CARLO ANCELOTTI believes he has given Chelsea the style of football long craved by Roman Abramovich, and the Italian is now intent upon maintaining the pursuit of another of the owner’s targets, the club’s first European Cup, at Jose Mourinho’s expense tonight.
Ancelotti said Abramovich has not stipulated he must win the trophy he claimed twice in his eight years at Milan, yet, while Chelsea have not been as defensively assured this season, the manager is convinced he has provided the style of football desired by the oligarch even in Mourinho’s glittering reign.
“I think some things we have changed since I arrived, and this team has an identity now,” said Ancelotti. “Now we have to improve even more. The system of play is a little bit different but we keep possession and play attacking football. We have players with a lot quality who can do that. Roman wants to see the team play in this way and I think we are doing this.
“You will have to ask him whether that is more important than winning things. When I came here Roman never told me I had to win the Champions League. For him it’s the same as winning the Premier League. But these players want to win this competition. They have reached the semi-finals five times in the last six years.”
Ancelotti’s Chelsea are statistically superior to any other during the Abramovich era as an attacking force – they average 2.38 goals per Premier League match, compared with the 1.79 mustered by Mourinho’s teams – yet they have proved fragile at times at the back.
Much has been made of Mourinho’s first competitive return to Stamford Bridge – seven of Ancelotti’s likely starting line-up played there under the Portuguese – yet the home players will not be unnerved by his presence.
“We’re not thinking about the history,” said Florent Malouda, the former manager’s last major signing in south-west London. “We are trying to make history. We don’t care about what happened in the past.”
Ancelotti has attempted to deflect direct questions about his fractious relationship with Mourinho and laughed off the suggestion he might emulate his opposite number by publicly kissing his club’s badge in the build-up to the game. Mourinho had done just that at San Siro before the first leg.
“This will be a difficult game and it is not good news that Mourinho has never lost successive games since joining Inter. We’ll go out of our way to break that run.”
History suggests they are capable of achieving that much. Chelsea overturned their last two first-leg deficits. Furthermore, they are unbeaten in 21 Champions League home games.
Yet they will be wary of a repeat of last year’s semi-final when Barcelona’s stoppage-time equaliser knocked them out of the competition.
“We know we will have to be at our best,” said Ancelotti.
