Mourinho Returns to Chelsea as Rafa Heads to Napoli--I'll Take It!

"The Special One" has returned to manage to Chelsea for a second time.

Today it became official, something that Chelsea fans have been waiting to hear confirmed for weeks--Jose Mourinho will return to Stamford Bridge to manage the Blues on a four year contract.  Financial terms were not disclosed, and Mourinho will be introduced at a Stamford Bridge news conference next Monday.

Mourinho first managed Chelsea from 2004-2007.  He had won the Champions League with Porto prior to that, and brought Chelsea their first league title in 50 years at the end of his first season.  During his tenure he won every available domestic honor: The Premier League, the League Cup, the FA Cup, and the Community Shield.  He left after 2007 failing to achieve the Champions League success that Roman Abramovich so craved.  From there he went to Inter Milan, where he won the Serie A and the Champions League, before starting his stint at Real Madrid.

Expectations will be high for Mourinho again at Chelsea.  The fact that the Blues won the Champions League in 2012 has not reduced Roman's desire, as Roberto Di Matteo found out the hard way.  Morale will be high, especially with the fans, who were never on board with the Benitez appointment.  Still, Mourinho has spoken fondly of Chelsea and it's fans, and for the moment anyway, it seems like a match made in heaven, again.

Former Blues "interim manager" Rafa Benitez has taken leave of the club to go manage Napoli in Serie A.  Napoli's previous boss, Walter Mazzarri, left the club to take over  Inter Milan, leading Napoli's owner to compare him to a "cheating spouse."  Rafa will have some big shoes to fill there, but the "Days of Our Lives" type coaching carousel will continue.

In the end, what do we make out of Rafa's stint at Chelsea?  Certainly it could have been worse, as he won the Europa League and secured Chelsea's place in next year's Champions League.  He also accomplished this under a TON of adversity.  Still, in my mind, that was pretty much the bare minimum.  With Chelsea's payroll and talent, they should expect to be in the Champion's League.  What irks me the most was the loss of the Club World Cup.  It might be a bit before we get another crack at that. 

In the end however, I wish Rafa well.  I still disagree with his appointment, but he helped bring the club European silverware, not an easy task, even if it was the Europa League.  When you consider how many fixtures Chelsea took part in this last season, he deserves some credit, in my humble opinion.

Now it's time to look toward the future, which I think will be bright for the Blues.  United will have a new look next year with Moyes, and City look to be going with a manager untried in the Premier League.  Depending on what happens with Bale, Tottenham could be right back in the mix, and Arsenal aren't going to go away.  Still, I think Chelsea and Mourinho are well positioned to compete with these guys. No doubt the Blues will make other moves during the summer window as well.

I, for one, can't wait!  Welcome back Jose Mourinho!

Puddle's UCL Recap: A Week of Stunners

Edinson Cavani after scoring against Chelsea: AP Images

So it turns out that the UEFA Champions League isn't necessarily as predictable as one might think, judging from this last week's results. I think one wouldn't be blamed for picking Real Madrid, Chelsea, Inter, and Bayern Munich to go through from the teams that played this week, but they all either lost or were drawn into a late draw. Here's my recap of the action for the week.

CSKA Moscow vs. Real Madrid
I think Madrid knew they were in for a tough match in Russia against CSKA. All one has to do is look at the Zenit vs. Benfica game last week to tell how difficult the conditions are in Russia this time of year. Even so, Madrid controlled the match fairly easily. Cristiano Ronaldo scored first on 28 minutes, blasting a shot in after a cross from Fabio Coentrao. In the second half, Madrid had several chances to put it away, notably from Ozil and Ronaldo, but couldn't get the ball into the back of the net again.

This set up the week's first dramatics. Late in stoppage time Aleksei Berezutski passed up a shot on target and passed over to Pontus Wernbloom, who shot before the Madrid defense could switch over and beat Casillas from 7 yards to seal the draw, 1-1. Still Madrid have the away goal, so one would suspect with the next leg of the tie in Spain, they should still advance.

