Chelsea avoided the impossible on Tuesday as Andre Villas-Boas sacrificed his ideals for a place in the Champions League knockout phase. With the Blues in danger of crashing out of Europe's premier club contest before Christmas for the first time, manager Villas-Boas discarded the cavalier tactics that have been the seal of his supremacy in what was the club's final Group E game against Valencia.
The counter-attacking approach paid off spectacularly as Chelsea emerged from the brink of elimination to top the group thanks to a brace from the excellent Didier Drogba, a goal from Ramires and Bayer Leverkusen's failure to win at Genk. That meant the Blues avoided a last-16 clash with the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Inter Milan, although they would happily have taken that ahead of a game Villas-Boas had frequently billed as "life or death".
The 34-year-old last night refused to tolerate the prospect of failure, something he was nevertheless adamant would not cost him his job. Seemingly backed to the hilt by billionaire owner Roman Abramovich, Villas-Boas flexed his muscles this week by banishing Nicolas Anelka and Alex from his first-team squad and he was ruthless again on Tuesday by axing Frank Lampard from his starting XI. It was not the first time Lampard had been left out this season but the midfielder's omission was debatably the most significant of his entire Chelsea career.
Sports Equipment, Athletic News
The counter-attacking approach paid off spectacularly as Chelsea emerged from the brink of elimination to top the group thanks to a brace from the excellent Didier Drogba, a goal from Ramires and Bayer Leverkusen's failure to win at Genk. That meant the Blues avoided a last-16 clash with the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Inter Milan, although they would happily have taken that ahead of a game Villas-Boas had frequently billed as "life or death".
The 34-year-old last night refused to tolerate the prospect of failure, something he was nevertheless adamant would not cost him his job. Seemingly backed to the hilt by billionaire owner Roman Abramovich, Villas-Boas flexed his muscles this week by banishing Nicolas Anelka and Alex from his first-team squad and he was ruthless again on Tuesday by axing Frank Lampard from his starting XI. It was not the first time Lampard had been left out this season but the midfielder's omission was debatably the most significant of his entire Chelsea career.
Sports Equipment, Athletic News
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