Dan Petrescu loves Chelsea so much he has named one of his children after the club.

He would also like to go back to Stamford Bridge to work as a coach sometime in the future.

But all feelings for Chelsea where he spent five successful years will disappear for 90 minutes tonight when he faces the Blues for the first time since his £1m transfer to Bradford City a little over three weeks ago.

He wouldn't mind repeating his goalscoring feat from the corresponding match - this time in a City shirt!

The 32-year-old Romanian international midfield player said: "I spent five very happy years at Chelsea and I couldn't have asked for more from the club and the fans.

"I have played at other clubs, including Sheffield Wednesday in England, but before I came to Bradford the only team for me was Chelsea.

"I named my two-year-old daughter, Beatrice Chelsea because I like the name and I also like the football club. I have many happy memories.

"I am very good friends with Roberto di Matteo and Gustavo Poyet and I will stay friends with them all, but during the match tonight I have no friends in the Chelsea team."

It was major surprise when City swooped for Petrescu just a few hours after he turned down a move to Southampton, who made an approach for him after it became clear he was no longer part of manager Gianluca Vialli's plans, but Petrescu plays down any talk of a personal rift.

He said: "The manager has got different ideas about how to play football. I respect those ideas. I don't have any problems with them. He was a fantastic player and he has good ideas about the game, but we were not going in the same way so it was best for me to leave and play football somewhere else.

"But I would be happy to go back to work there in a coaching capacity in the next three or four years.

"However, I am here in Bradford now and that's what matters. The players have helped me a lot. It was very difficult in the first three weeks, but I am getting used to everything in Bradford and the lads have been fantastic."

Petrescu's commitment to the game and his dedication to his personal fitness are well known and he says: "The only problem has been that I came to Bradford too late. I like to have 45 days before the start of the season to prepare myself. Without that I cannot prepare properly, but I am trying to catch up with the other players.

"I am still not 100 per cent, but because of the games there is no time to train."

Another stage in Petrescu settling in the area will come next week when he moves from his current hotel base into a house of his own so wife Daniella and daughters, Rebecca (6) and Beatrice Chelsea can join him.