Chelsea arrived in Tel Aviv yesterday minus six players after the club had given all their players the option to miss the first leg of their second-round clash because of the political situation in the Middle East.

Skipper Marcel Desailly, who has an Achilles injury, headed the list of absentees, along with Emmanuel Petit, Graeme Le Saux, Eidur Gudjohnsen, William Gallas and Albert Ferrer.

Although Chelsea are hot favourites to progress, Claudio Ranieri is pitting his wits against Israel's answer to Alex Ferguson. Hapoel's Dror Kashtan is the country's most successful manager, having won five titles and four cups. He led Hapoel to the league and cup double in his first season.

Chelsea's 21-man squad includes seven players from the reserve and youth ranks, and with a shortage of senior defenders there may be a debut for 17-year-old Joel Kitamirike.