LONDON: The tepid 0-0 draw in the Vicente Calderon resembled a phoney war but Atletico Madrid will expect another exhibition of ultra-disciplined counter-punching from Chelsea when the teams reconvene for the second leg of their Champions League semi-final at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday.

That first leg stalemate left Chelsea marginal favourites to progress although with no away goal in their pocket, Jose Mourinho’s side will be vulnerable against an Atletico side capable of much more than they produced at home.

The Londoners enjoyed only 38 percent of possession and mustered five attempts at goal to Atletico’s 26 in last week’s first leg and they were at it again on Sunday, relaunching their Premier League title bid with a 2-0 success at leaders Liverpool after again surrendering possession and playing on the counter-attack.

“You can play perfect football, have lots of one-touch stuff, and you lose,” Chelsea winger Andre Schuerrle said. “But that’s not what you want — you want to win. There’s no point in playing well and losing.”

Chelsea are sweating on the fitness of captain John Terry, who turned his ankle in the first leg and they will be without injured goalkeeper Petr Cech and suspended midfielders Frank Lampard and John Obi Mikel.

Terry, suspended for his side’s Champions League triumph in Munich in 2012, will be assessed to see if he can lead his side to a third final.

“He has a chance for Wednesday’s game,” Mourinho said. “After the last match against Atletico I thought no chance, in this moment I say maybe.”

Like Terry’s fitness, the tightest of ties also hangs in the balance.

Chelsea, last season’s Europa League winners, will contest a third consecutive European final, the first under Mourinho, if they progress.

Atletico, closing in on a first Spanish league title since 1996, could be even more desperate. They have never won the Champions League, and made their only final appearance 40 years ago despite having won the Europa League in 2010 and 2012.

Diego Simeone’s side, who have conceded the fewest goals in La Liga this season, have won their last nine Spanish top-flight games and are on a 14-match unbeaten run in all competitions.

With a relatively thin squad he was unable to rest any of his regulars in the 1-0 win at Valencia at the weekend, although captain Gabi Fernandez played down talk of heavy legs as the season reaches its climax.

“We are up on a cloud from which we don’t want to get down,” Gabi, who will miss the second leg through suspension, told reporters. “The team has a level of conviction that has rarely been seen.”

Simeone, however, issued a word of caution.

“The league has nothing to do with the Champions League,” said the Argentine, who is bidding to become the first coach to lead Atletico to a European Cup final since 1974.

“Chelsea have a great team, one that could be rotated and still win 2-0 at Liverpool. We know we are facing a very strong team and one that will give us a lot of problems.”

Mourinho is a past master at knocking teams off clouds and while Simeone will demand more imagination from his side at Stamford Bridge where an away goal could prove vital, Mourinho may elect to adopt the tactics that so stifled Atletico and Liverpool in the space of a few days.

While Chelsea’s Premier League title destiny is not in their own hands, as they need both Liverpool and Manchester City to drop points, full-back Cesar Azpilicueta believes that Sunday’s win at Anfield was ideal preparation for Wednesday’s assignment.

“This victory has given us a lot of confidence to go into the match with Atletico,” the Spaniard told British newspaper the London Evening Standard. “We have the match of our lives to come on Wednesday. After the Atletico game, we’ll see about the title.”

But Atletico striker Diego Costa is hoping the Stamford Bridge game is more open than the first leg. “They will have to come out a little bit more,” he said.

The onus is on Chelsea to score a goal this time but Mourinho is unlikely to become all gung-ho even if the creative talents of Eden Hazard and the scoring prowess of Samuel Eto’o are at his disposal after they missed the first leg injured.

Mourinho has declared that Chelsea do not have a chance of winning the league, but he stands on the brink of history in Europe.

Success in the May 24 final in Lisbon would make the 51-year-old Portuguese the first manager to win the Champions League with three different clubs, and few coaches thrive on the tactical duels in Europe’s elite competition like he does.

He will also be motivated by the desire to avenge his loss to Atletico in last season’s Copa del Rey final, which brought his third and final season at Real Madrid to a trophyless conclusion.