'You won’t come back this time, Chelsea' - PSG star Lavezzi insists Blues won’t repeat Napoli heroics

 
3 April 2014

Ezequiel Lavezzi is convinced Chelsea will not repeat their ‘Napoli miracle’ when they face Paris St-Germain at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday.

The PSG forward was part of the Napoli side that defeated the Blues 3-1 in the home leg of their last-16 Champions League tie in 2012 but crashed out after a stunning 4-1 second-leg loss.

Chelsea were beaten 3-1 at the Parc des Princes last night and following that quarter-final defeat Gary Cahill called on his team-mates to recreate the spirit of 2012, when they went on to win the Champions League for the first time after knocking out the Serie A side.

However, Lavezzi is sure he will not suffer in the second leg of this Champions League tie because PSG are stronger than his former team. The Argentina international hit the opening goal last night with team-mate Javier Pastore rounding off the scoring with a brilliant 90th-minute solo effort.

“I’m not worried about Chelsea pulling off a repeat of their comeback against Napoli because this is a completely different team and we hope to go through,” said Lavezzi. “The goal at the end was very important and it was important for the team to win a match like that.

“We’ll go to London for the return leg with a little more peace of mind. But the second game

will be very difficult. We’ll try to win over there to get through the tie. Chelsea are very strong and they know how to use the ball so it’s only normal that we found things tough at times tonight.

“For my goal, I just decided to hit it like that and I was lucky that the ball went in. I’ve been a little luckier this year than I was last year. Our players are getting to know each other more and more and we’ve had more time to work together. The results have improved because of that, which is normal.”

PSG v Chelsea - First-leg player ratings

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Chelsea boasted the best defensive record in the competition ahead of this tie but paid the price for their errors.

Cahill was devastated by Chelsea’s showing but has not given up hope. He said: “The second leg will be tough for us. We need a massive performance, the kind we had against Napoli the year we won it. We have the characters and the performances at home this season to be able to do it.

“Of course it’s going to be very hard and it was a real blow to concede the third goal at the end, which was very soft and unlike us. I really don’t know what went wrong. Losing 2-1 would have been better than 3-1 so we were really disappointed.

“It makes a huge difference but we’ve been here before. The year we won it we were two behind against Napoli. We’ve got the players to do it at Stamford Bridge.”

Chelsea conceded after just three minutes but bounced back with an Eden Hazard penalty. He also saw a volley come back off the post but the team then failed to make the most of several counter attacks.

Cahill added: “We had a disastrous start. I don’t know why. Sometimes you get a break and the ball just came out and he [Lavezzi] took a touch and did a great finish. Sometimes you get that break and that class of finish and you’re 1-0 behind.

“But I have been in enough situations like these and you just have to regroup, try to get back in the game. We did that and I thought we dominated the rest of the first half once we made it 1-1.”

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