Napoli vs. Chelsea
Okay, this one was tough to even watch the highlights of, let alone write about as a Chelsea FC fan. I'm not sure what's going on under AVB, but it's not quality football. Especially at the back. The Blues actually jumped on top first in this one, with Juan Mata snatching a goal on 27 minutes. After that, Chelsea's defense fell apart, and the match became a nightmare.

Napoli equalized in the 38th minute. Ezequiel Lavezzi blasted home a shot from distance after being left totally alone by the Chelsea defense. Edinson Cavani gave the Italian side the lead right before half time, with a header/body shot that could have been a handball. David Luiz cucked up yet again in the 65th minute by kicking the ball right to Cavani, who passed to Lavezzi. Lavezzi then completed his brace by tapping into the relatively empty net to make the final 3-1.

This result and player selection has finally turned me totally against AVB. He is just not ready for this type of pressure yet, in my opinion. Still, the Blues aren't out of it, if they can get their defense to get better. A 2-0 win at Stamford Bridge would see them through, and they are more than capable of that.

FC Basel vs Bayern Munich
This one was really the shocker of the week, as Basel absolutely STUNNED the German giants. It really was a good match, with Basel showing a lot of attacking intent despite the edge in possession for Bayern. Basel in even hit the woodwork twice in the first half.

Both defenses tightened down in the second half, allowing for far fewer chances. Still, Basel found their breakthrough in the 86th minute. The German defense collapsed a little bit, and Jacques Zoua was able to find Valentin Stocker unmarked on the left side. He nutmegged Bayern 'keeper Manuel Neuer to give the Swiss side a 1-0 win. Still, Bayern should feel fairly confident heading home as well.

Marseille vs. Inter Milan
It's always tough to play Marseille in France, but one has to think Inter should have done better here. They too were shocked late. Inter was anxious all night long and allowed Marseille plenty of looks. Both Forlan and Schneider had major chances as well, but once again Inter was not amongst the goals.

The French took the win literally on the last kick of match. Andre Ayew snuck away from Chivu and headed in a corner kick to make it 1-0 and disappoint Inter once again. Still, like Bayern and Madrid, Inter should fancy their chances going back to the San Siro, but they'll need to tighten things up quite a bit.

Italian Match Thoughts: Napoli vs. AC Milan

Well not much has gone according to script at the start of this new Serie A season. This is particularly true if you're a supporter of one of the Milan clubs. I don't know that many people would have predicted that both Inter and AC Milan would be stuck on just one point after two weeks of play. That, however, is where we find ourselves. It must be said though that AC Milan have had the tougher of the two schedules so far.

To end this week's action in Serie A, AC Milan took it's show on the road to San Paolo to take on Napoli. Napoli has been on the rise the last couple of seasons in Serie A, and find themselves sharing the Champions League spotlight with Milan and Inter. This promised to be a very interesting match.

Unfortuately, the first 10 minutes of the match were anything but interesting. Both teams seemed to come out hesitant, and it was like they didn't know what to make of each other. For Milan, they were also without the services of Ztlan Ibrahimovic, which didn't help matters. Milan did get off the ground first though. In the 12th minute, Cassano sent a ball into the box that was brilliantly headed in by Alberto Aquilani. The bullet header put Milan up 0-1.

Napoli didn't wait long at all to respond though. Milan's lead only lasted about two minutes. In the 14th Edinson Cavani volleyed home a free kick from Maggio to equalize the match at 1-1. Cavani was not finished either. In the 36th minute Walter Gargano slipped all by his lonesome into midfield space and sent it in to Cavani, who promptly drilled it into the net to give Napoli the 2-1 lead. That was the score at the intermission.

Napoli put the match out of reach in the second half, again through the foot of Cavani. The Uruguayan completed his hat trick in the 52nd minute. He jumped on a failed Milan clearance and blasted it into the net to make it 3-1.

After that, Napoli just killed the match. They deliberately did everything they could to unsettle the Champions and slow down the game. It worked. Cavani got one more chance with about 5 minutes to go, but Abbiati turned it away. The 3-1 score was the final and leaves Napoli top of the table on goal difference.