Chelsea and their interim manager Rafael Benitez are in danger of having differing priorities following the club’s Champions League exit.
The Blues’ principal aim is to recover their Premier League campaign and ensure a top-four finish that brings with it re-entry into Europe’s premier competition next season.
Aside from the embarrassment of becoming the first winners to end the defence of their crown at the group stage, the financial implications for a club struggling to comply with UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules are profound.
Chelsea’s ability to pay exorbitant wages is a huge advantage when competing for top players but even a lavish salary will not offset an absence of Champions League football for the most ambitious of prospective signings.
Of course, Benitez will be made aware of the club’s position but a top-four finish alone would not be sufficient to convince owner Roman Abramovich to scrub the ‘interim’ part from his job title.
When he was parachuted in to replace Roberto di Matteo, Benitez claimed he took the job to win trophies. Sacrificing a genuine crack at the Europa League is something a lot of sides often do but Benitez needs silverware to justify his position. Why else is he there?
He knew there would be a fans’ backlash, given his previous management of Liverpool and Di Matteo’s popularity. He must also have known Abramovich’s desire to install Pep Guardiola as permanent manager next summer, so his status as second choice was obvious upon arrival.
Herein lies the potential conflict of interest between a manager needing to validate his position and the big picture a club such as Chelsea should be looking at (incidentally, a version of this has played a part in the downfall of every Blues manager since Jose Mourinho and delayed vital squad regeneration).
Given Chelsea’s Champions League hopes were out of their hands when Benitez arrived at the club, winning the Europa League is the maximum return he can be expected to deliver from Europe.
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Yet the longer Chelsea last in the competition, the more their domestic programme will be squeezed. Liverpool, Newcastle and Tottenham have all suffered in the League as a result of the extra strain the Europa League has put on their squads.
Chelsea are perhaps more acclimatised but domestic travails are more readily accepted when pursuing Champions League glory. The club will not tolerate any League underachievement regardless of what happens in Europe’s second-tier competition. They could win it and finish fifth and it would be viewed a failure.
The Thursday/Sunday scheduling wreaks havoc with teams’ consistency and players’ energy levels. A glance at the scheduling reveals Chelsea are set to face a possible FA Cup fifth-round tie immediately after the Europa League last-16 first leg, with the return match coming just three days before a trip to Manchester City.
Chelsea will already be a League match behind, courtesy of their involvement in the FIFA Club World Cup, and the condensed fixture list will make it impossible to compete on the five fronts Benitez desires to enhance his prospects of permanent employment.
Regardless of what it does to his job prospects, Benitez will have to prioritise because Chelsea do not have the strength in depth nor the margin of error to manage such a programme. If they did, they wouldn’t be in this position in the first place.
“People have asked if we’ll take the Europa League seriously but every competition is serious for us,” said Benitez. “We’ll try to do our best. The Europa League is not important if you don’t win. But if you are in the semi‑final or final, everyone wants to win. It’s an important competition at that stage. So, if we get there, we’ll do our best to win it.”
Benitez’s first victory as manager was a hollow one. A 6-1 thrashing of limited opponents FC Nordsjaelland, who rested players ahead of a big league match against FC Copenhagen this weekend, is no great confirmation of their well-being. Juventus’ victory in Shakhtar rendered Chelsea’s biggest ever win in the competition an irrelevance.
They did, at least, play with purpose and created a host of chances, with Fernando Torres converting two of them to cap a performance of promise but it is difficult to determine if this is the beginning of a revival or whether vanquishing Danish minnows is simply his level these days.
“At the moment the players are not happy but, at the same time, the feeling is there because they were doing so well,” said Benitez.
“It can be a good reference point for the future. Now we are progressing, doing better things, and hopefully it will be better.”
Sunderland lie in wait before a trip to Japan for the Club World Cup, where their participation has a hollow element to it given the defence of the trophy that got them there is over. Not that it will matter to Benitez. After all, there is a trophy to be won.
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