Mikel Obi, Victor Moses in Chelsea squad to Canada

Chelsea players pose before trip to Canada

Jose Mourinho and his champions Chelsea squad headed to Canada on Wednesday on their pre-season tour.

Chelsea will use Montreal as their training base for the next two weeks as Mourinho whips his side into shape.

From Montreal, the team will fly south to the United States for matches against New York Red Bulls, Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona.

Montreal, which recently hosted Women’s World Cup games, has been chosen as the club’s training base due to its favourable climate, Chelsea said on their website.

The squad will be put through their paces with double training sessions for the majority of the first week before the match action begins against New York Red Bulls on Wednesday 22 July.

That is the same day Willian, Filipe Luis, Juan Cuadrado and new signing Falcao, the quartet on Copa America duty this summer, will join up with the squad.

Kick-off at the Red Bull Arena is at 8.10pm local time – or 1.10am UK time on Thursday 23 July. Chelsea TV will be showing the game live in HD, as they are each of our four pre-season fixtures.

Mikel Obi: before the take off

The team will fly straight back to Montreal after the game against the MLS side.

They will do likewise at the conclusion of the second International Champions Cup match, against Paris Saint-Germain in the North Carolina city of Charlotte.

That match-up against a team Chelsea contested Champions League knockout ties with in the past two seasons is on Saturday 25 July, kick-off 6.10pm (11.10pm UK time).

Chelsea Winger Victor Moses also back in squad


The venue is the 73,000-capacity Bank of America stadium, home of NFL team Carolina Panthers.

The travelling Chelsea squad features several big names including Eden Hazard, Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa as well as some academy players such as young striker Dominic Solanke.

Solanke’s academy team-mates Ola Aina, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Jamal Blackman and Jake Clarke-Salter have also been given a chance to impress ahead of the 2015-16 season.

Nigerian winger Victor Moses, who spent last season on loan at Stoke, will also be hoping to prove his worth in a Chelsea shirt.