Unlike the Spanish media, which focused on Barcelona's turmoil, the British media paid more attention to Chelsea and Ancelotti meeting in the Champions League Final, as well as whether the Blues' nemesis, Yang Yang, would score again in the final.
A year ago, Ancelotti had been sacked by Chelsea in disgrace. He had not even been given the chance to say goodbye to the players in the dressing room. On the team bus returning to London after an away match, he had received the dismissal order from the club's management.
The incident had caused an uproar at the time. Everyone was furious with Chelsea's actions, believing that the club had shown its head coach not even the most basic respect. Even Ferguson had publicly stepped forward to condemn Chelsea's conduct.
At the time, the reason Abramovich had fired Ancelotti was that, under Ancelotti's management, he could not see any hope of Chelsea winning trophies—especially the Champions League.
Times had changed. A year later, Ancelotti had led Real Madrid into the final.
Of course, Chelsea had also reached the final, but the man leading them was not Boas, Ancelotti's successor. It was Di Matteo, the Italian coach who had taken over as a firefighter in March. More importantly, Chelsea were currently sixth in the Premier League and had basically lost their qualification for next season's Champions League.
In other words, unless they won the Champions League, Chelsea would not even be able to play in the Europa League next season.
That was why Chelsea had been throwing everything they had into their Champions League campaign recently.
Moreover, with Drogba and a number of other players growing old, Chelsea's rebuilding this summer was inevitable. Yet at this crucial moment, Abramovich had begun tightening the purse strings, refusing to increase investment in the