Chelsea FC: The Italian Angle ai??i?? Part II

Read the first part here

Ai??After Ranieri’s departure, there was an Italian lull at Chelsea for a few years, during the Mourinho era, followed by the managerial tenures of Grant and Scolari/Hiddink. Carlo Cudicini continued to be an able deputy to Cech, who had now displaced the Italian as Chelsea’s number one. Cudicini would depart to North London rivals Spurs during the winter transfer window of 2009 on a free transfer having served Chelsea well for nearly a decade. A young Italian striker, Fabio Borini was also signed during this period. Borini was making a name for himself playing for the reserves and scoring plenty of goals. Borini never went on to get much game time for the first team.

The next resurgence of an Italian era at Chelsea would come in the form of the appointment of Carlo Ancelotti as the manger of the club in the summer of 2009. Ancelotti would begin his tenure at Chelsea with a Charity Shield win over Manchester United. Chelsea went on to win the first 6 games of the season. On the European front, having qualified top from their group, Chelsea were drawn against an Italian outfit, Inter Milan, who during that period was managed by former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho. Coming back from San Siro after a 2-1 loss and an away goal to show, all Chelsea needed was a 1-0 victory at home to progress. The side Chelsea were facing however was an Inter side galvanized by the presence of the likes of Sneijder, Milito, Eto’o. Mourinho had them playing together like a side determined to go all the way. In the second leg, Chelsea came up short at home, with a 0-1 loss and suddenly it seemed like Ancelotti was under all the pressure in the world. It didn’t help that Chelsea drew their next game away to Blackburn and not many had forgotten the catastrophic home loss to Manchester City the month before. Suddenly there were media talks of Ancelotti being shown the door just after 6 months into the job.

However, the tide turned with the Portsmouth game. Malouda and Drogba decided to take the responsibility of driving the Chelsea title challenge with a commanding 5-0 win. This was followed by a marauding 7-1 win against Villa. At this point, Chelsea, who were still trailing Manchester United by a point, traveled to Old Trafford to play the game, that was virtually the title decider. A loss and Chelsea would have been pegged back severely. A controversial, yet thunderous Drogba goal ensured a Chelsea victory and the pole position in the title race. After this A blip against Spurs meant that Chelsea had to win at Anfield, before they could seal the title on the final day of the season. Chelsea beat Liverpool and won the title in emphatic style with an 8-0 home win against Wigan. Chelsea finished the season with a league double over Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal, and scored over a 100 league goals. This was followed by a win over Portsmouth in the final of the FA cup. This gave Chelsea their first domestic double and Ancelotti became the manager who led them to this.

Amidst growing concerns about the aging players in the Chelsea squad, the next season began with the hope that Chelsea would manage to build on the achievements from the past season by infusing some youth into the squad. World Cup fatigue for the players meant that Chelsea had a poor pre-season followed by the loss to Manchester United in the Charity Shield. The season began well with Chelsea winning the first 2 games in emphatic style with both being 6-0 results. Chelsea once again managed to lead the league table till the end of October before things started going haywire. This started with a loss to Liverpool at Anfield with Fernando Torres scoring both goals. After Ray Wilkins was terminated unceremoniously, Chelsea would go on to face a humiliating home defeat to Sunderland, followed by a loss to Birmingham City. A string of 1-1 draws preceded a loss to Arsenal at Emirates. After this Chelsea lost to Wolves, and suddenly they found themselves in 5^th place in the league and in danger of missing out on Champions League football.

Chelsea signed Fernando Torres from Liverpool and David Luiz from Benfica in an attempt to salvage their season. The loss at home against Liverpool was followed by a string of good results including the home wins against the Manchester Clubs. Champions League drew Chelsea against title rivals Manchester United in the Quarter Finals. Manchester United won both home and away and knocked Chelsea out of the competition. Chelsea’s performance in both the legs of the tie showed that younger, faster legs were needed for the club to progress. In the league, Chelsea would once again have to win at Old Trafford to complete their resurgence and launch a final onslaught on the title. Unfortunately, that wasn’t to be. Chelsea lost to United and finally ended the season tamely with a loss to a 10-man Everton at Goodison Park.

Carlo Ancelotti was dismissed from his position soon after the Everton game. His two seasons at the club had seen some glorious achievements along with some poor losses, but in the end every Chelsea supporter still agrees that he should have been given a third season. Carlo will always be remembered as the manager who won Chelsea their first double and was classy and stylish in doing so.

Not all Italians succeeded at Chelsea. Its now time to look at the few who didn’t have such a great time at Stamford Bridge –

Pierluigi Casiraghi ai??i?? Casiraghi was a signing as part of the Italian revolution under Gianluca Vialli. Having been a successful goalscorer at Lazio, he arrived with a big reputation and a hefty price tag. Casiraghi never really got a chance to make a name for himself in England as just a few months into his first season, he picked up a terrible cruciate ligament injury and never played for Chelsea again.

Gabriel Ambrosetti ai??i?? Famously described as the ai???Italian Ryan Giggsai??? by Vialli, Ambrosetti arrived for a considerably high fee from Vicenza. He struggled to cope with the physicality of the English game despite the odd brilliant outing. For 4 years, Ambrosetti’s appearances were few and far between and largely as a substitute.

Sam Dalla Bona ai??i?? The midfielder arrived at Chelsea under Vialli too. He scored plenty of goals for the reserves, before he started making frequent appearances for the first team under Ranieri. Dalla Bona was impressive in most of the games that he played for the club and looked like one for the future. However, he turned down a contact extension and was eventually transferred to Milan in 2002. Dalla Bona never really fulfilled his early potential, despite managing to secure a Champions League winning medal with Milan.

Christian Panucci ai??i?? The versatile Italian veteran had a short loan spell with Chelsea that would see him score the winner in a UEFA Cup tie against Swiss outfit St. Gallen, but Ranieri didn’t have him in his plans and Panucci switched his loan deal from Chelsea to Monaco mid season. He would go on to become a mainstay in the Roma defense for years to follow.

Marco Ambrosio ai??i?? A Ranieri signing to act as an understudy to Carlo Cudicini, could never really adjust himself to the English game. While he did pull off some amazing saves, like the one in the Champions League win over Arsenal at Highbury in the 03-04 season, he was also susceptible to blunders like in the away game against Monaco that followed. When Cech signed, he became surplus to Chelsea’s requirements and was allowed to leave the club.

This, in short, was the Italian history at Chelsea. In recent times, Bobby Di Matteo joined the Chelsea staff as the assistant coach under Andre Villas-Boas, but we do not know for sure how ai???Italianai??i?? the Chelsea future is going to be. It is however a fact that the Chelsea past has been glorious thanks to some great Italians, who showed us their class and in the process won silverwares too.

~ Sushanth Rao

Tags: Carlo Ancelotti Chelsea FC Italy

Chelsea FC: The Italian Angle ai??i?? Part II

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