Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang can smash the "curse" of the Chelsea number nine shirt and become a Blues favourite, according to boss Thomas Tuchel.
Former Arsenal captain Aubameyang completed a return to the Premier League on Thursday when he left Barcelona in a deal worth £10.3million (€12m), signing a two-year deal.
As well as winning over Chelsea fans who remember him as a recent opponent from a rival London side, Aubameyang also faces the task of living up to his shirt number.
A string of well-known strikers have struggled to impress as Chelsea's number nine, including Alvaro Morata, Gonzalo Higuain, Radamel Falcao and more recently Romelu Lukaku.
Head coach Tuchel dismissed concerns over Aubameyang's attitude, after a four-year spell at Arsenal came to an acrimonious end in February, insisting he knows the Gabonese striker well enough from their time together at Borussia Dortmund for there to be no cause for worry.
"Auba is in my point of view always happy to fight for something and to accept the challenge," Tuchel said. "The more challenges he has, the better it is.
"If he wants to overcome the number nine curse or he wants to show someone in London that he's better than people think about him, the more the better, because he's up for that and he's happy.
"I know him as very focused and in general very open and a person with an open heart and happy to be on the pitch every day.
"This is what we wanted. He's a very positive influence on any group. He is up for any challenge and he's happy to be on the pitch and score goals."
Tuchel said Aubameyang was "ready to write his own history" at Stamford Bridge, explaining: "I imagine everybody's happy he chose the club in blue now instead of the club in red."
His portrayal of the former Gunner as an instinctive grafter might surprise some, but Tuchel hailed Aubameyang's pressing qualities and his work rate.
"That's what made him special in Dortmund, when he worked for me, and it's what made him captain of Arsenal, and he lifted some trophies there," Tuchel said.
"I think just to reduce him on his last half a year or half season [at Arsenal] where things became difficult ... I cannot judge it, but it's very rare in these situations where it's one person's problem.
"I'm not there to judge about anything, because it is none of my business. I can just tell you how I met Auba and how Auba was for me. At any club he scored and won titles. he has a winning mentality and he has the positivity to be a huge influence in that group."
Chelsea face West Ham in the Premier League on Saturday, but Aubameyang will play no part as he recovers from a jaw injury sustained when his home was raided by burglars on Sunday.
Chelsea have lost just one of their last 16 home league games against West Ham (W11 D4), going down 1-0 in November 2019, yet their overall home form is not the best at present, with just six wins against all opponents from their last 16 Premier League home matches (D8 L2)
West Ham manager David Moyes has won none of his 17 Premier League away games against Chelsea (D7 L10) and his team have a meagre two goals from five games this term.
Chelsea badly need a win after a midweek loss to Southampton, and Tuchel said: "We need to step up. If we don't get tough we will get punished all the way.
"This is not what we want. It is not what we are up to. It's proven that we can do it with this group so we need to find the right spirit and attitude throughout all the matches. This includes me, my staff and the team.
"From now on we will show a new face and we will have to show a new toughness."
Dortmund boss Terzic not surprised by Sancho's quality
Borussia Dortmund coach Edin Terzic said he was not surprised by Jadon Sancho's quality after the on-loan forward helped the German side to a 1-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain in the first-leg tie of their Champions League semi-final.
Sancho joined Manchester United from Dortmund for 85 million euros ($91.11 million) in August 2021 but failed to hold down a regular spot and returned to Germany after becoming embroiled in a row with manager Erik ten Hag.
After impressing on the right wing against PSG, Terzic said he always sees Sancho's quality in training.
"It's maybe not so easy to bring it onto the field, especially when you haven't had rhythm for a while," he told reporters.
"We know his quality, and we saw it again today. We knew we needed a performance like that from Jadon."
Dortmund bagged the winner in the 36th minute through Niclas Fullkrug to take a slim advantage going into Tuesday's return leg in Paris.
Despite winning the first leg, Terzic knows that the tie is still all to play for in the second leg.
"We showed a very good game, a narrow win but a deserved one. It was a great teamwork performance that got us there. We wanted that small advantage. We know next week will most likely be tougher than today," he said in a press conference.
