Liam Rosenior has given his reaction to Chelsea drawing holders Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League last-16.
The Blues have been handed a tough route to the final in Budapest but do have a good track record against PSG.
A month after the Parisians won their maiden Champions League title with a 5-0 win over Inter Milan in Munich, Chelsea thrashed them 3-0 in New Jersey to claim the Club World Cup title.
While that victory came under previous head coach Enzo Maresca, Rosenior came up against PSG in his last role as Strasbourg head coach.
He masterminded victory over Luis Enrique’s men in May 2025 which will give Chelsea further confidence that they can eliminate the French side and progress to the quarter-finals at their expense.
Rosenior, asked for his reaction to the draw, said: “So excited. PSG are a fantastic team. Obviously I have experience of playing against them in France. They are a team I have always admired.
“I think Luis has done an incredible job there. These are the games you live for. These are the games that you come into football for.”
He added: “It’s going to be a great tie between two fantastic teams. I am really, really looking forward to it, but we’ve got another three games before that which I need to focus on.”
Chelsea face Arsenal at the Emirates on Sunday but will be without suspended centre-back Wesley Fofana because of his red card against Burnley in last weekend’s 1-1 draw.
Fofana was the victim of racist abuse on social media this week, but Rosenior he has dealt well despite the vile abuse.
“It was obviously a tough day for Wes,” Rosenior said. “Wes is a tough guy. He is a good guy. We spoke about racism last week in the press conference.
“It shouldn't exist, whether it is online, whether it is verbal, in person. It is just something that we have to try our very best to eradicate from life, let alone football. But Wes is absolutely fine. He is training well this week.
“I had a meeting with Dr Michael Bennett today about his involvement in the club in terms of helping them with anything off the pitch. In terms of social media, it's part of the younger generation now.
“There are a lot of people with a lot of opinions. Some are valid, some come from a place where it is probably not a good place.”
Dr Bennett is the former director of player welfare at the Professional Footballers’ Association and has been working at Chelsea for a number of months as their head of performance wellbeing.
