Chelsea boss Guus Hiddink is excited about the availability of Michael Essien after his goal scoring performance at Juventus last night.

Essien's strike gave Chelsea a vital away-goal cushion to start the second half with and Hiddink was delighted with the way the Ghanaian performed.

"He is fit, although not game-fit for 90 minutes at this high-paced level," said Hiddink. "But we chose to bring him and play him.

"If you put him on late on then we're probably in a problem scenario. I wanted to be proactive in playing him. His contribution to the team was huge, not just with his goal.

"His fuel was out of his tank after an hour. (Juliano) Belletti, though, is a very clever player and provided a very good assist.

"It is good to see Essien back and, by playing these games, he's getting the practice to play a whole 90 minutes."