United, Chelsea bid on winning

PARIS – Manchester United and Chelsea, who faced off in the 2008 Champions League final, can put a collective foot in the second phase of this season’s edition tonight if they add to opening day group wins.

But the English Premiership giants take on Germany’s Wolfsburg and Cypriots Apoel Nicosia respectively after highly contrasting weekend fortunes.Whereas United won at Stoke to cement their good run of form since a shock loss at Burnley, Chelsea lost the chance to go three points clear after losing at Wigan, a reverse which infuriated Blues skipper John Terry.’The least we expect from every player is that we work hard and fight and we did not do that,’ Terry admitted to The Sun newspaper Monday.Carlo Ancelotti, twice a European Cup winner as player and then also coach with AC Milan before answering the challenge to land Chelsea their first, now must rouse the team to ensure three points are brought home from Cyprus against nominally the weakest side in Group D.Chelsea already have three points under their belts after edging Porto, who Wednesday host Atletico Madrid, 1-0 at Stamford Bridge.United were all business in swatting Stoke to continue their largely seamless adjustment in the post-Cristiano Ronaldo era.While the Portuguese flyer chases down a win at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium against Marseille in Group C, which also contains AC Milan, Sir Alex Ferguson’s side can build on their 1-0 success at Turkey’s Besiktas.Group A completes Wednesday’s action with four-times champions Bayern Munich hosting two-times winners Juventus and French pacesetters Bordeaux going up against Maccabi Haifa of Israel. – Nampa-AFP