Ancelotti - CL not the priority

14 September 2009 16:02
Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti has denied that he was just brought to the club to win the UEFA Champions League. The Italian had great success in Europe during his time in charge of AC Milan, and many have argued that Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich was persuaded to appoint him because of his past record in the tournament. The Blues take on Porto at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday in their first European game of the season, but Ancelotti said that all competitions are equally important. "It is not really that the club asked me to win the Champions League," he said. "They asked me to win the Champions League, the Premiership, to win the FA Cup, to win the Carling Cup." Chelsea suffered penalty-shootout heartbreak in 2008 when they were defeated by Manchester United, and they were knocked out in the semi-finals last year thanks to a last-gasp goal from Barcelona's Andres Iniesta. But Ancelotti has been impressed with his players since his arrival at Stamford Bridge, and insists his team has what it takes to win the tournament. He said: "I think that for Chelsea it is important to be in competition and to think that we have the possibility to win, but to win is not easy. This is not easy because it is a very particular competition the Champions League. "We have to do try to do our best to win and I think that we have the possibility because we have a very strong team and fantastic players, fantastic mental attitude. But we have to think match by match."

Source: SKY_Sports