Hiddink urges Chelsea players on to fresh heights

As they prepare for tonight's second leg of the Champions League semi-final against Barcelona at home, Guus Hiddink has delivered a stark warning to members of his ageing squad - win the Champions League this season for you may never have the chance again.

The Dutchman nears the end of his wildly successful period as interim manager at Stamford Bridge with Champions League football guaranteed next season, Chelsea favourites to win the FA Cup and just 180 minutes from European glory, so has earned the capital to criticise the likes of Michael Ballack, Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka. "I don't think of getting older every year, but that is the reality for you, for me and for the squad," Hiddink said.

And he continues to drive his players on to further glories, questioning yesterday whether they have the nerve to become a great European side. "It's obvious that this team is good. The players have a lot of desire and they've proved that in previous Champions League campaigns, but these players don't have five, six or seven years more to have the same chances they've had in recent years.

"It's very respectable that Chelsea have made it into five semi-finals in the last six years," Hiddink concluded provocatively. "That's a sign that the club has big ambitions. But this is one of the last occasions for these players to get where they want to be."

The wily old campaigner sent Chelsea our for the weekend's west London derby against Fulham in an unfamiliar 4-4-2 formation, with Drogba and Anelka up front, but looks likely to return to the more familiar 4-3-3 tonight, with the Frenchman playing wide on the right and a solid midfield of Frank Lampard, Ballack and Michael Essien.

Barcelona have a major question mark over Thierry Henry who missed training yesterday - an absence that could have as much to do with kidology as anything else. The Catalans will be without defensive stalwarts Carlos Puyol and Rafael Marquez, which should give Chelsea hope of breaking the 0-0 stalemate that the semi-final is currently tied at.

WHAT THEY ARE SAYINGRussell Kempson, the Times: "If the fall-out from Chelsea's rugged 0-0 draw at the Nou Camp last week developed into a tetchy war of words, Pep Guardiola, the suave and apparently sophisticated coach of Barcelona, refused to continue the verbal jousting last night. A diplomat, despite his casual attire, he did not demean himself with cheap gibes. Yet the message was clear: Barcelona will carry on playing the Barca way, the beautiful game, and they will not try to meet fire with fire if Chelsea again try to outmanoeuvre their opponents by brawn rather than brain. Guardiola - at 38, already a Catalan legend - will impress that upon his players at Stamford Bridge this evening."

Martin Samuel, Daily Mail: "The one thing Chelsea cannot afford to do is to be goaded into playing Barcelona's game. Indeed, it would be suicidal if Hiddink's players approached the second leg of their Champions League semi-final with designs on proving a point. State your case by winning, yes, but not by attempting to give Barcelona a lesson in football. If Chelsea's players were unable to match the opposition on an artistic level in the Nou Camp, what will have changed in seven days? The pitch is still the pitch, the ball is still the ball, and Lionel Messi will be a potentially devastating match-winner whether playing in Barcelona or London." ·