ALONSO: MY GRANDAD SAID PLAYING FOR REAL MADRID WAS EASY..HE JUST GAVE THE BALL TO DI STEFANO

MARCOS ALONSO has a special inspiration to triumph in Barcelona on Wednesday – his five-time European Cup-winning grandad.

The Chelsea defender has never played in the Nou Camp before but revealed his grandfather, also named Marcos, set the standard for the family to follow while at Real

Madrid.

Left-back Alonso, 27, said: “It is extra motivation for sure.

“Something to look at and admire and to make me fight for it. Five is difficult.

“He always used to say it was easy to play because he was a centre-back.

“He just used to get the ball back and give it to Di Stefano, Gento, Puskas...

“If you listen to him, when he used to talk about it, yeh, it sounds very easy but today it is very hard and something amazing to fight for.

“My grandmother has five replica cups at home.

“Dad will be a Chelsea fan for sure on Wednesday. All his life he has supported his teams – Barcelona and Atletico. He is looking forward to the game a lot.

“It will be very special for me. My father Marcos (below) played at Barcelona for five years.

“I played for Real Madrid many years and yet it is my first time in the Nou Camp and hopefully we will play our game.”

Chelsea were vilified last week for their lack of ambition at Manchester City.

Now they are preparing to tackle a Barcelona side undefeated at home all season.

But Alonso insists they have soaked up the stick and are ready to stand up to be counted.

He said: “We have to score a goal and so we have to go for it. Here at the Bridge we showed we can play good against Barcelona and get a result.”

September saw Chelsea become the first English team to beat Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid side in Spain.

Alonso believes it proves they can upset the odds.

He said: “Atletico was a tough game there. Even Barcelona have suffered a lot there in recent years and we showed against Barcelona here what kind of team we are – a good team that can compete against the top teams.”