One of Chelsea’s standout performers this season, Branislav Ivanovic has reiterated the Blues commitment to winning the Champions League for the second time.
For him and his teammates, the motivation is the same; the London side will continue to fight, in other to win every tournament they participate in.
“I think the champions league is a competition that everyone wants to win, all the players and all the football people”.
“Motivation is the same whether it’s the group stage or knockout rounds it’s different to any other competition…”
The Pertinent question to pose at this junction is; are Chelsea capable of winning the Champions League?
The first thing to know, when analyzing any team’s chances at winning the most coveted trophy in club football history, is that the Champions League or any cup competition for that matter, is different from a league competition.
The first mistake football pundits often make, is to think that a team’s form in their domestic league, is a basis for tagging them as ‘favorites’ in what is essentially a knockout competition. One competition runs for 38 matches while the other is for 16 matches. One is a marathon while the other is a sprint.
A team’s wining of the Uefa Champions League can be termed a ‘fluke’, but I can assure you that a league position reflects a club’s true strength. This ironically, can be likened to Chelsea’s infamous Uefa Champions league victory in 2012, which although they won, still came sixth in the Premier League.
The squad they had at the time, wasn’t one that should have won such a competition, yet they won it anyway.
It is for this reason that any team’s chances in this unique competition is hard to measure, because although league form is usually sufficient in determining who will qualify from a group, the knockout stages represent a different kettle of fish.
As any action as careless as an own goal, a back pass or a goal keeping error can decide your fate.
Again using Chelsea as a case study, but for the missed penalties of both Messi and Robben, who are considered ‘specialists’, Chelsea wouldn’t have won it.
Another example is the unbelievable John Terry slip in Moscow.
It is clear from the above examples that the Champions League is a game of fine margins.
Notwithstanding, A ranking of my favorites to win the competition this year, will go like this;
1. Chelsea
2. Bayern Munich
3. Real Madrid
4. Barcelona
Surprising even to me, Chelsea are my pick to win this year because they are by far the most balanced side coupled with how pragmatic their manager is.
Bayern won’t win because Guardiola’s tactical approach was already found out at Barcelona, the Spaniard won’t beat any reasonably well drilled team, if he persists with a ridiculously high line that fast players can exploit, and a consistent pressing system, that eventually tires out his players before the 70minute.
Barcelona won’t win because they have ridiculously poor defenders… Injured or not, Vermelen and Mathieu don’t represent an upgrade to what they had last season.
Real Madrid should have invested in the likes of Pogba to solidify their midfield. Playing Modric and Kroos together in the pivot is a recipe for disaster.
Seeing as Ronaldo, Bale and James rarely ever track back, the best thing for them, would have been to buy some defensively dedicated midfielders. They didn’t do this.
Chelsea are most likely to win, because they have the better center back pairing of the 4teams and the better midfield Pivot- as I would fancy a Matic and Ramires pivot to overrun every midfield of any team on the list except Bayern’s.
Plus, the additions of Costa and Fabregas will prove important in the later stages of the competition, if they are well rested.
So yes, Ivanovic and his teammates should be highly motivated to win this competition. They have a very good chance.
