Jose Mourinho and his team were told by the boss exactly what was expected of them. The full scale of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich’s win-at-all-costs philosophy will be unveiled to us in the off-season. For those involved at Stamford Bridge, I’m reliably informed it has already happened.

Chelsea’s latest swoop into the transfer market will cost them nothing. Well, nothing if you don’t count Bayern Munich captain Michael Ballack’s reported world-leading £121 000-a-week salary plus perks such as cars, a house and 24-hour help with his plumbing.

Chelsea, who know something about persuading referees to send off opponents,
see the tables turned. Losing with grace is not nice. Particularly when the object of so much of the post-match abuse on Wednesday night at Stamford Bridge was Messi, who will not be 19 until June. The boy’s magic.

Somehow this week, true football lovers need to shift gear from the magic of Madrid to the cacophony of Cardiff: from the glorious Gunners shooting down Real Madrid on Tuesday to the more mundane prospect of Manchester United winning the League Cup on Sunday.

”Forget that we still don’t know if May’s FA Cup final is going to be the first at the new Wembley or the last at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Forget, too, that holders Arsenal and my pre-tournament favourites, Tottenham, are both out. The FA Cup remains the greatest knock-out competition of all,” writes Neal Collins.

Spring is nearly sprung. Europe is beginning to blossom. Blimey, even the flimsy Swiss pansy known as the Uefa Cup looks attractive after a long, dark winter of England’s Chelsea flower show. Yup, the last 32 will fight it out for Europe’s not-quite-good-enough cup next week, with Bolton and Middlesbrough to the fore for England.

After a week of Premiership matches, we won’t mention Sol Campbell storming out of Highbury after being substituted in Arsenal’s shock 3-2 defeat at the hands of West Ham. And we can’t comment on David Bentley, the unwanted Arsenal youngster, scoring a hat-trick for Blackburn over Man United the week that he signed away his Highbury future.

If all goes according to plan, the League Cup final on February 26 will be the last English final at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium. Sir Alex Ferguson, winner of more than 25 trophies in his years at Old Trafford, will have mixed emotions about the return to Wembley — even if Manchester United overcome Wigan that day at the Welsh stadium.

Which job would you rather do? Save Portsmouth from relegation in the middle of a particularly bleak winter at Fratton Park? Or take on Senegal, Nigeria and Ghana in the African Cup of Nations? My answer? Neither. But Benjamin Mwaruwari appears ready to take on two of the toughest assignments in football.

Nigel Clough’s dad, Brian, won almost everything in football as manager of Nottingham Forest. If there is a football heaven, Brian will have been looking down at his son’s Burton Albion at Old Trafford on Wednesday, hopeful of a shock in the great tradition of the FA Cup.