A CHELSEA cult hero looks like he hasn’t aged a day since retirement.
The ex-player in question was on the touchline for AC Milan’s 3-1 win over Madrid in the Champions League last night.
He remains a popular figure among Chelsea fans, having played for the club for nine years between 2004 and 2013.
The former full-back won three Premier League titles, as well as the Champions League in 2012 and Europa League with the Blues in 2013.
After winning Europe’s top competition with Porto in 2004, he followed Jose Mourinho from Portugal to West London a few months later.
The 45-year-old is now an assistant coach at AC Milan.
If you haven’t already guessed, the cult hero in question is, of course, Paulo Ferreira.
Ferreira followed new Milan boss Paulo Fonseca from Lille in the summer.
And his new club were responsible for Carlo Ancelotti‘s second European defeat of the season, as Madrid suffered back-to-back losses at the Bernabeu.
But Ferreira could’ve been mistaken for a current player on Tuesday evening.
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The 62-capped Portugal international was seen hugging Ancelotti and former Chelsea striker Alvaro Morata, who scored on the night, at full-time.
And he still sports his signature jet-black locks, tan and light stubbled beard.
He made 141 Prem appearances, providing four assists from full-back.
Ferreira began working with Chelsea‘s loan players after his retirement in 2013.
He was also a club ambassador before ending his 18-year association with Stamford Bridge after Roman Abramovich put the club up for sale in 2022.
The assistant coach linked up with his compatriot Fonseca at Ligue 1 side Lillie in 2023, before moving to AC Milan with him in July.
The Rossoneri sit 18th in the Champions League table, having won two and lost two to Liverpool and Bayer Leverkusen this term.
By Dan King
UEFA sold the idea of expanding the Champions League from 32 to 36 teams, with each playing eight games instead of six in the opening phase, as a way of creating more competitiveness and excitement.
The biggest clubs would have two matches against their peers, rather than having to wait until the knockout stage to meet.
The smaller clubs would meet teams of a similar level twice and have a chance of tasting victory that was so hard to achieve if you were the bottom seed in a group of four.
Ignoring for a moment the fact that the real motivation was the simple equation of more games = more money, the theory itself already looks flawed.
None of the matches between European giants has delivered a compelling contest yet.
And why would they? At the start of the long season with more matches in it, why would any team with ambitions to win things in the spring, go out all guns blazing in the autumn?
Especially when they know they have six games NOT against big sides to make sure they accrue enough points to qualify at least for the play-off round (and even more games).
There is even less jeopardy than before.
Read the full column on the Champions League format fail and why everyone – including YOU – needs a rethink.