"This is just half-time and next week will be a different story. It won't be easy to deal with their power play in front of a home crowd. We felt it today from the 45th to the 60th minute.
"We felt their quality. We showed our best game against PSG, but next week they will have a euphoric backing of their fans, and they will want to turn the tie around.
It is a victory that, coupled with Bayern Munich’s draw with Real Madrid on Tuesday, secures Germany a fifth automatic Champions League spot next season.
"We wanted to qualify for the Champions League through the Bundesliga and not this way. But the fact that it will be enough to qualify as fifth is also partly down to our success, our contribution," Terzic added.
"Our minimum goal was to qualify for the Champions League. Now it [added spot] does not improve our Bundesliga season, but it does offer a softer landing."
Luis Enrique hoping for home comforts in semi-final second leg
Luis Enrique is hoping Paris Saint-Germain's home support proves the difference in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final against Borussia Dortmund.
PSG must try to overturn a 1-0 deficit when BVB visit the Parc des Princes next week.
Dortmund's Niclas Fullkrug fired in a first-half goal to seal victory over visitors PSG, who had more possession throughout Wednesday's game but could not take their chances at Signal Iduna Park.
While PSG beat Barcelona in the quarters and Real Sociedad in the last 16, playing the second leg away both times, Luis Enrique knows their home fans could be crucial if they are to reach the final at Wembley on June 1.
"We saw an even match with two teams that play good football when they have the ball," Luis Enrique told reporters.
"We both created many scoring chances. This time our opponents scored and we didn't. The result reflects how close the game was.
"In the last two rounds, they had the home game as their second game, whereas it was the other way round for us. Now it's a different and new scenario, we'll have the crowd on our side in the second leg.
"I would have liked to create the chances we have created, but you have to be effective to score. We'll see what version we show in Paris."
Despite creating more chances after the break, PSG lost without scoring for the first time across all competitions this season.
"We missed our chances in the second half," PSG defender Achraf Hakimi told Canal+.
"We knew what they were going to do, with long through balls. We were very focused, the coach repeated it all week."
PSG have progressed from two of their previous four Champions League knockout ties when losing the first leg, with the first of those coming against Dortmund in the last 16 in 2019-20.
"We've come back from 1-0 down before," added PSG captain Marquinhos.
"We've shown that we can do it, especially at home, with the energy of our supporters, it's going to be a different scenario. We know we can do a lot better. We just need to take our chances and be more decisive.
"We conceded a goal that we shouldn't have conceded, and we've been talking all week about these deep passes from this Borussia team. It's the details that make all the difference, and we're going to do better in the next game if we want to go through."
Al-Nassr 3-1 Al-Khaleej: Ronaldo nets twice and passes up penalty in cup semi-final
Cristiano Ronaldo returned to the scoresheet with two goals as Al-Nassr beat Al-Khaleej 3-1 to reach the final of the King Cup of Champions on Wednesday.
Ronaldo scored either side of half-time as Al-Nassr teed up a final clash with Saudi Pro League leaders Al-Hilal, who beat Al-Ittihad 2-1 in the other semi-final on Tuesday.
The former Real Madrid and Manchester United star took advantage of an error from opposing goalkeeper Ibrahim Sehic to open the scoring 17 minutes in, then tapped home at the second attempt to make it a double shortly before the hour mark.
That goal could have made it a hat-trick for the Portugal star, but he passed up the chance to take a first-half penalty after Ivo Rodrigues handled in the area, Sadio Mane instead stepping up to blast his kick into the top corner.
Fawaz Al Terais was on target late on for Al-Khaleej, but that proved a mere consolation in a one-sided affair which saw Al-Nassr rack up 21 shots and 3.78 expected goals (xG), with their opponents managing just nine shots totalling 1.37 xG.
Data Debrief: Ronaldo's mini drought over
Ronaldo was frustrated against Al-Khaleej in the Saudi Pro League on Saturday, but he was back on song against the same opponents on Wednesday to end his mini drought of two games.
While Ronaldo's 43 touches were the fewest of any outfielder to start for Al-Nassr, he managed seven shots, five shots from inside the area and four dribbles – all game-high figures.
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