Wendel relishing showdown in Rome

Midfielder Wendel believes FC Girondins de Bordeaux have given themselves a "great chance" of reaching the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League for the first time after continuing their revival with a 1-1 draw against Chelsea FC on Wednesday.

Diarra leveller
Despite putting their opponents under pressure for much of the first half, Les Marine et Blanc suffered a major setback when Nicolas Anelka opened the scoring from the visitors' first genuine chance on the hour. Defeat would have left Bordeaux needing to secure three points and score at least three times away to AS Roma in a fortnight, but Alou Diarra's 83rd-minute equaliser has ensured that any kind of victory at the Stadio Olimpico will now be enough to send the resurgent Ligue 1 club through.

Wendel belief
It is a scenario that seemed implausible after Laurent Blanc's team opened their Group A campaign with back-to-back defeats, yet the confidence has come flooding back and Wendel is convinced qualification is within reach. "If we play like we did tonight, if we stay strong and solid for the 90 minutes, we have a great chance," the 26-year-old Brazilian told uefa.com. "Nobody gave us a hope of getting a result against Chelsea, but the coach told us to believe. We played at 100 per cent from the first whistle and deserved to win. Chelsea hardly had any shots and I think 1-0 to Bordeaux would have been a fairer result."

'Very worried'
With the Premier League pacesetters struggling to get in their stride, it came as a surprise when Anelka raced on to Frank Lampard's pass to score. Bordeaux striker Fernando Cavenaghi, who played a key part in the revival after coming on for the last quarter of the game, admits he was "very worried" at that point, saying: "We know Chelsea don't concede many goals and when they get their noses in front it's difficult. But we kept on going and probably deserved to win. The most important thing was to avoid defeat because we'd have been virtually eliminated."

'We can win'
Like Wendel, the Argentinian international believes it is possible to triumph in Italy. "Football's just a game of eleven men against eleven men. Tonight has given us real belief," the former CA River Plate forward said. "We've got a good squad, we all give everything and we believe we can go to Rome and win."

Lampard suspended
Chelsea also have their destiny in their hands: a home win over CFR on 10 December would secure their progress, while they could even afford to lose providing Bordeaux do not win in Rome. Lampard will miss the visit of the Romanian champions, however, after he was sent off three minutes from time, yet the England midfielder has faith in his team-mates. "We're not worried," Lampard said. "We haven't got the results away from home, but our last match is at home and we'll have to do the job there." Michael Ballack, meanwhile, feels Chelsea will need to raise their game, saying: "It wasn't a good performance. The group is more difficult than we expected but [qualification] is still in our hands. We didn't want it to come down to the final game but that's the situation and we will deal with it."