Source: Daily_Mail
Chelsea 8 Wigan 0: Carlo Ancelotti the champ is even more special for true Blues
[LNB]Carlo Ancelotti did more than simply deliver a third Barclays Premier League title for Roman Abramovich yesterday. He delivered a vision, a dream; what Chelsea's billionaire owner had in mind when he spoke of his ambition for his team. [LNB]Abramovich had expressed his thoughts in that first meeting with Ancelotti in a Geneva hotel two years ago. 'He was and is still looking for a team with a precise identity,' Ancelotti wrote in the book he published shortly before becoming the manager at Stamford Bridge. 'Like Manchester United, Liverpool, Milan, certainly not like my Chelsea.' [LNB]The Russian wanted a team with a bit of style and panache as well as strength and power. Jose Mourinho had built a side that could win major trophies but not in a way that fully satisfied his employer. [LNB] Blue murder: Didier Drogba towers above Wigan to score Chelsea's fifth goal[LNB]Abramovich wanted more. Even now, he still wants more. He wants to lift the European Cup and that loss to Mourinho's Inter Milan remains painful for all those associated with this club. [LNB]But Abramovich now pursues that particular target with a team he can be proud of; a team with what he would consider the right kind of identity; a team with a reputation not just for defensive solidity but for attractive, entertaining football and goals by the bucket-load. [LNB]Not to mention a manager, and this is just as important to Abramovich, who rather than court controversy chooses to conduct himself with dignity. [LNB] [LNB]Records nevertheless tumbled here yesterday, Chelsea not only surpassing Manchester United's mark of 97 in a single Premier League season but becoming the first club to score more than 100. By the time Ashley Cole struck with a quite brilliant volley in the 90th minute, they were up to 103. [LNB]It was some achievement but not the only one of an at-times tumultous season. Not by a long way. They are champions thanks to a perfect record against their so-called top-four rivals. Two wins against United, two against Arsenal and two against Liverpool. Not to mention the four occasions, this one included, when they scored seven or more goals. [LNB]Just champion: Ancelotti celebrates with the trophy[LNB]For Ancelotti, it must have been so, so satisfying. Mourinho made much of landing the title in his first season and to do the same, and now be within touching distance of a domestic Double will give the Italian an enormous amount of pleasure. Especially when he loathes 'His Specialty' as much as he does. [LNB]One banner at Stamford Bridge yesterday declared that Ancelotti was 'more than special', and while he might need to win the Champions League to prove that to himself, while the six defeats Chelsea have suffered this season might be something Mourinho sniffs at, the chorus of 'Carlo, Carlo, Carlo' would certainly suggest the supporters have taken a shine to him. [LNB]Rightly so after the way Ancelotti revived his players following all the off-the-field controversy relating to John Terry and Ashley Cole, and their crushing exit from Europe. [LNB]Seven wins from the nine Premier League games that followed defeat to Inter, not to mention victory in an FA Cup semi-final against Aston Villa, have been quite a riposte. [LNB] Drogba'sbig strop... This is the moment Didier Drogba struggled to join the Chelsea party. Frank Lampard is brought down by Gary Caldwell for a Chelsea penalty in the 31st minute, with the Blues already 1-0 up. Caldwell is shown the red card and Lampard puts the penalty away, much to the ire of Drogba, who, chasing the Golden Boot, hoped to be given the spot kick. In the end it was academic... [LNB] [LNB] [LNB] [LNB] [LNB] The run continued here yesterday with impressive ease, even if the dismissal of Gary Caldwell after 31 minutes ended any chance Wigan had of avoiding total annihilation. [LNB]Even if Didier Drogba did his best to get himself hooked by Ancelotti for a quite extraordinary tantrum when Frank Lampard refused to let him take the first of two penalties. [LNB]At that stage Chelsea were leading by a single goal but Drogba shamefully put personal ambition - he wanted to beat Wayne Rooney to the Premier League's golden boot - ahead of the club he serves. [LNB]In the end he was lucky Ancelotti allowed him to stay on the pitch and score the second-half hat-trick that saw off Rooney's challenge. When the half-time interval arrived, Ancelotti just told him to belt up. [LNB]Drogba had already been involved in the opening sixth-minute goal, unleashing the free-kick that rebounded off the Wigan wall and invited Michael Ballack to head the ball back towards Florent Malouda. Malouda was actually half a yard offside but the officials allowed him to chest the ball into the path of Nicolas Anelka, who struck with a super right-foot shot. [LNB]It was when Caldwell then wrestled a rapidly-advancing Lampard to the ground 25 minutes later, however, that Drogba demonstrated why he might not be the most popular member of the Chelsea dressing room. [LNB]Not only did he protest when Lampard reminded him that he had been taking the penalties all season, not to mention the fact that this was not the day to be messing around, but he continued to sulk for the rest of the half. Had it been his ball, he would have taken it home. [LNB]Ignoring his petulant prima donna of a team-mate, Lampard successfully converted from the spot to extend his own goal tally to 27 before executing a one-two with Salomon Kalou that enabled the more modest member of the Ivory Coast team to make it 3-0 in the 54th minute. The final ball from Lampard looked like it might have been intended for Drogba but, amusingly, Kalou intercepted and drove his shot past Michael Pollitt.[LNB] When Anelka scored his second of the afternoon two minutes after that, meeting a cross from Branislav Ivanovic with a marvellous volley, Drogba must have started to wonder if he was being punished for something he had done in a previous life. [LNB]But his first and Chelsea's fifth - their 100th in all - would come in the 63rd minute in the form of a close-range header courtesy of a Lampard chip. [LNB]It would not be Lampard's first act of undeserved generosity. Four minutes after providing him with the final ball, Lampard invited Drogba to take the second penalty after Mario Melchiot had brought down Ashley Cole in the box. [LNB]Having been shoved towards Lampard by Anelka, Drogba hesitated briefly before smashing the ball home via the inside of Pollitt's right-hand post. [LNB]His third was the simplest of the three, a close-range strike after Pollitt could only parry a shot from Joe Cole into his path. A 29th Premier League goal had the golden boot in the bag. [LNB]Not that Chelsea were finished. One more goal would come, shortly before the final whistle, the volley Ashley Cole unleashed to make it Chelsea's biggest win in their top-flight history underlining just how awful Roberto Martinez's side were. [LNB]Proud moment: Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich leads the applause [LNB]Having delighted in seeing Ancelotti wave in their direction, Chelsea's supporters burst into song. 'Boring, boring Chelsea' they cried obvious irony. [LNB]Afterwards Ancelotti requested that the questions be kept simple. 'My level of wine is high,' he said with a smile. But he thanked his 'owner' even before his players, not least for providing him with a platform that he said made it 'easy to do my best'. [LNB]Back in Geneva, to that first meeting with Abramovich, Ancelotti felt like he was on a 'secret mission'. As he cracked open another bottle at Stamford Bridge last night, it must have felt like mission accomplished.[LNB] All forgotten: Drogba celebrates his first with Lampard and friends[LNB] Great-nil! Chelsea seal title with rout as John Terry tells Manchester United it's their time to hurtWelcome to the house of fun: It's Madness as Chelsea dance to a happy beatNot so Blue anymore: Chelsea coronation ends 'a hard three years' of Premier League heartbreak, admits John TerryPREMIER LEAGUE FINAL DAY - Re-live all of the drama as it happenedJohn Terry and Ashley Cole's sordid seasons end with a flourishChelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti: We don't need £70m Fernando Torres[LNB] [LNB]
