Source: Daily_Mail
Chelsea players would rather have Hiddink than Ancelotti, says Ivanovic
Carlo Ancelotti may be in line to become Chelsea's next manager, but the players would prefer Guus Hiddink to stay.
That is the verdict of Branislav Ivanovic, who rates the interim manager as the best he has worked with.
The Serbia defender, who also worked under Avram Grant and Luiz Felipe Scolari, said: 'We all regret that he is leaving. All the guys admire him. If the players had a vote on who would be their coach, the Dutchman would be starting next season with us.
'But, unfortunately in these situations, nothing depends on the players. It is all about the directors.
'We understand that he only came to us for a short period and that he has to work with the Russia national team. But, if Hiddink had brought us the Champions League, there would have been a chance. The whole team would have begged, "the boss, stay!" But it was not to be.'
Chelsea are still reeling from their acrimonious Champions League exit to Barcelona, with the fallout and criticism of the referee leading to UEFA misconduct charges.
Ivanovic refused to criticise chief culprit Didier Drogba and insisted the Blues were hard done to.
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The centre-half admitted Chelsea had deployed negative tactics against the Spanish champions, but believes Hiddink chose the perfect gameplan.
'After the match, we were terribly upset,' said Ivanovic in the interview with Russian newspaper Sovetski Sport. 'We all understood that it had been possible to beat Barca. Hiddink picked brilliant tactics - to bind their hands and feet, to nullify Messi.
'Messi was to be isolated from the ball. So we cut the supply from his team-mates and the plan worked! 'We deserved the victory. But in the end the only trophy that we can still win is the FA Cup.'
Hiddink's last game in charge of Chelsea will be Saturday's Wembley finale against Everton. Ancelotti is expected to announce on Monday that he is joining Chelsea, following Milan's final match of the season 24 hours earlier.
Meanwhile, Chelsea target Yuri Zhirkov has been called up by Hiddink to face Finland on June 10 in a Russia squad that also includes Arsenal forward Andrey Arshavin and Tottenham's Roman Pavlyuchenko.
