Gullit Urges Chelsea To Buy

Former Chelsea boss Ruud Gullit has urged the club to invest in new players to finally win the Champions League after branding them "powerless" against Inter Milan.

Gullit, manager at Stamford Bridge between 1996 and 1998, believes Carlo Ancelotti's squad cannot win the trophy owner Roman Abramovich craves without a fresh injection of talent.

When asked if the current squad can be crowned European champions next season, Gullit said: "Not any more. This was their last chance. They need to add players to this team.

"Against Inter it was a difficult match for them, they couldn't outsmart them and they looked powerless. The worst thing to see was no creativity, no ideas, no-one to do something and change the game."

He added on Sky Sports: "They did everything, they started 4-3-3, then went 4-4-2, then put on (Salomon) Kalou and (Joe) Cole and they had nothing. They couldn't change the game. Their best player was the goalkeeper."

Even Chelsea players admitted Jose Mourinho, their former manager, got his tactics right to send Ancelotti's men out of the competition at the last-16 stage.

"The longer the game went on we had no answer to create something, we are really disappointed," said midfielder Michael Ballack on official website chelseafc.com.

"We have to be focused on the league now and that is also a big competition for us because we haven't won it for the last few years."

Ancelotti Ready For Increased Pressure

Carlo Ancelotti admits he will come under pressure at Stamford Bridge after his Chelsea side were knocked out of the Champions League in the last 16 by Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan.

The Champions League trophy was Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich's priority this season after having lost out on the final in Moscow to Manchester United in 2008.

But Tuesday night's 1-0 defeat by Inter, which ensured a 3-1 aggregate loss, put paid to the dream for another season.

And after being taunted by the Inter fans, Ancelotti said: "I have been involved in football for a lot of years and I know what fans do. That doesn't change anything. I want to do my best job for Chelsea, that's all.

"My regret is we didn't play as well as we did in the first leg. But I've worked for a long time in this environment and I know exactly what expectations are.

"It's normal that a manager is going to come under pressure if he loses a few matches."

Chelsea lie second to Manchester United in the Premier League and are in the semi-finals of the FA Cup.

Ancelotti added: "Now we have two important competitions we want to win. We'll have more pressure on the next few games, but we must be strong and have good control of our emotions.

"Maybe this defeat could be a very good motivation for the next few games. We have to be strong after this defeat. We have to have a new motivation, a good motivation, for the future."

Reaction: Never In Full Control

As the dust settled on Chelsea's Champions League exit having lost at home to an Italian side for only the second time, the two managers were in agreement. Inter were worthy winners.

Having stifled Chelsea's usually potent attack at Stamford Bridge, the Serie A champions made sure their first-leg lead was preserved when Samuel Eto'o scored late in the game. It sent the Blues out at the first knockout stage for the first time since 2006 when Eto'o, then of Barcelona, also scored in the match at the Bridge.

Four years further on Jose Mourinho deployed the Cameroon striker and Macedonian Goran Pandev in wide attacking positions and their contribution was important according to the defeated manager.

'It did not surprise me how Inter lined up because that was how they played in last 30 minutes in San Siro,' Ancelotti said, 'but one thing I was surprised by was the hard work put in by the two wide men on the night.

'Inter played a very good game,' the Italian continued. 'They put strong pressure on the pitch on our midfielders so we were not able to play how we wanted. Inter deserved to win. We were never in full control. There was only a short period when we could control the game. We could have played better.'

Many who have seen the action will believe Chelsea were denied two penalties for fouls on Branislav Ivanovic and Didier Drogba at corners, to add to the one denied to Kalou in the first leg, but the manager would not be drawn into any suggestion there is a reason why Chelsea suffer so in European competition.

'We are unlucky, only this. A penalty is when the referee whistles. The referee didn't whistle so I don't want to comment.'

Ancelotti was not able pass judgement on Drogba's late red card either. In common with most in the stadium he had missed the off-the-ball incident.

'I am very, very happy because we won and because we were the best team,' announced Jose Mourinho when it was his turn to pass comment.

'Sometimes you win because you are lucky, sometimes you win because something happened during the game that made the ball go to one side and not the other, and sometimes because you are the best team.

'Sometimes you win because you are the best team from the first minute to the last and that is the perfect game. And that team was my team so I am very happy for them, very happy for the Inter supporters and very happy for myself because I worked so much to prepare this game.

'I am not happy because my ex-players lost, I am not happy because Roman lost, I am not happy because Chelsea supporters go home sad. I am happy with our happiness, not with their unhappiness.

'Yesterday I exchanged a few SMS with John Terry I told him tomorrow somebody will be sad, but that's life.

'Possibly I am no longer so special for Chelsea supporters who will probably never forgive me.'

'We are very sorry,' summed up Ancelotti, 'but we have to stay focussed on the other competitions.

'We are now only in two competition but they are of high importance. For sure we have more pressure now on the other games but we have to be strong and have good control of our emotions - and maybe this defeat can be good motivation.'

Ballack: No Answers

Michael Ballack admitted we had 'no answers' to Inter's strong defensive display at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday evening.

The midfielder was talking after being eliminated from the Champions League at the first knockout stage, the first time in four years we have not reached the semi-finals at least, but he was able to give credit to an organised Inter side.

'We didn't play that well, we are really disappointed with our performance but Inter did well,' he admitted. 'We knew it would be difficult to score, we could see from the first leg. Especially in the second half today we had no answer to create chances, and the longer the game went on the harder it got. We are disappointed but have to accept it.

'The first half was okay, we had three or four chances where they defended in the last moment, but the longer the game went on we had no answer to create something, we are really disappointed.'

Things might have been different had we been given two first-half penalties, but both Ballack and team-mate Didier Drogba remained philosophical.

'If you play at this level against strong teams like Inter you have to look at these situations as well. We are not lucky, in the first leg we should get one, and tonight as well,' said the German. 'We don't want to moan but we are a little unlucky of course.'

Drogba, who was sent off after clashing with Inter midfielder Thiago Motta late in the game, felt hard done by, and added: 'I think that Inter made a great match and they deserved to win. [The dismissal] is difficult to take because yes, I stepped on his calf, but I don't think I deserved this red card.

'Probably, we missed the chance in the first match in Milan, in which we had many opportunities but we failed to score more. Tonight Inter were better. I think that now they can go very far in the competition.

'The most important thing is we are out of the competition. We didn't play the way we wanted, Inter stopped us playing and that's what made the game difficult for us. It is a difficult result and now we are going to have to focus on the league and FA Cup.'

That means quickly getting over the disappointment of elimination by bouncing back at Blackburn on Sunday. No doubt Carlo Ancelotti will be looking for the right reaction from his men.

Drogba: I Didn't Deserve Red Card

Chelsea striker Didier Drogba does not believe he deserved to be sent off against Inter Milan but was more disappointed with the result.

The Blues bowed out of the Champions League on Tuesday night after going down 3-1 on aggregate to the Italian side, managed by former Blues boss Jose Mourinho.

The tie had been delicately poised at 2-1 ahead of the second leg at Stamford Bridge but Chelsea were unable to score the goal they needed as Inter produced an excellent defensive performance.

Samuel Eto'o then struck in the 79th minute to seal Inter's success and Drogba was left to admit the better team had made it through to the quarter-finals.

The Ivorian striker nevertheless insists there is still a lot to play for this season and has switched his attention to domestic matters.

"We didn't play the way we wanted," he told Sky Sports.

"I think Inter stopped us playing the way we wanted and that's what made the game difficult for us.

"It is a difficult result and now we are going to have to focus on the league and the FA Cup."

Drogba was shown a red card for a foul on Thiago Motta in the closing stages to complete a miserable night for Carlo Ancelotti's men.

He thinks the decision was harsh, but concedes it was not a significant incident as Chelsea's European dreams were shattered for another season.

"It is difficult to take because, yes I stepped on his calf, but I don't think I deserved this red card," said Drogba.

"But it is something that happened in the game. The most important thing is that we are out of the competition."

Ashley Cole And Michael Essien Have A Laugh As Chelsea Slump To Inter Defeat

Defeat in the Champions League and his much-publicised marital problems don't seem to be bothering Ashley Cole, or Chelsea pal Michael Essien, as they share a joke in the stands at Stamford Bridge.

Cole, without a wedding band after his recent split from wife Cheryl, was pictured in the seats near the Blues bench on Tuesday night as the home side slumped to a 1-0 defeat against old manager Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan.

Both the England left-back and Essien are out injured, and their absence cost a below-par Chelsea dearly as they crashed out of Europe in the last-16.

But the on-field problems of their team-mates clearly didn't stand in the way of a good joke as Ghana international Essien laughs and smiles as he and Cole exchanged pleasantries.

As well as his ongoing ankle injury, which will keep him out for at least another month, Cole has been pleading with his estranged wife not to divorce him before this summer's World Cup in South Africa.

And, in a bid to escape the intense media spotlight in England, the defender has also been linked with a move to Spain to join La Liga leaders Real Madrid ahead of next season.

Inter Defeat Shows Signs Chelsea Are Turning Into Carlo Ancelotti's Embarrassing AC Milan

Though Jose Mourinho has not played Chelsea since his departure by "mutual consent" in September 2007, beating them for the second time in three weeks on Tuesday night must have felt incredibly familiar.

Not because he was up against so many players he signed and managed, not because he was on his old ground and not even because another of his fearless predictions once again came true.

