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GUUS HIDDINK is still haunted by a Chelsea loss to Barcelona, calling it the most upsetting setback of his 34- year coaching career.
The Dutchman, below, has another crack at the Champions League in his second spell as interim boss. His men face the stern test of Paris Saint- Germain in the fi rst knockout stage tonight and the 69- year- old is keen to erase the bitter memories of 2009.
In the last four that year, Chelsea were dumped out by an injury- time Andres Iniesta goal, which denied them the chance to go for revenge in a second successive fi nal with Manchester United. They were incensed at referee Tom Henning Ovrebo rejecting a string THE parallels are almost uncanny. A league season that has gone horribly awry, a managerial change and only two trophies to aim for: the Champions League and FA Cup.
Even more daunting, the only way to qualify for the Champions League next season is to actually win it. For the Chelsea of 2016, read the Chelsea of 2012.
Except for the fact that the Chelsea of 2012 did actually, against all the odds and in an epic end to that campaign, go out and win the Champions League. And the FA Cup .
Rewind to this point in the season four years ago. Andre Villas- Boas was nearing the end of his ill- fated reign after his team slipped to fi fth in the table with a 2- 0 loss at Everton and the knives were out.
This time around, the cull has already happened. Jose Mourinho left in December and the calm hand of Guus Hiddink has been called upon to steady the ship.
When a tearful Villas- Boas was sacked on Sunday March 4, 2012, after just nine months in charge, the job was handed to his assistant, former player Roberto Di Matteo.
The Italian is a legend at the club after scoring in the opening seconds of the 1997 FA Cup fi nal win over Middlesbrough, in extra- time in the 1998 League Cup fi nal, and the winner in the 2000 FA Cup fi nal.
His fi rst game in charge was an FA Cup fi fth- round replay at Birmingham two days after being appointed. He led the team to a 2- 0 of penalty appeals, including handball claims against Samuel Eto’o and Gerard Pique, with Didier Drogba infamously confronting the Norwegian at the fi nal whistle.
“Yeah, it’s still a bit of a nightmare for me, this game,” said Hiddink. “Usually you lose and after one or two days you go on, but this is a game where I thought, ‘ How is it possible?’. But that’s history.
“I worked in big clubs, but the chance to win the Champions League when you are in the Spanish league in the top two clubs, or in England in a top four club, this is more easy than any other league apart from [ in Germany with] Bayern Munich.” Asked if it had been the hardest setback he has had to handle, Hiddink said: “Yes. It’s years ago but, seeing three or four handballs not given, I started to have second thoughts because it was again Man UnitedChelsea in a fi nal.
“I had problems with losing in that way.” Hiddink admitted it is a crunch six days for the struggling Premier League champions, with the Paris challenge followed by Manchester City FA Cup on Sunday.
“We desperately desire the chance to go through to the next round but also we must take into consideration the second game with Manchester City ,” he said.
“We need to show that we can continue what we’ve started, step- by- step with a few bigger steps into the spring and hopefully we can have a beautiful spring.
“This week, indeed this round, in the Champions League and FA Cup is a key week as to whether we go in a nice fl ow into the next round of the FA Cup, go further in the Champions League or the other scenario is there.”
Hiddink also hinted at a possible shake- up in the ageing Chelsea team, suggesting younger players such as Bertrand Traore, Kenedy and Ruben Loftus- Cheek could be given greater responsibilities.
“We need to see what the near future can bring with some big experiments and see what can be done with younger players who are knocking on the door,” he said.
“There are some young ones integrating now which I like very much, but the players with their experience, they know the league is diffi cult to get success.
“They know these two competitions are the only way to get success and I hope they can perform under pressure. Even in this diffi cult year , if you can achieve that, it would be an unexpected but huge success.”
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