Rosenior: Chelsea Undecided On Huddle For PSG

Liam Rosenior said Chelsea are undecided whether they will conduct their pre-match huddle around the ball before against Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday.

It followed farcical scenes on Saturday when referee Paul Tierney found himself trapped in the middle ahead of kick-off before the west London side lost 1-0 to Newcastle United.

Rosenior reiterated his stance that the ritual is not designed to intimidate or to annoy but would not say whether it would be repeated this week.

Chelsea will host the defending champions in their round-of-16 second leg this week after losing the first leg 5-2.

“I think it’s been blown out of proportion,” he said. “It’s a small thing among many serious things that we need to address, such as the massive game against PSG.

“The lads have always wanted to show unity and togetherness, think they’ll continue to do that. But what we don’t want is to antagonise and bring more noise on ourselves. We’ll make the decision on where we do that on the pitch tomorrow.”

The former Strasbourg boss said he plans to meet face-to-face this week with the PGMOL to discuss refereeing, though not necessarily the incident with Tierney, with decisions that have gone against his team set to be on the agenda.

“I think it’s a distraction for the media,” he said. “The huddle was something the players wanted to show unity. They’re a good group. We never wanted to antagonise anyone or create noise.

“We have a huge game against PSG tomorrow. We have an opportunity to do something really special. We know we need to be perfect. I’d rather focus on that.”

Meanwhile, captain Reece James is potentially facing several weeks out after injuring his hamstring during the Newcastle match.

The 26-year-old signed a new six-year contract on Friday but will be unavailable to Rosenior, beginning with Tuesday’s game.

Malo Gusto could also miss out through illness as the Blues look to achieve the improbable and recover the three-goal deficit to eliminate the European champions.