Carlo Ancelotti has admitted everyone at Chelsea is willing Fernando Torres to break his scoring duck – and predicted he could do it against Manchester United in the Champions League.Torres had a lively 31-minute cameo after coming off the bench in Chelsea’s 1-0 win over Wigan Athletic but extended his barren run following his January move from Liverpool to 648 minutes.
However, Ancelotti was impressed by his £50 million man’s display against the Premier League’s bottom club.
“Every one of us wanted him to score today,” said Ancelotti.
“He had a lot of opportunities. He was lively. In 30 minutes, he had three or four chances to score. Sometimes he was unlucky and one time the goalkeeper had to make a fantastic save.”
Asked if he was worried about Torres’ continued drought, the Italian said: “Maybe he will score the most important goals of our season.”
Ancelotti said he knows the team and system he will play at Old Trafford on Tuesday but remained tight-lipped on which two he will perm from Torres, Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka.
Although Chelsea must score at least once to stay in the Champions League, he all but ruled out playing all three strikers, as he did when Torres first joined the club.
“It’s not right that the more strikers you have, you score more goals,” said Ancelotti. “To score we need balance in the team.
“I know the system [we will play]. We have to score one goal. It is important not to concede also. We don’t need to score in the first minute, we have 90 minutes. The problem is to score one goal and maybe more.
“Obviously, we have more difficulty compared to last season to score goals. We are not able to covert the chances we created. Today we had a lot of opportunity to score more goals. We were not able to do this.”
Ancelotti’s team climb to third in the table above Manchester City following the hard-fought win over Wigan.
“It was not an easy game between the [Champions League] quarter-final, for physical and mental reasons,” he added. “The first half was not good, the second half more spirit, more fighting. We have to play better [against United], this is normal. If we win there we have to play at 100 per cent.”
Ancelotti was also encouraged by the return following lengthy injury absences of Yossi Benayoun and Alex, who made their first appearances since September and November respectively.
"Both players, who came off the bench today, are fit enough to start at Old Trafford. I’m not sure if they can play 90 minutes but they can start a game, with no problem," he said
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