There it was, the Chelsea season, and so did club owner Todd Boehly. In the end, what happened on a “chilly” Tuesday evening at Stamford Bridge in London could also be told about the bosses of the two opponents in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Means: About Boehly, 49, the crazy rich uncle from America, who replaced the Russian Roman Abramowitsch as club owner in May 2022. And about Florentino Pérez, 76, who can look back on almost 20 years as president of the Spanish record champions Real Madrid.
They missed each other by seconds after Madrid defeated Chelsea in the same result as in last week’s first leg – a 2-0 lead this time thanks to two goals from Brazilian striker Rodrygo. Boehly came hunched out of the cabin tunnel and was still walking heavily across the lawn when Pérez, coming from the other direction, prepared to disappear into this very tunnel – trailing a trail of employees and the people who recognized and congratulated him, showed a thumbs up. Grinning, inspired, for his standards: smirking.
Todd Boehly (centre), owner of Chelsea FC, trotts across the grass at Stamford Bridge. He will have to change the team drastically.
(Photo: Clive Rose/Getty Images)
Real Madrid were in the semi-finals of the Champions League for the eleventh time in the last thirteen seasons, which showed once again that the forecourt of the premier class final is “just another day at the office” for the defending champion Madrid, as the British would say: a form from everyday life. Boehly? Looked like he just lost a fortune at the casino. And as if he didn’t care as much about the money as he’s been accused of lately. Or had to be.
In May of last year, Boehly and the private equity firm “Clearlake Capital” from the USA took over Chelsea FC, since then a record sum has flowed – and absurdly gone. More than five billion euros. This is an amazing sum, not only measured by the yield – a mixture of failure, resentment and lack of understanding. And all this goes hand in hand with the biting mockery in the London newspapers, which has only died down a little recently because Boehly has been caricatured as an unsuspecting clown on a daily basis. Not least since he suggested to former coach Thomas Tuchel, now FC Bayern coach, to play in the 4-4-3 system, i.e. with twelve players.
And yet: On Tuesday the low point was so obvious that not even Boehly could overlook it. Frank Lampard, the third Tuchel successor of the current season (Graham Potter and Bruno Saltor tried before him), suffered the fourth defeat in the fourth game as interim coach, which ultimately also implies that renewed participation in European competitions is virtually impossible. Chelsea, eleventh in the Premier League table, would have to overtake Liverpool, Brentford and Fulham to get into the comparatively lower-class Conference League. Provided that seventh place in the table, ten points away, is enough for what has yet to be proven.
Either way: Never in the history of football has so much money been burned in such a senseless way in such a short time. And people are turning away from the big spender.
Just like Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel recently, Chelsea legend Didier Drogba, scorer of the Champions League final goal in 2012, also stated a club transformation that he does not like. He got to know the club as a class club in the era of the Russian previous owner Roman Abramovich; he’s missed her since Boehly started throwing the bills around, he said on the French broadcaster Canal+: “I don’t recognize my club.” This also applies to many of the more loyal fans. Barely did Rodrygo prove again with ten minutes remaining that he is amazingly connected to the Champions League (15 goals in 37 games; “only” 12 goals in 100 La Liga games), a parade outside began .
Those who later stood by the stadium outside the pubs, drinking their frustrations, vented insults, reminders that nearby King’s Road was once the home of the skins and the home of West Indian immigrant ‘ska’. Who cares? said the editors of the newspaper in distant Madrid markthey composed an ambiguous headline: “The king prolongs his regime”.
Spain’s King Emeritus Juan Carlos also stops by Stamford Bridge
This not only referred to Real Madrid, the 14-time record winner of the premier class, but also alluded to an illustrious and surprising visit of the evening: Spain’s King Emeritus Juan Carlos, who has been living in exile in Abu Dhabi since 2020 because he is at home at times who wanted to get their hands on justice, had done the honors at Stamford Bridge. And then there was the tangent that was raging in Spain: the president of FC Barcelona, Joan Laporta, had described archrival Real Madrid as the “team of the regime” of fascist dictator Franco; Real Madrid replied through their official media that ‘the regime’s team’ was actually Barça. Which was a remarkable interpretation of history. But far more curious was the look into the future of Chelsea FC on Tuesday.
As much as Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti – a former Chelsea coach – tried to praise the tactical ideas of his former player and current colleague Frank Lampard, his excessive demands were manifest. The game was a duel between a “highly competent team and a hallucinogenic fever dream,” wrote The Guardians with great justification. To make up for the two goals from the first leg, Lampard had called on a lone striker – the unfortunate Kai Havertz – which ultimately resulted in the ball landing at the feet of N’golo Kanté and Marc Cucurella on the best chances of a goal. Since they are proven defensive forces, the question arose whether they might have put on their shoes the wrong way round. They fired at close range.
Lampard, for sure, will be history by the end of this season. The casting of the new trainer is in progress, Luis Enrique and Julian Nagelsmann have apparently already auditioned – almost astonished that they want to do Boehly. It will be interesting to see what squad they come up with, currently so bloated that the House of Commons could be rented for team meetings. The question is whether Chelsea can sell players well and that will be exciting. What we know so far: Buying well didn’t work so well.