Luiz Felipe Scolari hailed John Terry’s match-winning ability last night and admitted that he used to be scared of the England captain when the Brazilian was in charge of Portugal.

Terry’s 78th-minute header gave Chelsea a 1-0 win over Roma at Stamford Bridge to extend their lead at the top of group A and edge them closer towards qualification for the Champions League knockout stages. Scolari had predicted a beautiful match against the Italians, but Chelsea had to graft for the victory that was epitomised by Terry’s late winner.

“When I was in Portugal and we played against England, I was afraid when Terry came up into our area at corner kicks,” the Chelsea manager said. “I said to my players, ‘Look, this player is decisive. We need to look at him because, if he touches the ball, it’s dangerous for us.’

“Now I’m here and I tell Terry to go up there. Just as I expected when he was against us, now I want him to do that for us. He got to the ball and it was a big moment for us.”

Scolari insisted that Terry is 100 per cent fit after missing England’s recent World Cup qualifying ties because of a sore back, with the specialist exercise programme he is following the same one he used after having a back operation two years ago.

“This week he’s been training normally with the other players,” Scolari said. “He’s continued his treatment with the medical staff because we need them to look at him and help him before training every day. But now he is in a normal situation. He is not suffering any pain.”

Scolari believes that Chelsea need one more win from their three remaining matches to be sure of qualification, but his immediate concern is Liverpool’s visit to Stamford Bridge on Sunday, when they have the opportunity to go clear at the top of the Barclays Premier League. They lead Rafael Benítez’s side only on goal difference.

“I want to play beautiful football against Liverpool,” Scolari said. “They are a strong team and they don’t fight for 90 minutes, but for 100 minutes. They’ve won four games after 85 or 90 minutes this season. We’ll need to play very well in this game, and we’ll need concentration until the referee says the game is over.

“We will try to play a beautiful game, but more important for us at this moment is that, if we don’t play that well, we’ll need to score one or two goals to win the match.”

Liverpool will travel to Stamford Bridge in good shape as far as qualification from group D of the Champions League is concerned after their 1-1 draw away to Atlético Madrid last night, but facing an injury headache.

Robbie Keane, who scored their fourteenth-minute opener in the Vicente Calderón stadium, suffered a groin strain that makes him doubtful for Sunday, with Fernando Torres already struggling to be fit. Steven Gerrard and Xabi Alonso, the midfield players, were also substituted with fatigue and a knee injury respectively. “A few players have some problems,” Benítez said. “I don’t think it \ will be serious but we needed to take care with him. We need to check on him. It was a bit of a muscle problem. Gerrard was really tired and Alonso has a knock to his knee and I think it will be difficult for Fernando to be fit [for Chelsea].”

Although Liverpool were denied a penalty when Albert Riera was brought down by Antonio López and Yossi Benayoun was wrongly adjudged offside when he scored in the 49th minute, Keane and Ryan Babel were guilty of missing excellent chances and the visiting team rode their luck as well. Maniche had a legitimate goal ruled offside shortly before the hour and Simão hit a post before he equalised seven minutes from time.

“I’m disappointed because we had chances to finish the game,” Benítez said. “I didn’t see the replays [for the penalty decision and Benayoun's disallowed goal] but we had one or two situations in front of goal and you have to finish.”