Chelsea to do the talking for silenced Mourinho

Jose Mourinho, the man with the biggest mouth in English soccer, will have to let his team do the talking when Chelsea play Bayern Munich in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final today.

Mourinho, who talked himself into trouble and a two-match touchline suspension from UEFA last month, is banned from having any contact with his players before or during the match today.

Mourinho will not even be in the club's Stamford Bridge stadium tonight.

Chelsea assistant manager Baltemar Brito said yesterday: "Jose will be in a private place, a peaceful place to watch the game. He will have no contact with the staff."

The coach will also be banned from the dugout when Chelsea visit Munich for the return leg six days later.

UEFA ruled last week that he had made a false declaration that Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard visited referee Anders Frisk when Chelsea visited Barcelona for the first leg of their first knockout round match in February.

The fascinating thing will be to see how in-form Chelsea, just three wins away from securing the English title for the first time since 1955, will react.

According to Robert Huth, their young German defender and the subject of an official transfer inquiry from Bayern, Mourinho's absence will spur them on.

"It's going to give us a bit of a boost," said Huth. "Knowing that he's not going to be there, every single player is going to perform that much better because we want to prove everyone wrong."

No matter where Mourinho is sitting, Chelsea will need to be at their imperious best on the pitch against a Bayern side who return to London three weeks after knocking out Arsenal in the last round.

However, Chelsea will provide a far sterner test than Arsenal, even if Dutch winger Arjen Robben and Portuguese defender Paulo Ferreira are both out injured.

Almost every Chelsea player is in outstanding form, they have not been beaten at home in the Champions League in nine matches since October 2003, have never conceded a goal in three home meetings against German clubs and have never been knocked out of European competition by a German club.

Bayern will be without suspended Argentine midfielder Martin Demichelis and injured Peruvian striker Claudio Pizarro.

Felix Magath, in charge of the VfB Stuttgart side beaten by Chelsea 1-0 on aggregate in the first knockout round last season, also has to worry about the fitness of leading goalscorer Roy Makaay but despite the problems the mood among the Bayern squad is of confidence.

Victory over Wolfsburg kept them top of the Bundesliga and the Bavarians are relishing the prospect of a return to London after seeing off Arsenal 3-2 over two legs to reach the quarter-finals.

"This team is up to the job now," said Bayern director Uli Hoeness.

"We weren't very good at the start of the term but we've got some good results recently and we've played well in the Champions League, especially in the tough fixtures.

"We don't have to be too worried about the Pizarro injury. We have Paolo Guerrero to come in."

While Guerrero is the likely candidate to replace his international captain, Magath may also consider giving a run out to the rarely used Vahid Hashemian, who scored twice to lead Iran to a 2-1 win over Japan in a World Cup qualifier last month.

The absence of Demichelis could mean a recall to the midfield for Sebastian Deisler, with Michael Ballack dropping back to play a more defensive role.