The Blues are preparing for tonight’s European encounter in the French capital, which comes fresh off the back of victories against Wrexham and Aston Villa in the FA Cup and Premier League respectively.

It’s a relentless schedule, but something the players – including Gusto – are used to. While our opponents have been afforded extra time off ahead of this game by their league, Gusto doesn’t believe it will impact our preparations or performance this evening.

‘It’s fair to say that they will maybe have an advantage in terms of recovery but, to be honest, we don’t think about it and just focus on ourselves,’ the defender said.

‘We know it’s a tough period for us because we have big games coming up, but we just have to be prepared. We can’t wait to play in these kind of games, it’s why we are here at Chelsea.

‘We are going to enjoy it, show our best qualities and try to do our best. Anything can happen in games like this, you know how football is. As you say, the performance has to be strong across the 90 minutes.

‘It’s two legs as well. We have to focus on this one and then see how it goes for the next, but we are confident.’

Gusto and the rest of the defence have played in front of Filip Jorgensen recently, with the goalkeeper being selected by Liam Rosenior in place of Rob Sanchez against Aston Villa before the Spaniard returned against Wrexham in the cup.

It remains to be seen which stopper will be between the sticks at the Parc des Princes, but Gusto believes we have two very strong goalkeepers and that both always prepare to play in each game in any case.

‘I don’t think so, no,’ Malo answered when asked if it matters to him who plays in goal tonight.

‘We all train in the same way at the training ground and we know that everyone has quality, and the same can be said for both of our goalkeepers.

‘Throughout the team we just have to stick to our plan. Everyone has to be connected on the same page, have the same idea and we need to do our best on the pitch.’