Condemning an ageing force of superstars to another critically damaging defeat is what he has been doing for the season-and-a-half he has been in Italy. The Inter boss has had the beating of city rivals AC Milan not just on head-to-heads, but on their points tally as well, and Chelsea are showing almost all the symptoms of going the same way.

A spectacular team was assembled by Carlo Ancelotti at the beginning of the decade. Backed by one of the most rich and powerful men in football's history, Silvio Berlusconi, Ancelotti was able to bring in Andrea Pirlo, Alessandro Nesta, Clarence Seedorf, Filippo Inzaghi and many more to formulate a team that would prove one of the most dominant in Europe and a consistent force domestically.

But when the return didn't quite match the mammoth investment, doubled up by the implications of the 2006 Calciopoli scandal and Serie A's overall decline in revenue, this great Milan side began growing old together. And not in the good way.

There was no sign of a new generation coming to take the place of the old, nor was there the ambition to go the extra financial mile to sign a new set of emerging stars. The 2007 Champions League triumph aside - which itself was in many ways an anomaly and a swansong for a once superb side - Milan have been on the most humiliating slide for what has now been several years.

Ancelotti has moved on, but the song remains the same at San Siro, and now too at Stamford Bridge. Here we have the blueprint of a domineering Chelsea side assembled almost entirely by Jose Mourinho from 2004 to 2007, backed by hundreds of millions of owner Roman Abramovich's personal fortune.

This is a team whose fortunes in their prime mirrored those of Milan. Chelsea were an unbeatable force domestically, but also-rans in Europe.

The decline is taking the same ominous shape it did at San Siro. The owner has lost far too much (with the recession doing for Abramovich the hard work that Calciopoli and Serie A's revenue decline did for Milan) and has so far shown no willingness to spend his way out of trouble. The squad, while talented, are all of the same age and beginning to exhibit the same weaknesses, and the coach is precisely the same person.

A person who trusts in experience and class, who trusts in what's familiar and who trusts in forward planning. He is a creature of habit, and has quite clearly already found his groove at Stamford Bridge - so much so that he had no semblance of a clue of how to respond to Jose Mourinho's tactical masterstrokes on Tuesday evening.

For long enough now, Serie A has looked an old and tired proposition when faced with the Premier League, but it was Inter's incredible energy, boundless determination and tactical invention that did for a tired and predictable Chelsea over the two legs of this tie.

It was an ominous role reversal that says as much, if not more, about Chelsea's shortcomings as pretenders to the European throne as it does about Inter's resurgence under Jose Mourinho.

It's not too late for the Blues, and escaping the transfer ban for the Gael Kakuta saga is a blessing they cannot afford to pass up. There needs to be a summer shake-up. A game-changer. Where are Chelsea's three strikers up front to defend with attack, their creative genius in midfield or their wonderkid on the bench?

It won't all cost the earth, but it will require the coach and sporting director - whether or not they are still Ancelotti and Frank Arnesen - to have the courage and the vision to make it happen this summer. Gambles will have to be taken now, swallowing many a bitter pill with the hope of avoiding the impending putrid aftertaste that is the washed-up and near-unsalvageable state of AC Milan.

Terry's Car In Collision With Security Official

Chelsea have confirmed that captain John Terry was involved in an accident outside Stamford Bridge on Tuesday which resulted in a club security officer suffering a leg injury.

The Metropolitan Police said on Wednesday that they were called to an incident after Chelsea's Champions League defeat by Inter Milan and that a 35-year-old man had been taken by ambulance to a west London hospital.

"Police were called shortly before 11.15 pm on Tuesday to reports of a collision between a car and a pedestrian," a Met Police spokesman said.

"A 35-year-old man suffering a broken leg was taken by ambulance to a west London hospital where he is described as being in a stable condition.

"The car, a 4x4, did not stop at the scene. Enquiries into the incident are ongoing. The Metropolitan Police Service did request Surrey Police conduct a breath test on our behalf, which was carried out. We don't discuss the results."

Chelsea said Terry had not been aware of the incident at the time but spoke to the police and the member of staff when he was told about it. The club said they understood that the security official had not suffered a broken leg.

"We can confirm there was an unfortunate accident as John Terry left Stamford Bridge last night," Chelsea said in a statement.

"When driving out of the stadium at approximately 1-2mph in a queue of traffic exiting the ground, his car was surrounded by photographers and fans.

"In the melee that ensued a member of Chelsea's security staff was knocked to the ground, making contact with the car. He suffered a badly bruised leg.

"John was aware at the time that there was a lot of contact with his car during the incident but not that anyone was injured as a result. Upon hearing of the injury, John spoke to the police. He has also been in contact with the staff member to check on his welfare."

Terry was stripped of the England captaincy last month following newspaper revelations that he had an extra-marital affair with the ex-partner of England and former Chelsea team mate Wayne Bridge.