Roman Abramovich has done it all at Chelsea, well almost. When he looks around the congested trophy cabinet at Stamford Bridge he will see the club has won FA cups, League cups, Championships and even the Community Shield but there’s one prized possession missing. Abramovich is clearly possessed by the desire to win the European trophy and signal dominance over the whole of Europe, this obsession has seen him sack the likes of Felipe Scolari, Jose Mourinho and more recently Carlo Ancelotti all despite having won domestic honours. But it was each manager’s failure in Europe – and in Mourinho’s case only a narrow failure (‘Ghost Goal’) – that has frustrated the wealthy Russian.
Then came the decision to appoint to the latest challenger to win Abramovich his most desired goal. Andre Villas-Boas was a logical choice to bring European success to the Bridge as he had already tasted winning the competions little sister, the Europa league with Porto. But things haven’t worked out as every football fan will be aware and Tuesday night’s defeat in Naples has made the Champions League seemingly out of sight for another year. This will annoy Abramovich more than the domestic failures, so where can he look next?
Perhaps he should look no further than Rafael Benitez. The Spaniard has been out of work since leaving Liverpool and has proven in the past he is the man with all the European nous needed to be successful in the competition. The famed rotator transformed an average Liverpool squad inherited from Gerard Houllier somehow into a European Cup wining side, the final needs no reminder. The campaign featured wins over Juventus and Chelsea and there is no reason he couldn’t replicate the success on Anfield and bring the Trophy to Chelsea.
The squad is arguably better than the one which reached Istanbul in 2005 and another final in 2007 where AC Milan gained there revenge ironically under the stewardship of Carlo Ancelotti. The stubborn Spaniard has also mirrored Villas-Boas in winning the then called UEFA cup during his successful time with Valencia.
So, if Abramovich were to make the hasty decision and sack Andre Villas-Boas there is a strong case for him to appoint the former Liverpool manager. Benitez has great track record in Europe and will do Chelsea no harm in surely improving their European credentials. If a manager is able to get the best out of a squad containing the likes of Traore, Josemi and Igor Biscan imagine what he would be able to do with a far superior squad boasting talents such as Juan Mata, Fernando Torres (Yes he still has talent) and many more.
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Good article. But Benitez had the job at Inter, after his time at Liverpool. And ironically he was pretty awful in Italy