Chelsea old boys can make impact in Europe

YOU know your luck's out when you back a German team who lose on penalties.

But even though I was on Bayer Leverkusen to get past Atletico Madrid on Tuesday night, it was nice to see Fernando Torres with a spring in his step.

The Chelsea flop tucked away his penalty for Atletico while all around him players were experimenting with ridiculous stuttering run-ups, blazing the ball over like Jonny Wilkinson or rolling it tamely into the goalkeeper's arms.

And it's not just Torres who looks reinvigorated by life after Stamford Bridge.

It's a big night in the Europa League for another couple of Chelsea old boys - Romelu Lukaku of Everton and Wolfsburg's Kevin de Bruyne.

Lukaku has been inspired in Europe this season, scoring six goals in his last three appearances, and I'm backing him to get the first goal away at Dynamo Kiev.

De Bruyne must be gutted that he's not at Chelsea - tracking back, man-marking the referee and grinding out 1-0 wins over ten-man Hull - but, credit to the lad, he's not sulking.

He grabbed two crucial late goals in the first leg against Inter and opened the scoring at home to Freiburg on Sunday so I'll have a little bit on him to score first and at any time.

Mind you, I've noticed that one bookmaker has trimmed Nicklas Bendtner to add to his seasonal tally of three goals for Wolfsburg.

Torres and Bendtner both starring in the same week? I wouldn't bet on it.