Chelsea defender Paulo Ferreira has said that he is hoping for a strong performance against Hamburg. The Londoners play the German club at the Imtech Arena on Wednesday, as a final preparation prior to facing Manchester United to contest the Community Shield on Sunday.

"It is important that we get to play against Hamburg, we want to start the season well, and after this game we still have a few days to work really well for Manchester United on Sunday," Ferreira told the club's official website.

"It is another important game and we want to be in good shape.

"The group is like it always is, everybody is happy and we are doing a good pre-season so far."

Paulo Ferreira was part of the Portugal squad that participated at the 2010 World Cup, and consequently began his pre-season training programme later than some others in the team.

"I am feeling much better, us players who came from the World Cup started after the others but we have worked hard to catch up and after one week of work you begin to feel much better," he added.

"It was a short summer, but for the ones not involved in the World Cup it was a long break. But we cannot complain, we had 25 days of holidays, it is not bad."

Now the full-back is hoping to cast a good impression on boss Carlo Ancelotti to stake a claim for a first team place.

"I will work hard all season and try to enjoy every match that I get," he said. "Of course I would like to play more than last season, and help the team to win trophies."