“Ceux sont les meilleurs equips”
“Die Meister, die Besten, les meilleurs equipes, the champions.”

What UEFA has tried to do in the infamous CL anthem played before European nights, during European nights, and even during those new god-awful commercials played during half-time is instill in all viewers the sense that the teams that participate in its glory competition, the UEFA Champions League, are truly “die besten”.

There are 3 different style of teams that make the champions league this year:
1. Big League Champions (Man Utd, Inter, Barcelona)
2. The Runners up (Chelsea, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Juventus)
3. The Champions of Minor Leagues (Cluj, Donetsk, Zenit)

I know that whatever the CL Anthem says is not a prerequisite to be allowed into the CL, as there are clear rules and regulations into which teams qualify. But when arguing that the CL is a more important and essentially “better” competition than the Premier League or any national league for that matter, most people would say that these are the best teams in the world.

For me, this is where the competition loses its value. For example, Arsenal made it all the way to the semi-finals of this year’s competition, an honor that most clubs would love to achieve. Domestically though, Arsenal were anything but champions. At one point in serious danger of finishing 5th behind a plucky Aston Villa side, Arsenal was in serious trouble. Even though they did manage to rescue their season, the fact remains. Arsenal finished 4th, did not make a domestic cup final, and on their way to becoming one of the top 4 teams in Europe this season by making the semifinals, they beat equally underachieving AS Roma and a good but unspectacular Villarreal.

Next you have the champions of minor leagues, bless their souls. These relatively tiny clubs (compared to the giants Man Utd, Barca, Chelsea, Inter) like Zenit and Shahtar, Basel and Cluj, are far from European super-powers. But they achieved the right to compete in Europe’s premier club competition by winning their respective leagues, and rightly so. These clubs DO deserve a chance to play in the CL, and I have no problem with that.

And finally, there is no disputing the right of the major league winners to participate in the Champions League. These clubs beat out other major sides to be the best in some of the most difficult leagues in the world, and for that obviously deserve to play in a “Champions League”.

As we have seen though, clubs like Chelsea have been able to challenge strongly for the title of European Champion, both in years when we were not champions of England and when we were. Should we have that right, seeing that we are not “champions”?

As a Chelsea fan, I say yes. We have consistently shown for a number of years that despite us not winning the CL title yet, we are one of Europe’s premier teams. But if you take in account staying true to the basic tenets of a “Champions League”, then no, we do not deserve to participate. Just some food for thought. Whatever your opinion is at the end of the day all us Chelsea fans can agree on one thing though, UEFA is a disgrace! A **** disgrace!

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

The phenomenon of déjà vu is quite common to us nowadays, endlessly chronicled in movies and novels. As my comrade Alex Bogatiryov stated in his blog piece, one of the questions on all of our minds recently has to be, “Do we have luck?”

Well, it seems to me that if you compare the past season to the one ending right now, Chelsea are quite lucky indeed. We managed to have the same season twice! (Even if it was a slightly disappointing one, it’s still lucky by definition)

Think about it. The managerial job is in question yet again, we finished behind Manchester United in the league, and were cruelly robbed of a chance to extract revenge on United in the Champions League Final as well. Now it is true that we have the perfect opportunity to close the season on a high note by sending Guus Hiddink back to the Motherland with a FA Cup win, but that is beside the point.

The main problem is we are back at square one! And despite the fact that this season was more or less a disappointment, we should look at this summer with optimism. We have the chance, yet again, to appoint a coach for the future and begin to build a more youthful squad around our core. We must not take this for granted; we cannot afford another season that leaves the club in limbo. Even if we don’t win a damn thing next season, we must begin to look towards the future once again.

Of course we must applaud Guus Hiddink for saving our souls; if it wasn’t for him we could have been “enjoying” Europe League football next season along with no chance at the FA Cup or the CL this year. But the future is now, and this time next season Guus will be working on his Russia side for the 2010 WC, and not walking the sidelines at Stamford Bridge. So in closing, this summer will be pivotal and will arguably shape the next 5 years of Chelsea Football Club. We cannot have déjà vu, all over again.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News