Friday, April 19, 2024

Is this Chelsea’s year for Champions League victory?

English champions Chelsea kick-off their Champions League campaign with a trip to Slovakian side MSK Zilina.

The Blues start the competition as one of the favourites for the competition, as they do most seasons.

Holy Grail

The Champions League is the Holy Grail of trophies for Chelsea fans and owner Roman Abramovich.

The Russian billionaire has pumped money into Chelsea and has got his reward with Premier League titles but the Champions League is the trophy he now craves.

I believe that Abramovich would rather win the Champions League than retain the Premier League title this season. Although a double would please the Russian even more.

It is the trophy that is missing from the trophy cabinet at Stamford Bridge. The Champions have come so close in recent years. Their best performance came in 2008 when they were defeated by Manchester United on penalties.

They have also had numerous semi-final appearances and will be hoping to go one better than in runners-up this season.

Experience

When Chelsea exited the Champions League to Inter last season everybody, including me were saying that the squad were past their best and they needed an injection of new young players. They haven’t strengthened significantly but have started the season in blistering form. Maybe it’s this old team’s year.

Winner

Carlo Ancelotti is part of an exclusive club of those who have won the European Cup as both player and manager. He is an experienced coach and has the tactical nous to win another Champions League trophy.

Ancelotti is acknowledged as one of the nice guys in football management. So the old adage of nice guys finishing last certainly doesn’t apply to this guy. He is a winner and has developed a good style of play at Chelsea.

Exits

I was really surprised by the summer exit of mercurial midfielder Joe Cole. I believed that Ancelotti had made a mistake by letting the England international leave but I’m starting to think he got it right. Cole was on huge wages and has struggled with injuries in the last few years. He hasn’t exactly made a fantastic start to his career at Liverpool either.

Ancelotti also allowed veteran German midfielder Michael Ballack leave. Which I thought was inevitable with midfielder starting to look his age. Chelsea really haven’t missed the pair and haven’t as of yet missed Portuguese centre-back Ricardo Carvalho, who I believe is still an excellent player at the age of 32.

Comfortable

Tonight’s clash against the Slovak side should be comfortable for the English side. However it seems that Zilina are treating this like a cup tie. For Chelsea though this could be just the first step on the long road to Champions League success.

Desperate

I’ve heard a few of the Chelsea players say that they are desperate to win the competition. Maybe that is the wrong word for the likes of John Terry and Petr Cech to be using.

A lot of the Chelsea players are getting to the end of their careers and they won’t have many more Champions League campaigns left in them. However there is no need to be desperate but rather confident that they can succeed in Europe’s top competition.

Chelsea are due some luck in the Champions League after some awful decisions and incidents going against them in recent seasons.

Maybe this season they will get the bit of luck that is needed to win the Champions League. Or maybe they will experience more torment at the hands of Europe’s top competition.

Will Chelsea win the Champions League this season?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Nugent


David is a freelance football writer with nearly a decade of experience writing about the beautiful game. The experienced writer has written for over a dozen websites and also an international soccer magazine offline.
Arguably his best work has come as an editorial writer for Soccernews, sharing his good, bad and ugly opinions on the world’s favourite sport. During David’s writing career he has written editorials, betting previews, match previews, banter, news and opinion pieces.

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  • CHOCOLATE

    0 0

    Chelsea is a great team, they will do better in the CL IF ONLY THEY CAN BEAT MADRID cuz both teams are the favourite for the trophy. I fully agreed with Uwen; it the fact. the referee in that cheated usa in the world cup was send home why was overbo not punish? I’m ashame of uefa. someone commited suicide in monrovia after that game, because he believed white men are fair……………

  • Brad

    0 0

    Well, we know one for certain, it’s not giong to be Inter or any English team in the final.

  • Ryan

    0 0

    Being an Arsenal fan, it’s sad to admit that Chelsea is the best team in the Premier League right now. But can we forget David Villa and Mascherano for Barcelona? With a striker that can actually do his job, I think Barcelona will once again triumph.

  • ZE1TS3V

    0 0

    Eh I doubt an English team will win it this year sadly, Chelsea wont go the distance and united seem to fragile at the moment to get it done in the CL.. they haven’t gotten over the loss of Ronaldo and Tevez (you cant lose those two and pack the same firepower) my beloved arsenal are too weak in the back and lack a clinical striker who can go the distance.

    I fancy Madrid or AC Milan this year, Milan have an amazing squad with amazing strength upfront and Madrid look solid in the back.

  • Brad

    0 0

    however, it is only the start of the season, and football is the world’s most unpredictable game (not to mention popular). for all we know, they could get upset by some smaller team or get completely hammered by a rival club.

  • popoola adekunle

    0 0

    i thiknk chelsea has what it takes to deliver the champions league trophy this season.they’ve come close several times.with their positive approach to the start of the season it might help them greatly.

  • Brad

    0 0

    I’ve always considered Chelsea a dark horse team: that is, they do well and get deep into the tournament, but fall short of lifting the trophy. age will definitely take a toll, as most of the big guns are over 30 (Drogba and Anelka, for starters) and the combination of EPL, FA Cup (when it gets here, right now, just the League Cup), and the CL will put a hammer to them. as if the EPL didn’t do that already. . .

  • gee2

    0 0

    chelsea try harder next time

  • cularfin

    0 0

    as for my humble opinion, chelsea will go far but not win the trophy. age will eventually take it’s toll on it’s players. but we never know, as the players always say, LETS TAKE IT ON GAME AT A TIME..

  • Brad

    0 0

    I’m surprised too. but really I think he’s still p.o.ed about all of this and is very paranoid. get a life and stop complaining about conspiracy in the match against United. Terry’s slip was on his own accord.

