They go back a long way, to when Xavi was coming out of his teens and Mourinho was Barça’s assistant coach in the late 1990s. The bond has survived, and Xavi enthuses about his mentor: “He was someone who always had a deep knowledge of the game. The head coach, Louis Van Gaal, used to send him to observe opponents and he’d come back with really detailed analysis of each player. He was good for us younger players coming through from the B team. He was a bridge between us and the coach.
“He was a winner, with a big personality. I’m a player who likes analysing the game and I liked talking about football with him, looking at technical analyses and how to counter an opponent. He was a football man, and very studious about it.”
Xavi sees Mourinho’s stamp on Chelsea’s football: “It’s in the way everyone works for each other, the way they are so organised in defence, and most of all that they have that desire to win. Barcelona and Chelsea are quite different teams in style: they are more defensive; we look to attack in different ways, especially with the full-backs who get forward a lot. They have their line of defenders further back. But they have talent up front.”
What Chelsea won’t have is Arjen Robben. Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Barça’s attacking left-back, sees the absence his Dutch compatriot as key. “Of course it will be an advantage that Robben is out,” he said. “From the moment he came into their team he has been Chelsea’s best player. He scores and creates goalscoring opportunities. When Robben doesn’t play, it’s like Ronaldinho not playing for us. They have enough quality players to come into the team and fill the gap, and they will cope, but they will not be so dangerous, I feel.
“We need to win the first game. At home we sometimes find it difficult to play against defensively sound teams because we play with a lot of space behind us. With the speed Chelsea have with Duff, Drogba or Kezman, we have to take great care that we are not caught on the counter- attack. We have a balance, although we never usually modify our game too much, whether it is against Real Madrid or Milan. We don’t have the players to be defensive.”
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Barcelona have fitness doubts over defender Presas Oleguer and may push Rafael Marquez back from midfield to cover the gap. That would give the veteran Demitrio Albertini, a Champions League winner with Milan 10 years ago, his European debut for Barça, whom he joined from Atalanta in January.