Chelsea need only look at Internazionale’s Champions League record to know they can overcome a 2-1 first-leg deficit

Internazionale need José Mourinho’s sulky charisma even more than his tactical acumen. His personality can distract opponents from the fact that his side, judged by the high standards of the Champions League elite, is unremarkable. If Chelsea keep a clear head tonight, they ought to overturn the 2-1 deficit from a gripping first leg. Should anyone in Carlo Ancelotti’s squad need reassurance, they could get a chuckle out of reading Internazionale’s recent record in the tournament.

The most they have achieved in the previous half dozen campaigns is a couple of appearances in the quarter-finals. Mourinho continued the mundane form in his first season with Inter, unable to make much of a fuss as Manchester United eased them aside. Chelsea’s disappointments have been far more histrionic.

After the Portuguese had parted company with the club in the autumn of 2007, Avram Grant took them to a shootout loss against United in the final. A year later the side, under the caretaker leadership of Guus Hiddink, were beaten in the semi‑final by the referee Tom Henning Ovrebo’s rejection of penalty appeals as well as Andrés Iniesta’s goal for Barcelona in the third minute of stoppage time. No one can call such experiences enviable but they confirm Chelsea as a team who customarily play for high stakes.

It would be trite to believe that Mourinho can cure Inter with an injection of his personality. The limitations of even his managerial skills were set out in the comedy of Inter’s loss at Catania last Friday. The introduction of Sulley Muntari, with the score at 1‑1, may have been one of the most hilariously disastrous decisions in the history of the game. It would, in all justice, be absurd to suppose that even the far-sighted Mourinho could have envisaged the consequences.

Muntari was immediately booked for a foul and then, while inside the area, lifted