The three reasons why Chelsea lost

By Zain Alvi | 25th February 2010

The three reasons why Chelsea lost | read this item

A 2-1 defeat away from home is not considered a poor result in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League knock-out stages. However, for Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti, the return to San Siro was also bitter because his counterpart – former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho – outsmarted him to achieve a special win. While all eyes are on the second leg in London now, it is important to analyze why Chelsea lost the first leg and whether the factors behind the defeat are repairable or not.

(1) An improved Inter: Manchester United fans certainly like to compare themselves to Chelsea quite a bit, and seeing how they not only demolished an Italian outfit (AC Milan) last week but also decimated Mourinho’s Inter last season, they are obviously finding their side to be a lot superior to the Blues in this comparison.

However, lets not forget that this is a revamped Inter side that has a lot more firepower than it did last season. Sure, Zlatan Ibrahimovic made last year’s offense look good on paper, but his disappearance during the actual Champions League games cost Inter dearly. This season, with Samuel Eto’o and, more importantly, the extremely gifted Diego Milito – complementing each other well, the Nerazzuri are finally clicking on the European stage.

(2) One eye on Manchester City: While United chose to destroy Milan at the San Siro at the expense of a disappointing defeat at Everton upon returning to England, perhaps the Blues are too focused on an air-tight title race to stop thinking about Saturday’s crunch fixture against Roberto Mancini’s Manchester City. With Petr Cech doubtful for that game after enduring an injury against Inter, Chelsea would need some heroics to overcome a Sky Blues outfit that is extremely motivated in helping their manager retain the unstable managerial position at Eastlands. But as long as Chelsea manage to beat City while also delivering against Inter in the second leg, it would be mission accomplished at Stamford Bridge.

(3) Jose Mourinho: The Special One’s non-stop talking certainly led to a fantastic build-up for the game and the San Siro was louder than it has been for quite a while. When John Terry was handing out instructions to his team members in the Blues’ final team huddle before kick-off, one could clearly tell that Mr. Chelsea had to speak quite loud to get his message across. Mourinho’s typically excellent publicity had a significant role in firing the crowd up to the extent where Inter hammered home the opener within three minutes. Jose managed to maintain his composure but the Nerazzuri faithful only got louder as the atmosphere reached chaotic levels early on.

With better understanding of Inter’s tactics as well as having the home advantage in the second leg, the factors that led to Chelsea’s defeat in the first leg are certainly repairable, to say the least. In fact, it won’t be wrong to say that the Blues are expected to storm right back into this tie with an early goal or two to set the tone from the word go. Therefore, Inter Milan should treat the decisive game in Stamford Bridge as arguably the greatest test – in recent times - of their ability to hold on to a narrow lead.

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The three reasons why Chelsea lost

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