Travel-sick Blues not helped by history

New temporary coach, Guus Hiddink has won all five of his matches in charge of the Blues to date, including away wins at Aston Villa, Portsmouth and Coventry City.

And he will need to ensure the Stamford Bridge outfit cure their European travel sickness if they are to reach the last eight.

Chelsea failed to win any of their three Champions League group stage matches, drawing against Bordeaux and Cluj and losing 3-1 in Rome.

The 1-1 draw against Bordeaux in November meant the Blues set an unwanted club record of seven consecutive Champions League matches on the road without a victory, stretching back to the 4-0 win in Rosenborg in November 2007.

And to add to their misery, they face an Old Lady side in Turin that have managed to successfully negotiate four knockout ties having lost the first leg, a feat matched by no other team in Champions League history.

Juve have eliminated Real Madrid on no fewer than three occasions having lost the first tie in the Spanish capital — in 1996, 2003 and 2005 - while they also disposed of Werder Bremen in 2006, winning the second-leg 2-1 having lost the initial encounter 3-2 in Germany.

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Gregg Davies

Gregg Davies is the Chief Sub Editor of FourFourTwo magazine, joining the team in January 2008 and spending seven years working on the website. He supports non-league behemoths Hereford and commentates on Bulls matches for Radio Hereford FC. His passions include chocolate hobnobs and attempting to shoehorn Ronnie Radford into any office conversation.