Can Chelsea lift the Champions League title?

Chelsea have won quite a few titles during Roman Abramovich’s reign but Champions League title remains just a dream, at least for the time being. The famous penalty miss by John Terry denied them the coveted title two years back but the Blues are now looking really well under new boss Carlo Ancelotti, who admitted the Champions League title was the main objective this season. The Blues have undoubtedly had a great start to the season, but can they finally win the coveted title?

Upon his arrival at Stamford Bridge, Carlo Ancelotti was promised a big name signing but apart from Yuri Zhirkov, who is yet to feature due to his knee injury, there were no notable arrivals this summer. That now looks as a blessing in disguise as even though the Italian manager adopted the new formation, he didn’t have to wait for the new players to gel as the team are practically the same as last term. Anelka and Drogba have proved they can work very well together and even though the Ivorian is set to miss the first three group games through suspension, these two are likely to terrorize the opposition defences in the latter stages of the competition.

All other areas of the team are in full working order and Chelsea’s starting 11  looks really impressive but it is easy to notice Ancelotti doesn’t have big squad to choose from. That is unlikely to change in January considering the transfer ban and the boss has therefore started to deploy a rotation policy from the very start of the season. This seems like the only way to keep all the players fit for the latter stages of the season and this approach has produced great results so far as the players are being rested in certain games, whereas the performances don’t suffer. When both Zhirkov and Joe Cole make a full recovery, the boss will have enough options for the Blues to do well in all the competitions entered, provided nobody else picks up an injury.

The Blues definitely seem capable of making the final stages of the Champions League but they face a stiff competition from defending champions Barcelona and hungry Inter and Real. If Chelsea want to finally lift the coveted title, they will need to remain consistent and will also have to perform well in the big matches. This hasn’t been the problem so far and with the experienced coach like Carlo Ancelotti, maybe this will be the season when the dream comes true.

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