Champions League preview: MŠK Žilina v Chelsea
So the seventh time wasn’t the charm.
Samuel Eto’o’s goal at Stamford Bridge in March killed off Roman Abramovich’s seventh stab at winning the Champions League with Chelsea – this time embarrassingly at the hands of an Inter Milan side managed by José Mourinho – and so the Russian billionaire will have to hope that attempt No.8 will be great.
Chelsea have come almost comedically close to winning Europe’s premier competition over the years. They were a John Terry slip away from winning the final in 2008, and when you add that to two semi-final losses to Liverpool – one to a disputed goal, the other on penalties – and another to a stoppage-time strike from Barcelona’s Andrés Iniesta, you can easily see why the giant trophy has become the Holy Grail for the Blues.
For their manager though, it must be less of an obsession. He’s far too used to winning it.
“It's the competition which has given me the most satisfaction in my career,” said Carlo Ancelotti, “both as a player and as a coach, so it has a very special importance for me to take part in and to win it.”
He’s too modest. Two wins as a player of AC Milan and two wins as a coach mark the Italian out as one of the competition’s modern day greats– we’ll let him gloss over what happened in Istanbul in 2005.
Another win with Chelsea could mark him out as the great, but it is what victory would symbolise to a club still determined to be universally recognised as one of Europe’s elite that would hold more significance.
The European Cup has come to England 11 times, but never to the English capital.
No London club has yet tasted that extra-special success, but with three from the capital in this season’s competition, and the final scheduled for Wembley next May, what better time to end that particular statistic? Both Manchester United and Liverpool have won the trophy at the home of English football, a Chelsea win would surely be extra special, not that they are getting ahead of themselves.
“Underestimating any team in the Champions League can only damage you,” said goalkeeper Petr Čech, a key player in six of those seven failed Abramovich campaigns since his arrival at the club in 2004.
“Žilina had to go through qualification and the fact they have made it into the group stages shows their quality.”
Ah yes, Chelsea’s opponents. Minds can easily be cast forward to potential Wembley glory in May, but there is a group stage to negotiate first, and that starts here in Slovakia tonight.
If the name is familiar to Chelsea supporters, that’s because Žilina were beaten right at the start of the Abramovich era, 5-0 in a Champions League qualifier back in 2003. The identities of the goalscorers from that tie – Eidur Gudjohnsen, Glen Johnson, Robert Huth, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and an own goal created by Joe Cole – underline just how Chelsea have changed since those Claudio Ranieri days, but their opposition have progressed too.
They have happier memories of the last time they were in England – where they beat Aston Villa 2-1 in a Uefa Cup tie in December 2008 – and the Slovakian champions achieved the not inconsiderable feat of beating Czech giants Sparta Prague last month, reaching the group stages of the Champions League for the very first time.
A team made up almost entirely of Slovaks, they would appear to be here just for the experience this season, and given the form that Chelsea are in it would be difficult to see the visitors being greatly troubled.
To that end, Ancelotti has rotated, with Ashley Cole rested and Frank Lampard’s hernia injury still not risked. Didier Drogba is suspended following a red card at the end of that Inter defeat in March, but John Terry is with the squad despite a rib injury at West Ham on Saturday.
Their squad will be strong enough to cope though, and expect the Blues to get yet another attempt to win Europe’s prize off to a winning start.
Where it will finish is anyone’s guess.
Prediction: MŠK Žilina 0 Chelsea 1
Tags: