FA CUP FINAL Chelsea 1 Portsmouth 0:THERE IS no such thing as the wrong sort of triumph. After completing the Double for the first time, Chelsea have not ended their season in a miasma of might-have-beens. Despite that, such domestic command was not the achievement desired above all others.
Everything about Carlo Ancelotti’s CV spoke of a specialist appointed to pursue a different agenda.
In his 10 years in charge at Juventus and Milan there was just a single Serie A title, with the latter club in 2003, but the Champions League trophy was conveyed to San Siro twice. With that record in mind the Chelsea owner, Roman Abramovich, has surely identified Ancelotti as the expert equipped to deliver the grand European prize that would frank his club’s status as genuine members of the elite.
As it happened, Ancelotti equalled the weakest run in the Champions League since the oligarch bought the club seven years ago. Worse still, elimination in the first knock-out round came at the hands of an Internazionale under Jose Mourinho. His pragmatism seemed to take its toll on Abramovich before the Portuguese left Chelsea in the autumn of 2007.
The Serie A team could well beat Bayern Munich in the final on Saturday. Ancelotti can hardly be called a failure and glory for even the greatest managers is intermittent in the Champions League. Further opportunities lie ahead, but for the time being he is in charge of a rollicking line-up.
The result at Wembley was out of kilter with the drubbings administered in the Premier League, but the discrepancy was not as marked as it looks. This was a final that is already being spoken of as the game in which Chelsea hit the woodwork five times in the first half. They were fractionally less efficient than normal and they had the air of men setting themselves to get through one last piece of business at the end of a long day.
Didier Drogba completed the chore beautifully with a free-kick placed beyond the left hand of David James in the 59th minute. It would be false all the same to pretend Chelsea executed their task with merciless precision. Salomon Kalou had hit the bar while facing a virtually open goal.
Chelsea might have been punished for their sloppy finishing when the match was goalless. It was gauche of substitute Juliano Belletti to bring down Aruna Dindane and even more inept of Kevin-Prince Boateng to strike a soft and poorly aimed penalty that came off the legs of a diving Petr Cech in the 56th minute.
Portsmouth had bungled the moment that might have put strain on Chelsea. As it was, the victors could easily afford mishaps of their own. Having been felled by Michael Brown, Frank Lampard pulled his penalty wide of the post in the 88th minute.
It was a curious final. Portsmouth are so stricken they would have come last in the Premier League even if nine points had not been confiscated for going into administration. Despite that, the south coast club were never forlorn or apprehensive at Wembley and Avram Grant, the manager who was appointed in November, takes much credit for that.
There was abrasiveness and Michael Ballack had to be replaced after a bad foul by Boateng.
Ballack will turn 34 in the early weeks of next season and players in the latter phase of their careers are a matter of debate in Chelsea’s affairs. Drogba is just two years Ballack’s junior, but obsolescence is not in clear sight. His tally of 37 goals in this season is eight better than in the previous campaign, yet such statistics are not a guide to what can be expected next season.
Ancelotti has to decide what is to be done about Nicolas Anelka, a 31-year-old France striker with a season left on his contract who is said to be of interest to Manchester United. Lampard would be an even more ticklish topic. Ancelotti rejected reports that the midfielder could go to Real Madrid, who may well have Mourinho as their manager soon. There is a counter-argument, though, that it would be worth hearing how much was bid for a man who will be 32 next month.
In common with other leading English clubs, Chelsea can no longer take long runs for granted in the Champions League. Delicate decisions are unavoidable.
Ancelotti, in addition to promising the gradual introduction of Gael Kakuta and other youngsters, might have the means for a keynote signing such as Torres.
There is a gradual change to come for Chelsea but nobody dreaded it on Saturday.
Guardian Service
