Champions League Draw: Will The Returning Heroes Conquer?
The one thing the Champions League promises is great football with the best teams competing for the ultimate prize in Europe. Sometimes it can also mean that extra bit of drama that intriguing fixtures bring with them like two fixtures from today's Champions League draw pitting a former jilted manager against his old club and a super-star player returning to play against the club where he became the super-star that he is.
Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan drew Carlo Ancelotti's Chelsea, which means the Special One will be returning to Stamford Bridge just 2 years after being sacked (oops! I meant after leaving the club by mutual consent). Jose Mourinho led Chelsea to two Premier League titles and two Champions League semi-finals and surely will be warmly received by the fans at Stamford Bridge, but they will also be all too aware of his strategic genius and wary of his famous mind games.
Carlo Ancelotti, who is no stranger to Jose's ways said, "I'm not ready to play mind games. I never will be ready to play these games. I prefer to play football matches. I have experience of what he'll do."
The two managers have never really gotten along, with Jose Mourinho once famously saying that the former AC Milan manger Carlo Ancelotti was "no friend" of his, but Ancelotti is hoping to change that. "If we don't have a good relationship, this game can be a good opportunity to return to a good relationship," said Ancelotti.
Mourinho, who was adored by the players and the fans alike was quite unceremoniously sacked by Chelsea after being one of their most successful managers and will definitely be looking to prove a point. Carlo Ancelotti understands this perfectly. "I think that, for him, it will be an emotional game. He did a very good job here in Chelsea so to play against Chelsea won't be easy for him. He will do his best to win."
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