Chelsea out to make history

There’s a word that makes Chelsea fans grimace; a word used as a barb by Liverpool supporters and by the world’s biggest clubs to explain why Roman Abramovich’s revolutionaries are more hoi polloi than ruling class.

Five European Cups and 18 leagues; that’s what you call history — that’s what makes Liverpool a big club and Chelsea simply modern upstarts; or it would be if Roberto Di Matteo’s side were not currently in the process of challenging the whole basis of that argument.