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Chelsea target Europa semis

Sport
LONDON — Chelsea can take a step closer to becoming only the fourth side to win all three of Uefa’s major club competitions

LONDON — Chelsea can take a step closer to becoming only the fourth side to win all three of Uefa’s major club competitions by cementing a place in the Europa League semi-finals when they travel to Rubin Kazan tonight.

Report by SuperSport

Only Juventus, Ajax and Bayern Munich can count Champions League, Cup Winners’ Cup and Uefa Cup triumphs among their list of honours, but Chelsea are well positioned to add their name to that elite group as they head to Russia with a 3-1 advantage from the first leg at Stamford Bridge.

“We have established a good lead. We knew that the second leg will be difficult away from home, so it was important to get the victory and score three goals,” said Brazilian midfielder Ramires.

“Obviously, we want to qualify for the Champions League, but we don’t want to forgo the trophies that we are chasing either,” added the 26-year-old, sounding a slightly different tone to teammate John Mikel Obi after the Nigerian revealed his indifference towards Europe’s second-tier competition.

“No disrespect to the Europa League . . . but when you get that buzz and you hear the Champions League song, it’s different.

“It has been kind of frustrating to watch (Champions League matches) — and we have to then play tonight (thursday),” Mikel admitted.

History overwhelmingly favours Rafa Benitez’s side with the Blues having won all five previous encounters against Russian opposition and Rubin, despite an 18-game European unbeaten run in Kazan, far less dominant in Moscow, the venue for tonight’s return leg, having lost three of their past four matches at the Luzhniki Stadium.

Chelsea’s London rivals Tottenham face a significantly sterner challenge as they make the trip to Basle to face the Swiss league leaders with their last-eight tie evenly poised at 2-2 after Spurs recovered from a two-goal deficit at White Hart Lane last week. Adding to Andre Villas-Boas’ problems is the absence of Gareth Bale, Aaron Lennon and William Gallas after the trio all sustained injuries in the first leg.

However, January arrival Lewis Holtby remained confident Tottenham could still secure their place in the last four.

“We are good away from home, we have got some good results this season so we’re still positive and our confidence is high,” said the German international. Benfica will go to Newcastle as the favourites to advance following a 3-1 victory in the Portuguese capital last time out.