The defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League closed Chelsea’s only chance of winning the title this season, also an early end to Chelsea’s season.
The season ends for Chelsea
Before the quarter-final second leg, coach Carlo Ancelotti shared that Chelsea have a chance to save the season if they beat Real Madrid. Before that, Frank Lampard was also optimistic that a “miracle” would come at Stamford Bridge in the second leg. The former Blues midfielder often refers to the 2012 miracle as a way to calm the player’s spirit.
Both Super Frankie and Carletto understand that a ticket to the Champions League semi-finals can be the lifeline, the only positive mark in a disastrous season with the Blues. But then the hopes of Chelsea fans were like a small fire in the cold London, before it could flash, it was swallowed up by the cold night.
Being eliminated from the Champions League by Real means that this year’s season is considered to be over in front of Frank Lampard’s teachers and students. Currently, the Blues are ranked 11th in the Premier League with 39 points. The London team is now 14 points away from the European Cup group in the context of the season with 7 rounds left.
Theoretically, Chelsea still has a chance to qualify for the European Cup next season. But that scenario is probably beyond the wildest dreams of the most optimistic fans. Chelsea only won 2 points after the last 5 matches in the Premier League, not to mention, the opponents of The Blues in the rest of the season are teams that are very “thirsty” for points. Therefore, believing in the ability of Chelsea to win tickets to the European Cup next season is like believing in the story of flying elephants: funny and lacking in basis!
That’s not to say Chelsea will give up for the rest of the season. The pride of a team in the most successful group in England did not allow Lampard’s teachers and students to prolong the series of disappointing matches over the past time. However, it is not an exaggeration to say that this year’s season is over for Chelsea, nor is it wrong to say that the identity crisis with this team has just begun.
What future awaits Chelsea?
New chairman Todd Boehly was very “generous” when pouring up to 700 million pounds for the home team to buy as a “launch gift”. But among those “gifts”, not many contracts left a clear mark. Only Enzo Fernandez has partially recovered the faith in the fans, but the efforts of the 2022 World Cup champion can hardly bring back the bright picture at Stamford Bridge at this time.
Just a year ago, Chelsea made Real “sweat” in the quarter-final second leg at the Bernabeu. Despite losing 1-3 in the first leg, Chelsea still played fair with Real in the second leg, dragging the game into extra time and only succumbing to moments of the champion. And this year, despite holding an expensive squad, Chelsea showed a weak face, lack of cohesion and no spirit. In other words, within just 1 year, the brave and stubborn Chelsea team was gone.
Jamie Carragher once commented that Todd Boehly runs the club like a football management game (Football Manager), where the coach can fire and transfer anyone he wants. Unfortunately, in football, spending a lot is not a guarantee of success, and many stars in the squad does not mean victory.
Even Todd Boehly’s uncontrollable way of buying people also pushed Chelsea’s coach into a difficult position. Graham Potter received the dismissal while still struggling with the people he had in hand. The same story is probably coming to Lampard and will come to any manager holding the table at Chelsea next season.
Todd Boehly has poured a huge amount of money to rebuild Chelsea and this is certainly a season of total failure for this individual billionaire as well as the entire team. But the storm has just begun and the most important thing is how will Boehly correct herself in the near future?