£16m Chelsea star Bosingwa injured

13 April 2012

Jose Boswinga gave Chelsea an injury scare today by limping off after only 19 minutes of Luiz Felipe Scolari's first game in charge.

The Portuguese defender, who was making his debut following a £16.2million move from Porto, pulled up with a thigh strain and instantly signalled to the bench that he wanted to come off.

Chelsea insist it was just a precautionary measure but they will be concerned given that their opening Premier League game against Portsmouth is only four weeks away.

Goals from Salomon Kalou, Frank Lampard, Shaun Wright-Phillips and 19-year-old Argentine Franco Di Santo secured a comfortable 4-0 victory against Guangzhou Pharmaceutical in the opening game of Chelsea's pre-season Asian tour.

Scolari selected a strong side, with new midfielder Deco also handed a debut and Lampard playing despite continued uncertainty over his future at Stamford Bridge.

Bosingwa started at right-back before being replaced by Paulo Ferreira but there was no place in the line-up for Joe Cole or Andriy Shevchenko as both players have picked up minor injuries.

Before kick-off, Chelsea's chief executive Peter Kenyon sent out a warning to rivals Manchester United that Scolari is preparing to take the Premier and Champions League trophies away from Old Trafford next season. United boss Sir Alex Ferguson had claimed he is not worried by the Brazilian's arrival because he believes Chelsea's players are too old and have little scope for improvement.

But Kenyon said: "The club progressed last season to get to the Champions League Final, so our expectations are to get the Premier League trophy back from Manchester United and we want to go one step further in the Champions League - which means winning it.

"That is the team's objective and it is the coach's objective and if we manage to achieve it, then we will have had a very good season."

Ferguson claimed that by having so many experienced internationals within Scolari's squad "it's hard to see where there's going to be a big improvement", thereby handing an advantage to his team.

However, a comparison of the two clubs' strongest XIs reveals an average age of 28 for both, while the departure of 35-year-old Claude Makelele on a free transfer to Paris St-Germain this week has also significantly reduced the Blues' overall statistic.

MORE ABOUT

Andriy Shevchenko

Chelsea F.c.

David Jones (Footballer)

Frank Lampard

Salomon Kalou

Shaun Wright-phillips

£16m Chelsea star Bosingwa injured

Read More