Ranieri cooking up a storm at Stamford Bridge

CLAUDIO RANIERI has likened his job at Chelsea to that of a cordon bleu chef, striving to blend the right ingredients into a sumptuous feast – and he is determined to depose Alex Ferguson as the Gordon Ramsey of English football.

The jolly Chelsea chief reckons he has earned his first Michelin star after leading Chelsea into the last 16 of the Champions League and guiding them to the top of the Premiership.

However, the Italian believes Manchester United boss Ferguson is a couple of stars ahead of him, but Ranieri is aiming to overtake him.

"When you have money of course you can buy the best players, but money alone cannot make them link together or compact the team and make everyone work for one idea," he said "It is like a chef. With good ingredients you can cook anything. I hope I can become the Gordon Ramsey of football. At the moment, Sir Alex is Gordon I have only one Michelin star whereas he has three. Having so many great players at my disposal is bringing out the best in me. When I chose these players I knew I could use them in whatever way I needed to affect a game. Yes, I am the Tinkerman and I have lots of ideas, but the manager can only be good if he has good players. Without good players what can you do?"

Chelsea clinched top spot in Group G of the Champions League on Tuesday when they beat Besiktas 2-0 and after that game Ranieri admitted for the first time that he finally felt he had a team.

"If you look at the Besiktas game I did not have Petit, Veron, Crespo or Gudjohnsen available. I said at the beginning of the season I have 21 real champions but I don't have a team. Now, step by step, I also have a team.

"Beating Manchester United was a good step for us and Besiktas was another big step in terms of building the team together. Now, for the first time, I think I do have a team. We haven't got the same understanding yet as Arsenal or United, but we are building towards it and that's important to me.

"All these big challenges are very important for the team. Before the match I told the players there were 50,000 Turks out there and only 400 from Chelsea. We had to play for those 400 with passion and with our hearts and at the end I wanted a quiet stadium with only our fans being heard.

"It was important to remain calm, that's why it was a big step. Besiktas wanted to increase the tempo and I told my players to slow it down and dominate the match, to know when to go forward and when to sit, and they did."

Chelsea will be seeded in today's draw for the knockout stages of the Champions League, but Ranieri played down their chances of going all the way this season.

"All 16 teams are very good, it doesn't matter who we play," he said.

"What matters is when you play them that you are in good condition, not the name of the opponent."