Chelsea may well have found their next manager in the form of ex-Real Madrid boss Xabi Alonso. At least that’s what the respected David Ornstein is reporting with The Athletic.
The Blues have had to endure a tumultuous campaign. Last year, Enzo Maresca secured Champions League football, as well as leading the club to the Conference League title, making Chelsea the first and currently only team in history to win all three of UEFA’s elite club competitions. The Italian masterminded a stunning 4-0 upset of Paris Saint-Germain in the FIFA Club World Cup final as well, and his position as manager seemed as secure as possible.
Chelsea’s Miserable Campaign
Until it wasn’t. Maresca was sacked just six months after seeing his side crowned World Champions. Then, Liam Rosenior took over, but his ill-fated reign ended after just 107 days. Now, former youth team boss Calum McFarlane has taken over as interim boss for the second time this term, and he will lead the club through until the end of the season. And the new man at the helm has already yielded a positive result.
Chelsea’s recent 1-0 victory against Leeds at Wembley has secured the club’s spot in the FA Cup final, and while that was certainly a positive, online betting sites make the Blues narrow underdogs to win the world’s oldest club competition. Well-known Sportaza online sportsbook currently makes the West London outfit a 2/1 underdog, with their opponents, Manchester City, positioned as the clear 2/5 favorite. Regardless of the result, though, the FA Cup Final will almost certainly be McFarlane’s final game in charge.
Now, Xabi Alonso has emerged as the surprise favorite to lead the club into next season and beyond, something that will have no doubt drawn the ire of Liverpool supporters, who consider the Spaniard one of their own. The former central midfielder made over 200 appearances for the Reds as a player, helping them win the UEFA Champions League in 2005. Since then, he has been considered a club legend, even after he left Anfield for Spanish giants Real Madrid.
Liverpool-Chelsea Rivalry
Throughout his time with the club, Liverpool and Chelsea suddenly found themselves locked in a heated rivalry that arrived seemingly out of nowhere. The two teams met four times in five UEFA Champions League campaigns, with the Reds winning in the semifinals in 2005 and 2007, and the Blues returning the favor in the semis in 2008 and the quarters in 2009. While the rivalry has died down somewhat in recent years, there is still plenty of disdain between Anfield and Stamford Bridge.
Now, as a manager, Alonso’s resume is glowing. He broke Bayern Munich’s monopoly in Germany as he led Bayer Leverkusen to its first-ever Bundesliga crown in 2024. He would then trade the BayArena for the Bernabeu, and while his stint in charge of Real Madrid lasted barely six months, his stock hasn’t dropped too much, as demonstrated by Chelsea’s interest in him.
So, how many before have crossed the Liverpool-Chelsea divide? And, ultimately, how did the fans react? Let’s take a look.
Fernando Torres’ Record-Breaking Chelsea Move
Perhaps the most famous case of someone swapping Liverpool for Chelsea was iconic Spanish striker Fernando Torres. Between 2007 and 2011, El Niño was Anfield’s beloved talisman. The prolific hitman netted 81 goals in 141 appearances for the Reds, and for the first two of his seasons with the club, he was arguably the best striker on the planet.
By January 2011, however, injuries had begun to take their toll, and Torres had started to slow down. Sensing he would never win any silverware with the club, the Spaniard stunned Anfield when he handed in a transfer request in order to force through a move to Chelsea, who were one of Liverpool’s fiercest rivals at the time, with those Champions League battles firmly in the memory. The Blues forked out £50 million to secure his signature, a move which Liverpool fans at the time labeled as a betrayal.
Torres would ultimately suffer for his sins. His goalscoring touch suddenly left him at the Bridge, and it took some 903 minutes of football for him to net his first goal for the club. In the end, though, he would leave Chelsea as a legend, playing a key role in the club’s upset 2012 Champions League success.
Rafa Benitez’s Interim Tenure
Liverpool’s manager throughout those Champions League clashes against Chelsea was Rafa Benitez. He masterminded back-to-back success against the Blues when Jose Mourinho was boss, leading the Reds to two shock UCL final appearances in the process. Defeats in the latter two, however, saw his role as manager come under pressure, and what the Merseyside outfit failed to finish in the top four in 2010, he was unceremoniously sacked after six years in charge.
Two years later, Benitez was announced as the manager of Chelsea, much to the dismay of Blues supporters who hadn’t forgotten his role in the rivalry between the two clubs. Roberto Di Matteo would leave Stamford Bridge just seven months on from leading the club to its first ever Champions League Crown. Benitez took over on an interim basis until the end of the 2012/13 season, and eventually, he won the club’s supporters over.
Under Rafa, Chelsea won the UEFA Europa League in 2013, with Torres, Benitez’s striker at Liverpool, netting in the Amsterdam final against Benfica. That was enough for the fans to look back on his tenure relatively fondly, but no one wanted him to take charge of the club permanently. Luckily, he didn’t.
