Interim manager Rafael Benitez has little time to dust off his Premier League suit and tie and start plotting how to drag Chelsea out of their malaise with leaders Manchester City visiting Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
Following the sacking of manager Roberto Di Matteo on Wednesday, we present a list of Chelsea managers and the trophies won since Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich bought the Premier League club in 2003.
Chelsea will start the defence of the Champions League trophy they won so dramatically last season with a Group E match against former winners Juventus at Stamford Bridge.
Images of the Chelsea's victory parade in London
England left back Ashley Cole will miss holders Chelsea's Champions League Group E game at home to Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday because of a hamstring injury.
Pritesh Mistry looks back on the weekend's action in the English Premier League.
Benfica will rely on little-known duo Nemanja Matic and Enzo Perez, who have played only a handful of games since signing in 2011, to lead the Portuguese league leaders against the vast talents of Barcelona in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Chelsea must win the Champions League to play in Europe's elite club competition next season after a 4-1 defeat at Liverpool on Tuesday ended their hopes of qualifying via the Premier League.
Tottenham Hotspur manager Andre Villas-Boas has admitted he made mistakes at Chelsea and that they were right to dismiss him after less than nine months in charge.
Chelsea's interim manager Rafael Benitez said the challenge of trying to win five trophies this season was too great an opportunity to turn down as he returned to the Premier League on Thursday.
Former Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola, linked in the media with the Chelsea job after the sacking of Roberto Di Matteo, will not make any decision on his future until early next year, his agent said.
Tito Vilanova is quietly stamping his authority on the Barcelona team and they head into their Champions League Group G opener at home to Spartak Moscow on Wednesday with La Liga's only perfect record.
Champions Chelsea demolished West Bromwich Albion 6-0 on Saturday, shrugging off poor pre-season form to launch their Premier League campaign in style.
Defending champions Inter Milan secured a 2-1 home win against Udinese in Serie A on Sunday with first-half goals from Marko Arnautovic and Davide Frattesi.
Petr Cech celebrated a perfect 30th birthday on Sunday after producing another exceptional goalkeeping performance to help Chelsea land their first Champions League trophy.
Fernando Torres scored his first goal since October to help Chelsea crush Leicester City 5-2 and Liverpool beat Stoke City 2-1 to reach the FA Cup semi-finals on Sunday.
Roy Hodgson made a swifter than planned return to Premier League management on Friday when he was named West Bromwich Albion boss, one month after his departure from Liverpool.
Champions Chelsea will kick off their title defence at home to promoted West Bromwich Albion on August 14, the English Premier League announced on Thursday. In another headline clash on the opening weekend, Newcastle United will mark their return to the top flight with a mouth-watering trip to Old Trafford against runners-up Manchester United.
Carlos Vela scored an injury-time equalizer to give West Bromwich Albion a 1-1 draw with Premier League rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers in a typically passionate Black Country derby on Sunday.
There will be plenty of tension in the air in North London on Wednesday when out-of-sorts Arsenal face Borussia Dortmund seeking to qualify from the Champions League group stage for the 15th successive season.
Aston Villa have terminated the contract of manager Steve Bruce following a dismal start to the season, the English Championship club said on Wednesday.
Argentina have called up Mallorca's Spanish defender Pablo Maffeo for the first time ahead of this month's World Cup qualifiers against Uruguay and Brazil in the squad announced by its FA on Friday.
All the action from football matches played in Europe on Wednesday
IMAGES from the UEFA Champions League matches played on Wednesday
Greece beat England for the first time as striker Vangelis Pavlidis's double earned the visitors a richly-deserved 2-1 victory.
Vinicius Jr came off the bench to score once and set up another goal to steer champions Real Madrid to a 4-1 fightback victory over Espanyol.
Second-half strikes by Federico Valverde, Brahim Diaz and Endrick gave feeble Real Madrid an unconvincing 3-0 win over lowly Real Valladolid.
Barcelona reached the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time in four years
For Napoli, the match highlighted their struggling form, marking three consecutive defeats across all competitions for the first time since October 2016. They are fifth with 24 points.
.jpg)
Bayern Munich scraped past Hertha Berlin 1-0 courtesy of an Arjen Robben goal to stretch their lead at the top of the table to 10 points and extend their unbeaten Bundesliga run to 16 games over two seasons.
Wasteful Napoli held to goalless draw by visiting Monza
Chelsea rounded off the UEFA Champions League group stage with a 3-1 victory over Sporting.
Long-serving defender John Terry will remain Chelsea's captain in the coming season, new manager Antonio Conte said on Thursday at his first news conference since joining the Premier League club. Terry, 35, signed a new one-year contract at Stamford Bridge in May to end speculation that he was going to leave the London club after more than 700 appearances. He remains a firm favourite with the club's fans. "John Terry is captain of this team. He is a great player with a great personality and charisma. He knows the club. We take all decisions together with the club and I am very happy John signed," Conte said.
Summary of the Europa League semi-final matches played on Thursday.
Italian Antonio Conte was named as Chelsea's new head coach with a three-year contract, the outgoing Premier League champions announced on Monday.
Here is a quick fact-box on new Real Madrid coach Rafael Benitez, who was appointed to replace Italian Carlo Ancelotti on Wednesday.
Jose Mourinho believes his Chelsea team could challenge for the Champions League this season despite their woeful form in the Premier League.
Following this stunning turn-around of fortunes for Barcelona, here is a flashback of some of the best come-from-behind wins recorded in Europe's premier club competition.
Harry Kane scored twice in his first league appearance in front of a home crowd to steer champions Bayern Munich to a 3-1 victory over Augsburg.
Following Bayern Munich's brilliant 7-4 (on aggregate) win over FC Porto in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, here's a look at a few memorable come-from-behind victories in Europe's premier football competition.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances