Chelsea will line up in the new white addidas away kit that was launched earlier this summer for the first time today as they face the very best Malaysian football has to offer in form of the Malaysia XI. The whole of Malaysia is abuzz with the arrival of the Blues in the Southeast Asian country for this preseason match. The match will take place at the Shah Alam Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, capital of Malaysia and the kickoff time is 9.45pm Malaysian time / 2.45pm (UTC + 1). The Europa League champions' match against the Malaysians takes place four days after the lads secured a 1-0 victory over the Singha XI in Thailand in what was the first of three engagements in their preseason tour of Southeast Asia.
Today's fixture against the Malaysian All-stars won't be the first time that Chelsea would be playing such a match in Malaysia. It is a replay of an earlier end-of-season match in 2011 which Chelsea won courtesy of a lone goal by club icon, Didier Drogba. They were known then as the Keputusan Malaysia and played with the Blues in front of a capacity crowd of 85,000.
Today's match also provides the opportunity for Chelsea fans all over the world to see how far Jose Mourinho has gone with the rejuvenation of the squad. Malaysia XI vs Chelsea will be televised live all over the Middle East (Al Jazeera), North America (GolTV), Southeast Asia (Kompas TV, etc), Brazil, England, France (BeIN Sport 2), Portugal, Romania, Russia, Bulgaria, India, China, Africa (Supersports) and in many other countries.
The starting eleven for Chelsea features very few changes from the side that faced the Thailand Eleven on Wednesday. Josh McEachran will likely play in place of Frank Lampard who sustained a minor knock in training.
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| Chelsea FC fans in Malaysia |
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| Stamford & Bridget |
These are some of the Chelsea fans in Malaysia cheering the Blues in training as they prepare for this evening's (Malaysian time) clash with the Malaysia Eleven. In the smaller picture are the Chelsea mascots, Stamford (the lion) and Bridget (the lioness). Lol! The other picture shows ecstatic Blues fans posing for some camera shots. Over 40,000 of such fans are expected to crowd into Malaysia's biggest stadium in Kuala Lumpur to catch a glimpse of some Chelsea stars like the likes of Eden Hazard, Fernando Torres, John Terry and Super Frankie, as well the charismatic Mourinho and the Europa League trophy.
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