game to remember between two sides who both believe they are good enough to go on and win the Champions League final in Istanbul at the end of May.

Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho is bidding for a third successive European title after leading Porto to the UEFA Cup in 2003 and the European Cup in 2004.

Chelsea sparked all the bad feeling that has since surrounded the tie following their claim that Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard visited the room of referee Anders Frisk at halftime during the first leg.

Chelsea are also in trouble with UEFA for being late on to the pitch for the second half, missing the post-match press conference, and now claiming that they knew in advance that Pierluigi Collina would referee the second leg.

However, none of that will matter much to Chelsea if they qualify, with just a 1-0 victory enough to put them through.

A single-goal lead is all AC Milan have over United but their 1-0 win at Old Trafford is likely to be enough, especially if ex-United defender Jaap Stam takes his place in the defence after recovering from a hamstring injury.

United will be without the injured Gary Neville and Louis Saha, while European Footballer of the Year Andriy Shevchenko is out for Milan with a fractured cheekbone.