SOCCER/Chelsea v Barcelona:  If romance in football makes managers wince they have to do their frowning in private. With Petr Cech and Carlo Cudicini both suffering bad head injuries on Saturday, Jose Mourinho has to express satisfaction at the prospect of giving Henrique Hilario, a Portuguese goalkeeper, his debut tonight against Europe's most admired attacking force, Barcelona, in the Champions League at Stamford Bridge.

While Cech will be absent until next year, Cudicini has returned to light training, though the Italian will not appear against Portsmouth on Saturday. Mourinho said his side have to "move on" from the Cech affair and he is as positive as he can be about Hilario: "He is no kid, he is 30. He has played game after game in the (Portuguese) first division, he has played the odd Champions League game.

"He has been busy at home doing his homework, watching Barca on DVDs. He is going to get a chance to play against the champions of Europe and he will be going into that game with a mix of emotions. He will be excited but he will be sad at the way his friend got hurt."

Since the manager does not yet regard the 20-year-old Belgian Yves Ma-Kalambay as a genuine possibility, he hints that Cudicini and Hilario are not enough to tide him through the remainder of the campaign. "Two is short for the whole season," said Mourinho. "Maybe we need to get a solution." At least Mourinho has Barcelona to occupy his mind. The Champions League holders have been Chelsea's partners in controversy over four heated matches during the past two seasons.

Unlike those occasions, this is not a knock-out tie and the manager envisages a more artful and, conceivably, gentler contest.

"We are talking about a group-stage game," said Mourinho, "and it gives us the opportunity to see some great football, calmer football."

The build-up has been less bitter than on previous occasions and Barcelona's coach, Frank Rijkaard, believes Chelsea's goalkeeping problems may explain that. "With these injuries to the goalkeepers, particularly the very serious one to Cech, maybe that's why people within Chelsea are calmer," he said, wishing Cech a speedy recovery.

Both managers expressed hope the game would end 11 against 11 after past red cards, including one for Asier del Horno here last season for a foul on Lionel Messi, whom Mourinho accused of diving. "That's all water under the bridge," Messi said.

Both teams' fates in the Champions League cannot be determined tonight, but there might be an indication of their respective levels of quality. Claude Makelele, Didier Drogba and Ashley Cole have knocks but trained yesterday. Assuming they are available, Chelsea's outfield players are in better condition than those of Barcelona, who will lack Samuel Eto'o for months because of a knee injury.

Rijkaard's side outplayed Chelsea last season so it is incumbent on Mourinho's partly rebuilt squad to show that, with Andriy Shevchenko and Michael Ballack signed, the gap in quality has been closed. The past will linger for Chelsea in the shape of Eidur Gudjohnsen, who was sold to Barcelona in the summer.

Chelsea, meanwhile, have renewed their complaints over the Cech incident at Reading. In addition to reasserting his belief that the Football Association should take action against Stephen Hunt, whose knee caused the damage, Jose Mourinho was also angered by alleged delays in getting the goalkeeper to hospital. His accusation that the player had to wait 30 minutes for an ambulance has been rejected in a highly specific response by Graham Groves of the South Central Ambulance Service. "Chelsea called an ambulance at 17.45 which arrived at the ground at 17.52. Cech was in hospital by 18.11. The removal of the patient was a decision taken by Chelsea, who were offered two routes. One was round the pitch on a stretcher. The other was by a small lift, via a wheelchair."

Guardian Service