Scolari's beautiful game has charmed the Bridge

Scolari made the comments when in charge of Brazil as he urged his players to cheat and foul their way out of the hole they had dug for themselves in qualifying for the 2002 World Cup a tournament they went on to win.

Six years on, he still likes to declare that he is "happy when we play well but I'm more happy when we win", yet to Chelsea fans he is anything but a hard-nosed realist.

In comparison to the pragmatic Jose Mourinho who came before him, Big Phil appears to be the ultimate romantic when it comes to playing football.

Middlesbrough found that out to their cost on Saturday as Chelsea scored five goals on the road and listening to Scolari talking about tonight's game with Roma, it was difficult not to come to the conclusion that this man wants to entertain.

The Brazilian said: "We will see a beautiful game because Roma play the same sort of football as Chelsea football with lots of movement.

"It's a pleasure, not only for me, but for the players that people like Chelsea football. We play beautiful football. But if we need three points in every game, sometimes it is impossible to play beautiful football."

It may be unfair to suggest that Chelsea bored their supporters as they won two Premier League titles under Mourinho but they never would have gone for the jugular as they did at The Riverside.

Scolari's entertaining team sit on top of the Premier League and have scored 27 goals in 11 games in all competitions.

They remain unbeaten so far this season, while Roma lie 14th in Serie A, having won only two of their opening seven games.

Luciano Spalletti's team have lurched from calamity to crisis both on and off the pitch at the Stadio Olimpico and their fans fear a result tonight similar to the 7-1 hammering they took at Old Trafford two years ago.

Francesco Totti is at least back after six months out with a knee ligament injury for a club left in turmoil since the death of their owner, oil tycoon Franco Sensi, in August.

Financial uncertainty has since gripped Roma, now overseen by Sensi's daughter Rosella, amid reports that the family has come under pressure to repay debts in the region of £325 million and speculation about possible takeovers and a resulting fire-sale of leading players.

One popular theory is that it was Chelsea's apparent courting of the talented Spalletti in the summer as a potential successor to Avram Grant which destabilised the team, leaving the Roma coach protesting otherwise yesterday, insisting that he had "never received a proposal from Chelsea or any other club".

Of course, Chelsea eventually plumped for Scolari anyway, a decision which looks more inspired by the week.

Frank Lampard warned that Roma's current desperation to get their season back on the rails could make them dangerous.

The midfielder argued that the quality of their players remained intact, what with Italy internationals Daniele de Rossi, the Azzurri's outstanding performer in the Euro 2008 finals, and Alberto Aquilani driving the midfield behind Totti.

Yet Lampard was keener to talk about the "freshness" breathed into his own team by the Scolari revolution and the "fantastic" injection brought by his new signings, Portugal pair Jose Bosingwa and Deco.

He said: "This season we're re-focused, there's a real freshness about us. We're trying to play good football and we're doing that and we're scoring goals.

"We're at the top of the League and in the Champions League, we've got a critical couple of games now and we could almost qualify for the next stage. So there's a real nice feeling about the place.

"The fact of having a new manager, we're settled, whereas last season there was always speculation about the future. That's nice.

"There is something about us at the moment. We've always had a strong squad anyway but at the moment it's really clicking and we're working hard for each other. If we keep doing that then we've got a great chance. There's something about us right now; it's really clicking."

He sounds as enthused about Scolari as everyone else at the Bridge. Indeed, one could argue that the only thing Scolari's failed to do so far in his unbeaten reign is to win the games Chelsea fans would consider the biggest that is, Tottenham and Manchester United at home.

Now, with Serie A giants at the Bridge tonight and Liverpool visiting on Sunday, he has the chance to put that right too. Beautifully, of course.