EPL, England, Europe, Features, Ian John, Leagues, Regions, Serie A POSTS
Old failings haunt Chelsea once again.
Published by Ian John on March 17, 2010
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And so this seasons Champions League campaign ends this season much like it did last season for Chelsea. A late away goal condemning the home side to grumpy elimination, petulance shown by key players in the face of defeat and Didier Drogba once again sent off. Plus ça change plus c’est la même chose.
Only this time, Chelsea can have no grievance with the way they were eliminated as over 180 minutes of football Inter Milan were much the better team.
The fact that the man who masterminded the victory for Inter was Jose Mourinho makes the whole affair more bitter for Blues fans. Especially when one of the chief reasons given for his departure by owner Roman Abramovich, was Chelsea’s inability to win on the biggest stage in Europe, The Champions League. Which must make Jose Mourinho probably the happiest man in Milan at the present time.
Chelsea will argue it is another case of ‘so near but yet so far’, but in truth, it wasn’t. Inter fully deserved the win. Wesley Sneijder’s intelligent promptings from midfield and the muscular performance, sometimes verging on the theatrical that you’d only normally find in the W.W.E, of defenders like Lucio, Motta and Samuel meant that Inter always posed a double threat. They were able to snuff out Chelsea’s major stars, Malouda apart, and always pose a threat to a less than secure Chelsea defence.
A Samuel Eto’o strike on 79 minute the culmination of Mourinho’s game plan. It was the death knell for another season of Champions League football for the home team and once again they reacted with somewhat predictable spite and petulance.
Firstly, Didier Drogba was dismissed for stamping on Thiago Motta. Once again the Ivory Coast striker letting his frustrations well over into an act of hot-headed nastiness. Motta was by no means an angel on the night, but Drogba’s reaction was typically over the top and a red card more than deserving. This means that once again, Chelsea will be without one of their key strikers for the start of next season’s competition, and it is hard to see the powers that be in UEFA being too lenient on the striker for his second sending off in such circumstances in the space of a year.
We were then treated to the sight of John Terry running the length of the pitch to spit a tirade of bile at the German official for the sending off, an act he repeated several times at the final whistle. Several players, Ivanovic and Joe Cole in particular, were guilty of nasty, petulant tackles as time ran out on the home side as Chelsea once again left Europe amidst a sea of accusatory fingers and self-pity.
If they have anything to be upset about in terms of the officials, it is only that the German team failed to award at least one penalty for off the ball incidents in the box against Drogba and Ivanovic in particular, from corner kicks. However it is rather rich for a team to complain bitterly about such matters when for years they have been doing the same themselves while defending corner kicks, as anyone who has watched Ricardo Carvalho in action over the past few years can testify.
Inter’s success came from nullifying Chelsea’s threat and having the gumption to hit them hard on the counter. Wesley Sneijder was instrumental in that, his passing creating Inter’s best chances, including the goal for Eto’o that killed off the home side. If the Dutchman was the supplied the ammunition and Eto’o the gunslinger, it was Mourinho who controlled the battle from the sidelines. It was almost as if he knew instinctively just how Chelsea would approach this game.
Which, let us be honest, he did.
So Inter move on, Chelsea move out and will complain bitterly about the officials, the lack of penalties and how unfair everyone is to Drogba. While I had some sympathy with them after the Barcelona game last season, this season, such complaints are sour grapes. The best team won and deservedly so.
And the reason Roman Abramovich gave for sacking Mourinho, of him not achieving what was expected in the Champions League, rings just that little bit more hollow this morning doesn’t it?
Image Courtesy of **** rere c4n*** on Flickr.com
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