There is one reunion on everybody's minds tonight, but for Branislav Ivanovic, a man who never played under Jose Mourinho, there is the opportunity to face-off against his own international captain.

Serbian defender Ivanovic came up against Inter midfielder Dejan Stankovic in the first leg, and has been telling the Official Chelsea Website just how big a name the midfielder is in their homeland.

At 32, Stankovic has long been established as one of Europe's top midfield talents with Lazio snapping him up as a 19-year-old from Red Star Belgrade before he switched to Inter in 2004.

'For Serbia he is the most important team player in the last 10 years,' Ivanovic summarised. 'He is the symbol of Serbian football, the guy who played at the best level in the world for the longest time and he's a very important player, he is a real leader and captain of the team.

'Stankovic plays with his heart and has very good quality, a very good pass and shot and he is special, he is the person who other guys can look to,' continued the 26-year-old. 'When I was younger everyone looked up to him, he started in the national team very young and for a generation he was the favourite player.'

Having caught up after the first leg, a narrow 2-1 Inter victory, Ivanovic reported that both players seemed satisfied with the outcome, the tie balanced on a knife-edge.

'We spoke after the game, he said to me it was a hard game and both teams had difficulties, it was the first game but he was happy with the win,' said the right-back. 'For us now we are at home and it's a very important game, I hope we can arrive in the next round.'