In the end, Guus Hiddink seemed to stroll through what could have been his toughest challenge as Chelsea manager when he lifted his team from its Champions League exit to Barcelona this week.
Many fans could have forgiven the Blues had they laboured or struggled to focus following their painful semifinal elimination, when the referee turned down four appeals for penalties and Barcelona went through because of a last-minute goal.
But Hiddink guided Chelsea to a 4-1 win at Arsenal on Sunday, ending the north London club’s 21-game unbeaten run in the Premier League and securing automatic qualification for next season’s
Champions League.
That was precisely what club owner Roman Abramovich asked Hiddink to do when he appointed him in February.
”Not being in the final of the European Cup is felt like a huge injustice by everyone in the team,” Hiddink said. ”It’s a long time since Chelsea had this big a victory against Arsenal. I’m very proud of how the boys reacted, tactically and mentally.”
It was Chelsea’s biggest league win over Arsenal since 1960.
Hiddink resisted the temptation to leave out Didier Drogba after the France striker vigorously harassed the referee after the Barcelona match and swore into a television camera.
Hiddink said he only cared about what Drogba did during games rather than after them and the decision paid off as Drogba held up the ball well throughout and set up the crucial second goal just
before halftime.
”There was no bad behavior during the game against Barcelona,” Hiddink said. ”We said to him, ‘Everyone is focused on you, play the simple game,’ which he did.
”He hit a free kick for Alex, which was a beautiful header.” UEFA is likely to punish Drogba for his misdemeanors, but Hiddink said it would be ”curious” if the ruling body treated him harshly.
”He saw what he did wrong and he apologized strongly,” Hiddink said.
Nicolas Anelka had already scored when Alex headed in Drogba’s free kick, which he won by going to ground following a challenge by Cesc Fabregas. Kolo Toure added an own goal at the start of the second half before Florent Malouda completed the scoring late on.
Fabregas got a yellow card for making a diving gesture to the referee following the award of the crucial free kick, indicating to the official that he thought the Ivory Coast striker had fallen deliberately.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger agreed with his captain’s point of view, but Hiddink appeared irked by the criticism of Drogba, who is known among fans and commentators as being too willing to crumple in a tackle.
”We must not go into incidents because there were others when the referee was very gentle,” Hiddink said. ”When you win, you must win with a certain modesty. If you lose, you must always lose — and it is not always easy — without picking out incidents that did not have a big influence on the game over 90 minutes.” – Sapa-AP