Champions League semi-final, second leg: With both teams on the same level after the goalless draw in the first leg, Chelsea aim to pull rank on Liverpool in tonight's Champions League semi-final at Anfield. Jose Mourinho spoke as if the visitors had a carefree authority after clinching the Premiership at Bolton on Saturday.

The north, according to Alex Ferguson, was full of lurking horrors for Chelsea but the side are now bidding to complete their tour of this part of the country in a haze of glory. Rivalry assumed a bizarre form yesterday, with Mourinho and opposite number Rafael Benitez each insisting his side were the more relaxed.

"They are the most expensive team in the world, they have a good manager, they have already won the Premier League," said Benitez. "If we win, we will be heroes. If we lose, we'll only have lost to Chelsea, who are the best team in the country. We don't have pressure on us. We have nothing to lose."

It was absurd to see these individuals making a futile effort to hide their ravenous ambition with a show of indifference.

Neither has yet been beaten in his career at the knock-out phase of a European competition and the stylised composure was actually an indicator of the despair they dread in defeat tonight.

"The pressure is on (Liverpool)," Mourinho argued. "We will be heroes. Irrespective of the result on Saturday, when the players go to Stamford Bridge on Saturday there will be a big celebration and they will be received by the fans as heroes because we have given them the championship. But I can imagine Anfield and the meaning for the Liverpool supporters if they lose."

The mind games spilled over into prophecy. Benitez, with the home advantage of an earlier press conference, indulged in pre-emptive prediction. "They will lose," said the generally reserved Spaniard. Within a few hours there was a second bout of second sight, with Mourinho envisaging the scoring draw or victory Chelsea need.

Managers belong on the sidelines and the game will turn on the respective line-ups. The Liverpool selection is less problematic, even if Xabi Alonso is suspended.

"They have a lot of solutions," Mourinho said of that midfield issue as he decided to outbid the opposition in woe.

"For us it will be more difficult if we lose Arjen Robben and Damien Duff. If we lose one we are in trouble, if we lose two it's a problem we cannot solve."

Robben appears the likelier to be ruled out. "He wants to help, he wants to play," said Mourinho. "He has been very important for us over the season and now, in the decisive moments, he has not been involved. He didn't play in the League Cup final, he didn't play at Bolton and he might not play (against Liverpool)."

The Dutchman's semi-healed ankle would introduce fragility to the line-up and there may be no role for him this evening. The prospects for Duff, who has a hamstring problem, are not encouraging either. After a few minutes of training last night he departed for more treatment. Chelsea will make a final decision today and, though a certain amount of bluffing is involved, the concern about the Dubliner is not fictitious.

Whatever the state of individuals' limbs, Chelsea will have to be as hardy of mind as they have ever been this evening, if they are not to go the same way as Bayer Leverkusen and Juventus.

"In my first year in England I have seen some fantastic atmospheres," Mourinho said. "Portsmouth, Old Trafford and Anfield are special places to play football."

Chelsea, in one competition or another, have won at all of them. Should they have most of their important performers available, they would be expected to prevail tonight but Mourinho's side were waning towards the end of the first leg.

They may have been revived by taking the Premiership but the feelgood factor now has to sustain them for 90 minutes if not, with extra-time, two hours.

Liverpool's insipid domestic campaign may have taken less out of them and Benitez anticipates an outpouring of energy from his captain, who was affected by an abscess at Stamford Bridge. "Stevie (Gerrard) will be the key player. He has the passion we need, the quality we want and he knows how important the game is for the club."

Mourinho's side have been in the habit of coping with every eventuality but invulnerability is always temporary. The manager himself takes nothing for granted and recoiled, in particular, from the notion his new contract will last 10 years.

"Five years (until 2009) is enough to start with," he said.

It will feel tonight as if his whole life is bound up in the challenge of Anfield.