Coming off a thrilling victory via penalty kicks against PSG on Saturday night, Chelsea will wrap up its U.S. portion of its preseason tour in the International Champions Cup (ICC) when it squares off against Barcelona tonight at FedEx Field in Washington, D.C.
You may remember the last time Chelsea faced Barcelona…
Chelsea weaned many first-team players in to the squad for the PSG game, so expect more of the same for tonight. Also expect to see the Copa America crew (Falcao, Willian and Cuadrado) get some additional playing time.
Jose admitted that most of the defenders must play 90 minutes tonight, because he only have five of them.
On what he’s looking for tonight, Mourinho said ’The game against Paris was a very good one; against Barcelona it can be an even better one.‘I’m not worried with tactical aspects, and I’m not worried with the result. I’m just worried about the possibility to play at a higher intensity and prepare ourselves for the Premier League.
‘I need to give players minutes. I need to give players different experiences, playing with each other and also playing in different positions. It’s just about preparation. Obviously nobody likes to lose even in training but if we wanted to win we would choose opponents where we could win easily.
‘This time, because we have a short pre-season and not a long time to be ready for the Premier League, we decided to play proper opponents and have proper training matches to raise the level.’
Barcelona are coming off a 3-1 loss to Manchester United on Saturday night.
The game will be aired live on SkySports and ChelseaTV. Can’t watch the game? I’ll be at FedEx Field in the press box, so me sure to follow me on Twitter @KBJelly for lineups, match photos, and interviews with Jose and co. post-match, as well as plenty of coverage @TheStamfordShed as well!
