In-form Florent Malouda believes past allegiances will be no distraction for Chelsea's players when they step out at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday evening.
The 29-year-old Frenchman, who scored one and laid on two others in Saturday's 4-1 win over West Ham insists Jose Mourinho's return to west London as manager of opponents Inter is a far bigger deal for supporters than it is for players.
'It is more important for the fans than the players, we as players just want to beat Inter, that's the main thing,' Malouda said. 'It will be an emotional game for him but for us, as you can see from the first game, it was not disturbing for the players here at Chelsea.
'We are not thinking about history, we are trying to make history. We don't care about the past, we are just looking to win and go through tomorrow evening.'
If we are to progress to the Champions League last eight we must overturn a 2-1 deficit from the first leg in the San Siro. However we must not rush our play, according to the former Lyon man.
'We scored an away goal so normally we just need one goal to go through and I think wemust have patience against Inter and keep the balance of the team, so we won't rush to score an early goal, we have to be clever in this game and score, I hope, more than one goal,' he said.
'We have the experience of the first game where we had opportunities and just want to take those opportunities and score to go through.'
It is obvious from Malouda's relaxed demeanour that the afterglow from Saturday remains, and he was in relaxed mood alongside manager Carlo Ancelotti as he fielded questions in the Chelsea museum, temporarily converted to stage a pre-match press conference for the season's biggest game so far.
Asked to analyse the differences between Ancelotti and Mourinho, for whom he played just a couple of months under, Malouda responded light-heartedly, receiving a playful dig in the ribs from his coach, and the promise of a return to left-back duties if he kept it up.
'Physical differences?' he said, to laughter all around. 'It is difficult to answer, I didn't work with Jose for too much time but I appreciate both, and I would say that they both have a lot of experience as manager. There are so many differences I cannot answer the question, I just hope that Carlo will make me win my first Champions League.
'Both managers are trying to give the players they manage the ability to have confidence in their qualities and to use them at the right time,' he continued, straight face now on. 'That's the way they manage their team, they are close to their players and help get the best out of you when you play.'
The 29-year-old Frenchman, who scored one and laid on two others in Saturday's 4-1 win over West Ham insists Jose Mourinho's return to west London as manager of opponents Inter is a far bigger deal for supporters than it is for players.
'It is more important for the fans than the players, we as players just want to beat Inter, that's the main thing,' Malouda said. 'It will be an emotional game for him but for us, as you can see from the first game, it was not disturbing for the players here at Chelsea.
'We are not thinking about history, we are trying to make history. We don't care about the past, we are just looking to win and go through tomorrow evening.'
If we are to progress to the Champions League last eight we must overturn a 2-1 deficit from the first leg in the San Siro. However we must not rush our play, according to the former Lyon man.
'We scored an away goal so normally we just need one goal to go through and I think wemust have patience against Inter and keep the balance of the team, so we won't rush to score an early goal, we have to be clever in this game and score, I hope, more than one goal,' he said.
'We have the experience of the first game where we had opportunities and just want to take those opportunities and score to go through.'
It is obvious from Malouda's relaxed demeanour that the afterglow from Saturday remains, and he was in relaxed mood alongside manager Carlo Ancelotti as he fielded questions in the Chelsea museum, temporarily converted to stage a pre-match press conference for the season's biggest game so far.
Asked to analyse the differences between Ancelotti and Mourinho, for whom he played just a couple of months under, Malouda responded light-heartedly, receiving a playful dig in the ribs from his coach, and the promise of a return to left-back duties if he kept it up.
'Physical differences?' he said, to laughter all around. 'It is difficult to answer, I didn't work with Jose for too much time but I appreciate both, and I would say that they both have a lot of experience as manager. There are so many differences I cannot answer the question, I just hope that Carlo will make me win my first Champions League.
'Both managers are trying to give the players they manage the ability to have confidence in their qualities and to use them at the right time,' he continued, straight face now on. 'That's the way they manage their team, they are close to their players and help get the best out of you when you play.'
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