With the club in chaos, Chelsea owner Todd Boehly took up the phone and phoned Blues star Frank Lampard to come back and try to steady the ship.
In another world, Carlo Ancelotti would have been on the phone with the American.
Ancelotti, on the other hand, returns to Stamford Bridge as an opponent, representing Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-final second leg on Tuesday.
After Zinedine Zidane stepped down in 2021, Madrid president Florentino Perez brought the Italian back for a second tenure at the head.
Ancelotti’s Madrid defeated the Blues in the opening game, taking a 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Karim Benzema and Marco Asensio, and they could have added more as they dominated proceedings.
Former Chelsea duo Thibaut Courtois and Antonio Rudiger produced key stops and blocks on the other end, leaving Lampard’s side empty-handed.
Ancelotti’s return to Chelsea brings back fond memories of one of the best Premier League teams in history, which he led to the club’s first-ever league and FA Cup double in 2010, golden days in sharp contrast to the Blues’ current decline.
The Italian’s Chelsea team contained major names like Didier Drogba, John Terry, Michael Ballack, and Lampard himself, and they won 7-0, 7-1, and 8-0 at the Bridge on their way to domestic victory.
Chelsea’s current mishmash of players lacks both leadership and skill, as evidenced by their defeat at the Santiago Bernabeu last week.
