da winzada777： Chelsea kick off their 2010/2011 Champions League campaign with their sights firmly set on an appearance at Wembley Stadium on 28th May and the club’s first ever victory in the competition.
da betsul： Since the Roman Abramovich revolution at Stamford Bridge began in 2003, Chelsea have qualified for the Champions League on each of the seven seasons that the Russian Billionaire has been owner of the club. However, despite three Premier League titles, three FA Cup victories and two League Cups during that regime, the Champions League still eludes the Blues and it’s no secret that Abramovich is desperate for Europe’s most prestigious domestic honour to define his dynasty at the club.
Carlo Ancelotti is the current Chelsea manager and one with the onus to deliver Champions League success this term. The Italian is the sixth manager during Abramovich’s ownership and the fifth to manage the club in Europe with Claudio Ranieri the only one to miss out after he was relieved of his duties despite guiding the club to their first Champions league qualification 2004 in order to make way for Jose Mourinho.
Mourinho set the benchmark for Chelsea fans’ European expectations in his first season in charge when reaching the Semi Finals. A Last 16 defeat at the hands of Barcelona in 2006 followed by another semi final defeat in 2007 was enough to fray relations between the self-titled ‘special-one’ and Abramovich a fall out which saw Mourinho relieved of his duties and replaced by Avram Grant.
It was Avram Grant in his short eight month spell in charge who was the only manager to guide Chelsea to the Champions League final, narrowly losing out on penalties to Manchester United on penalties in the 2008 final. However, that was not considered enough for Grant to get the job on a long term contract and was swiftly replaced by Felipe Scolari ahead of the following season.
Brazilian Scolari took charge of Chelsea’s 2008/2009 campaign and ensured the team qualified for last 16 of that year’s Champions League but results in the league meant that the World Cup winning manager would not get a chance to manage in the knock out stages and Guus Hiddink was placed in charge until the end of that season. Hiddink had won the European Cup as manager of PSV Eindhoven in 1988 and came to Stamford Bridge with the reputation as one of the World’s best managers but not even he could progress beyond the Semi Finals, with Barcelona proving the obstacle at the final fence in 2009.
Abramovich’s next appointment in his pursuit of the one trophy that remains missing from the Stamford Bridge trophy cabinet is current boss, Carlo Ancelotti. A four times Champions League winner with AC Milan (twice as a player and twice as manager), Ancelotti boasted the best CV of any available manager in Europe at the time of his appointment and got off to the best possible start in the League, regaining the Premier League title after three years in the grasp of Manchester United in addition to winning the FA Cup in his first season in charge, completing the ‘double’ for the first time in the club’s history. However, defeat in the last 16 stage of the Champions League, ironically at the hands of Jose Mourinho and Inter Milan en route to them winning the competition, ensured that the search for a Champions League continued into a seventh season.
Chelsea have started the 2010/2011 season with a 100% record in the Premier League and it would take brave man to oppose them winning back to back championships but the big question marks surrounds their chances of winning the Champions League. A favourable draw sees them play Slovakian side MSK Zilina, Marseille and CSKA Moscow in the group stage of this year’s tournament and qualification to the last 16 seems routine but the question remains can Ancelotti succeed where his four predecessors failed?
Ancelotti’s profile certainly fits that of a manager capable of giving Abramovich and the Chelsea faithful what they have craved for so long and there is no question whether the squad is good enough, which leaves only whether the one remaining factor will once again stand in the way of Chelsea and overdue European success, luck!
All six of Chelsea’s Champions League exits in recent years have come attached with a hard luck story and the laws of probability suggest that fortunes should be due to change. The Champions League odds have them as a joint second favourite alongside Real Madrid and behind Barcelona to win this season’s competition and it’s difficult to argue with that view. With the final at Wembley, a venue Chelsea has played at ten times since it re-opened in 2007, there is every incentive for the Blues to want to end their wait in what would essentially be a home game.
If Chelsea can once again continue their trend of reaching the later stages of the Champions League, Carlo Ancelotti could be the man to end the wait to taste European success in 2011 with everything seemingly in place. The small matter of Barcelona and the Jose Mourinho managed Real Madrid may prove a difficult assignment if they are to at least reach the final but this looks the best opportunity they’re likely to have. If Ancelotti is not the man to deliver success, it’ll be a difficult task to find the next Chelsea manager capable of fulfilling the high expectations everyone associated with the club have come to expect.