  • Bface

    0 0

    I’m surprised at Uwem Akangson, although he’s trying to make a point i dont fully agree with him. Chelsea looks like it, they’ll go very far but will not lift the CL trophy this season

  • Uwem Akangson

    0 0

    Chelsea are good enough to win the Champions League but I think there is a serious conspiracy against the club at that level of soccer and they need to win clearly as marginal decisions will hardly go their way. Imagine the match against Barcelona, Referee Ovrebo did everything possible to ensure Chelsea’s exit. Even the finals against Machester United. Anybody who cares should please go and watch the penalties again and note that it was also the Referee that caused Terry’s slip. I think the team and the club owners have made it obvious that this is their most coverted trophy and all hands will be on deck at least from the officiating angle to deny them the glory. Imagine the second goal Barcelona scored against Inter Milan in the finals that was a handball, a referee who wanted to deny Inter Milan would have allowed the goal and nothing would have happened. The best would be to criticize the referee but the trophy would have gone to camp nou. So desperate isn’t the right word as the powers that be would be at work to deny that glory. You can imagine Inesta’s goal against Chelsea but can someone tell me why he was not given a yellow card for taking off his shirt or why all those penalty calls were not given? That is the point.

  • Brad

    0 0

    I hope not. . . I want United to win the CL.

  • Chelsea FC Fan

    0 0

    And Chelsea do need more young players…and I hope Drogba can keep his cool…everything else will fall in to place as it should…whether that translates in to victory or not, we’ll find out.

  • Chelsea FC Fan

    0 0

    Who knows…but let’s hear what the haters have to say…

  • Chelsea FC Fan

    0 0

    Who knows…but let’s hear what the haters have to say…

  • Chelsea FC Fan

    0 0

    And Chelsea do need more young players…and I hope Drogba can keep his cool…everything else will fall in to place as it should…whether that translates in to victory or not, we’ll find out.

  • Brad

    0 0

    I hope not. . . I want United to win the CL.

  • Uwem Akangson

    0 0

    Chelsea are good enough to win the Champions League but I think there is a serious conspiracy against the club at that level of soccer and they need to win clearly as marginal decisions will hardly go their way. Imagine the match against Barcelona, Referee Ovrebo did everything possible to ensure Chelsea’s exit. Even the finals against Machester United. Anybody who cares should please go and watch the penalties again and note that it was also the Referee that caused Terry’s slip. I think the team and the club owners have made it obvious that this is their most coverted trophy and all hands will be on deck at least from the officiating angle to deny them the glory. Imagine the second goal Barcelona scored against Inter Milan in the finals that was a handball, a referee who wanted to deny Inter Milan would have allowed the goal and nothing would have happened. The best would be to criticize the referee but the trophy would have gone to camp nou. So desperate isn’t the right word as the powers that be would be at work to deny that glory. You can imagine Inesta’s goal against Chelsea but can someone tell me why he was not given a yellow card for taking off his shirt or why all those penalty calls were not given? That is the point.

  • Bface

    0 0

    I’m surprised at Uwem Akangson, although he’s trying to make a point i dont fully agree with him. Chelsea looks like it, they’ll go very far but will not lift the CL trophy this season

  • Brad

    0 0

    I’m surprised too. but really I think he’s still p.o.ed about all of this and is very paranoid. get a life and stop complaining about conspiracy in the match against United. Terry’s slip was on his own accord.

  • cularfin

    0 0

    as for my humble opinion, chelsea will go far but not win the trophy. age will eventually take it’s toll on it’s players. but we never know, as the players always say, LETS TAKE IT ON GAME AT A TIME..

  • gee2

    0 0

    chelsea try harder next time

  • Brad

    0 0

    I’ve always considered Chelsea a dark horse team: that is, they do well and get deep into the tournament, but fall short of lifting the trophy. age will definitely take a toll, as most of the big guns are over 30 (Drogba and Anelka, for starters) and the combination of EPL, FA Cup (when it gets here, right now, just the League Cup), and the CL will put a hammer to them. as if the EPL didn’t do that already. . .

  • popoola adekunle

    0 0

    i thiknk chelsea has what it takes to deliver the champions league trophy this season.they’ve come close several times.with their positive approach to the start of the season it might help them greatly.

  • Brad

    0 0

    however, it is only the start of the season, and football is the world’s most unpredictable game (not to mention popular). for all we know, they could get upset by some smaller team or get completely hammered by a rival club.

  • ZE1TS3V

    0 0

    Eh I doubt an English team will win it this year sadly, Chelsea wont go the distance and united seem to fragile at the moment to get it done in the CL.. they haven’t gotten over the loss of Ronaldo and Tevez (you cant lose those two and pack the same firepower) my beloved arsenal are too weak in the back and lack a clinical striker who can go the distance.

    I fancy Madrid or AC Milan this year, Milan have an amazing squad with amazing strength upfront and Madrid look solid in the back.

  • Ryan

    0 0

    Being an Arsenal fan, it’s sad to admit that Chelsea is the best team in the Premier League right now. But can we forget David Villa and Mascherano for Barcelona? With a striker that can actually do his job, I think Barcelona will once again triumph.

  • Brad

    0 0

    Well, we know one for certain, it’s not giong to be Inter or any English team in the final.

  • CHOCOLATE

    0 0

    Chelsea is a great team, they will do better in the CL IF ONLY THEY CAN BEAT MADRID cuz both teams are the favourite for the trophy. I fully agreed with Uwen; it the fact. the referee in that cheated usa in the world cup was send home why was overbo not punish? I’m ashame of uefa. someone commited suicide in monrovia after that game, because he believed white men are fair……………

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