Terry salutes historic achievement

Terry salutes historic achievement

Published May. 16, 2010 6:41 a.m. ET

Chelsea captain John Terry insists Carlo Ancelotti and his victorious squad have created just as much history as Jose Mourinho.

Saturday's 1-0 victory over Portsmouth in the FA Cup final at Wembley saw Chelsea retain the trophy and claim their third success in the competition in four years.

But, more importantly, it delivered the first league and cup Double in their history.

Mourinho steered Chelsea to their first top-flight title for 50 years in 2005 and then won it again the following year.

But while the 'Special One' went on to win every domestic honour during his time at Stamford Bridge, the double always eluded him.

Didier Drogba's 58th minute free-kick finally exorcised the ghost of Mourinho and Terry was the first to salute Ancelotti as Chelsea became only the seventh club in history to do the double.

"Carlo has been brilliant from day one, he has really made an impression on the players," Terry said.

"As a coach, what he has done speaks for itself. The changes he has made tactically are fantastic. He is very Italian in that way.

"He has brought a real aura to the training camp and there is a real buzz around the place.

"We go down in the club's history now. We had so many chances early on and felt in control of the game. I felt we were always going to get a goal.

"We were a little bit unlucky and hit the woodwork five or six times and David James made a great save from Didier's free-kick in the first half.

"But at half-time the manager told us to keep plugging away and that is what we did.

"Jose is always going to be a massive part of this football club but Carlo has come in and has gone down in history in his first season. No other manager or group of players has ever done that.

"Jose will never be forgotten at this football club, pretty similar to Carlo and this group of players."

Chelsea rattled the woodwork five times during the opening half but the turning point arrived in the 55th minute when substitute Juliano Belletti brought down Portsmouth striker Aruna Dindane in the area.

Fortunately for Chelsea, goalkeeper Petr Cech saved Kevin-Prince Boateng's poor penalty and three minutes later Drogba put the Blues ahead with a trademark free-kick from 25 yards.

Now Terry insists that winning the double again will be the benchmark for next season.

"With the quality we've got in Didier or Frank Lampard and other players who can create something from nothing, we knew we just had to keep on doing what we were doing," he added.

"We were still bossing and controlling the game and they didn't really have too many chances apart from Petr's save in the first half and obviously the penalty. Other than that, I can't really remember them threatening the goal.

"To retain the trophy is great and I think a lot of people forget that because of the double.

"The hunger and the desire we show as a club and individuals is great and that is what we want again next year.

"After the game everyone was saying that this is what it is all about. We had never done the double as a group of players or a football club before and we want this feeling again.

"We have retained the FA Cup this year and want to do that with the Premier League next year.

"Winning the double really does put us up there as a football club. Everybody knows we want the Champions League, but if you had offered me the double at the start of the season, I would have taken it.

"The minimum next year is the Premier League and the FA Cup and you can add the Champions League and Carling Cup."

Meanwhile, Terry was critical of the newly relaid Wembley surface.

England play Mexico on May 24 ahead of their World Cup campaign and Terry urged the Football Association to get it right before their final home friendly.

"I worry about the pitch massively," he added. "We have got a massive game before we go off to the World Cup and it is simply not good enough.

"We trained on it on Friday night and it was really dry and patchy. Something needs to be done in the meantime."

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