There will be ghostly figures all around Stamford Bridge tonight.
The spectres of John Terry’s tears in Moscow, of Luis Garcia’s “ghost goal” at Anfield, of Andres Iniesta’s stoppage time semi-final strike last season will all be visible in the faces of the Chelsea players. All were heartbreaking ways to exit a competition that the Blues have never won, but that they are desperate to taste success in more than any other. Tonight a familiar face will plot their latest downfall.
Haunting the touchline will be José Mourinho, the man who instilled the spirit, the belief and the character into the modern Chelsea. Sadly for the Blues, it’ll be the real Mourinho in the opposing dugout to Carlo Ancelotti, not a ghostly apparition, but what the Portuguese might achieve could well be truly frightening.
Mourinho is back at the Bridge, bringing his unique sense of theatre with him, and while his Inter Milan side hold a slender advantage as they enter battle this evening, he’ll know more than anyone that his job isn’t even half done.
They idolise him at Chelsea. His name will be sung on the terraces tonight, his image still adorns several walls at Stamford Bridge and his famous “Special One” speech is painted outside the club’s Centenary Hall. He was special. What he achieved at the club was special, but somehow Chelsea have to put that to one side this evening. There is a football match to be won.
Enter Ancelotti. Chelsea may never have won the Champions League, but he has. Twice.
Not for him the tidal wave of emotion towards the Portuguese tonight. Not for him the temptation to be caught up in distracting, off-field occurrences. There is simply the desire to do what he usually did when he was at AC Milan, namely to get through to the latter stages of Europe’s premier competition, and he has a real chance of doing that.
In Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard and John Terry, Ancelotti possesses the three players who were the symbols of Mourinho’s Chelsea. Their desire to knock their former boss out of Europe should be huge. The Italian might have to give a reassuring team talk to the 25-year-old Ross Turnbull, his third-choice goalkeeper who will be thrust into the biggest game of his life tonight, but that should inspire the former Middlesbrough man.
Chelsea start well, and suddenly the pressure is on their former boss. The desire for Inter to win the Champions League is arguably more intense than it is at Stamford Bridge – it is the reason why Roberto Mancini walked out of the job after a loss to Liverpool in 2008. Countless other managers before him have felt that pressure too; Inter haven’t won the giant trophy since 1965.
Like Ancelotti at Chelsea, Mourinho was hired to win the Champions League. Lose tonight and his job is under pressure, merely winning the Serie A title isn’t enough.
That famous Mourinho smile may fade along with the ghostly images tonight.
The past is the past. Time for Ancelotti and Chelsea to create some new memories.
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