Chapter 108 The Champions League is not easy

Hiddink has been in a decent mood lately.

Since he took over, apart from losing to Manchester United, Chelsea are now unbeaten in seven games in all competitions, but apart from two FA Cup wins, they have picked up just nine points from five Premier League games, with away wins over Crystal Palace and Arsenal, home draws to Everton and West Bromwich Albion and a 0-0 draw with Watford in the last round of the Premier League.

If you compare it to last season's Chelsea record, nine points from five league games, an average of only 1.8 points per league game, which is not very efficient. But if it is compared to Mourinho's scoring efficiency before the end of the season this season, such a result is already worth Hiddink opening a bottle of champagne.

And through these rounds of league games, Chelsea has gradually climbed out of the bottom. Now that Chelsea have won 29 points, of course it is unthinkable to win the championship, but there is basically no problem with relegation - as long as this scoring efficiency is maintained, perhaps in five league games, Chelsea can get enough 38 points to reach the theoretical relegation point line.

While it may sound like a big joke that Chelsea are now thinking about relegation, it did happen this season. It's like Leicester City, who are in second place now after 24 rounds of the Premier League – and there is already a serious discussion in the English media about Leicester City securing a Champions League place at the end of the season.

This is actually not impossible, Manchester City, who were in great form at the beginning of the season, have now suffered consecutive defeats, and now they have been overtaken by Leicester City by three points, only 47 points in the third place in the league, and Arsenal was in good form before the Christmas schedule, but after the Christmas schedule, Arsenal's form also fell suddenly, and now they only have 45 points in fifth place - and their fourth position is occupied by their archrival Tottenham Hotspur, Tottenham Hotspur also has 45 points, With a goal difference, they beat Arsenal and finished fourth in the league.

And most importantly, Chelsea, who have been in the top four in the past, should not think about the top four this season – perhaps 29 points will allow Chelsea to fight for a top-seven finish and a place in the Europa League.

However, Chelsea are not without a chance of qualifying for next season's Champions League – not through the league, of course, and Chelsea are looking to catch up with their opponents in the league by 16 points 16 points behind fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur.

Now there is another way in front of Chelsea, that is, a strong counterattack and win the Champions League!

Chelsea have now qualified for the Champions League group stage anyway, despite their poor signings, with an eighth-final draw against Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-Germain. But the chances of them winning the Champions League are still greater than the top four in the league - if the probability of a league reversal to reach the top four is infinitely close to zero, then the probability of them winning the Big Ears Cup can be about 0.01, although the probability is not too high, but it is much better than zero, isn't it?

Of course, Chelsea's Champions League triumph and then qualification for next season's Champions League is only discussed among a few English tabloids and a handful of Chelsea fans. At least that's never on the mind of Chelsea's current head coach Guus Hiddink.

Chelsea are just out of the group and are still close to the title. If Chelsea can make it past the last 16 and the last eight and reach the semi-finals of the Champions League, Hiddink will seriously consider that possibility.

It's not that Hiddink doesn't like Chelsea's squad, or that Hiddink thinks Chelsea's players are poor - in terms of personnel, Chelsea are undoubtedly one of the best teams in the world, and players are the foundation of everything, and with top players, Chelsea can naturally compete for the Champions League.

But it's so easy to win the Champions League.

Manchester United has such a long history, the Ferguson era has been glorious for more than 20 years, and it has only won two Champions League trophies, and in Manchester United's team history, it has only won three Champions League titles.

The most successful club in Europe is the Reds Liverpool, but Liverpool have won only five Champions League titles combined, two more than Manchester United.

When Abu first joined Chelsea, he brought a lot of money to Chelsea, and the purpose was to make a difference in the Champions League. When Abou bought Chelsea, which was in debt at the time, he spent more on players than any other club in the world could match at the time. Glenn Johnson, Bridge, Joe Cole and other England local talents were later pocketed by Chelsea, and then Geremi, Veron, Duff, Crespo, Makelele and other big names have joined, in the first season of Abou's purchase of Chelsea, in the transfer market, Chelsea's spending exceeded 100 million pounds, opening the golden era of European football.

And in the second season, the madman Mourinho, who led Porto to a miraculous treble, came to the Blues with arrogance, followed by Robben, Kezman and other strongmen. The devil's wings of Duff on the left and Robben on the right left left Chelsea virtually unrivaled in the Premier League, and in the following two years, Chelsea won the Premier League twice in a row. But in the Champions League, even a luxury fleet built with a lot of money, even Jose Mourinho, has no way to make Chelsea win in Europe.

Although Jose Mourinho helped Chelsea win two Premier League trophies, his poor results in European competition were the trigger for the madman's first dismissal from Chelsea.

On 19 September 2007, Chelsea drew 1-1 with Rosenborg in the Champions League group stage, and the unbearable Abou sacked Jose Mourinho.

It wasn't until five years later, under the leadership of firefighting coach Angel Di Marzio, that Chelsea lifted their first Champions League trophy in the team's history by beating Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich on penalties in the Champions League final. And that's nine years since Abou took over at Chelsea.

After nine years of huge investment in exchange for a Champions League trophy, it is conceivable that it is so easy to win the Champions League. The strength, morale, and luck of the team are indispensable at the right time and place. Even when you have everything, you don't necessarily end up winning the championship – after all, there is only one trophy.

Therefore, Hiddink will definitely not be thinking about the Champions League at this stage. For him, the most realistic goal at the moment is to pick up as many points as possible in the league and try to have a slightly better position at the end of the season, and then try to win one of the two major cups in English football, the FA Cup and the League Cup, so that the team will not be left empty-handed at the end of the season, so that Hiddink may be able to stay in the Chelsea manager's position next season.

Of course, against a strong team like Manchester United at home, Chelsea must not afford to show weakness. Despite the team's poor record, the morale of the fans is still quite high, and if they are abused by Manchester United at their home stadium, it is estimated that they will not have to wait until the end of the season, and Hiddink will have to leave.