Real Madrid's Champions League campaign had just ended in defeat when Jose Mourinho spotted an opportunity to send a message.
Played before 42,723 at M&T Bank Stadium, Saturday's friendly between English stalwarts Liverpool FC and Tottenham Hotspur was high on enthusiasm among the supporters — but not so much on the field.
Chelsea handed Roberto Di Matteo the fulltime manager's job on a two-year contract Wednesday, rewarding the Italian for guiding the club to its first European Cup title.
Some billionaires build luxury yachts, some buy art, some donate to charity. Russian tycoon Roman Abramovich is said to do all those but collects the scalps of soccer managers, too.
Andre Villas-Boas was fired by Chelsea after barely eight months in charge of the Premier League club on Sunday, leaving owner Roman Abramovich searching for his eighth manager in nine years.
Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas either hasn't read Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" or didn't quite understand it. Because one of the central tenents of that ancient Chinese military treatise on how to win is that you should avoid your enemy's strengths when you can.
Andre Villas-Boas is set to become Chelsea's seventh manager in eight years after resigning as coach of Portuguese champion Porto.
