Paulo Ferreira is such an anonymous figure that he is barely a household name in his own house, but his unspectacular diligence may be missed at San Siro this evening.

The Portugal international was not registered in Chelsea’s Champions League squad because he was deemed to be the third-choice for both full-back positions, a decision Carlo Ancelotti may now be regretting because the manager is desperately short of defensive cover.

The sports betting online suggests that AC Milan are slight favourites.

Yuri Zhirkov failed to travel to Milan for tonight’s first leg of the Champions League round-of-16 tie because of a calf problem and with Ashley Cole and José Bosingwa out with long-term injuries, Ancelotti has little option but to turn to Juliano Belletti, whose fitness is also suspect.

The Brazilian has only just returned from a knee injury and has never played at left back for Chelsea, but will be preferred to Jeffrey Bruma, the Dutch teenager, against Inter Milan. “I will try to find a good solution,” Ancelotti said.

“Now we have to look at the training because Belletti has not even trained with us. Belletti trained yesterday and will train today. It’s not an individual issue. Maybe we have a problem at left back, but if we play like a team, there is no problem.”