Chelsea vs. Napoli: Obsession with Winning Champions League Has Hurt London Side

Chelsea FC's obsession with winning the Champions League has hurt the club in several ways, one of which is the constant change in managers.

Since Jose Mourinho left the club in 2007, Chelsea have been led by four managers, and as a result the club has not won the Champions League despite making the final in 2008.

The club has also spent a ton of money on transfers to help them build a squad capable of winning the competition, but they have reached the final just once in owner Roman Abramovich's tenure.

Since they have spent so much money on bringing outside talent to improve the club, they have not been able to bring many talented players up from the youth system to feature in a prominent role for the club.

English clubs like Arsenal and Manchester United have been able to develop young talents to the point where they can play a major role in the club's success, which means they don't have to pay huge transfer fees to address the squad's weaknesses.

When Chelsea take on a talented Napoli side on Tuesday night in the first leg of the round of 16 fixture, the pressure of progressing to the next round will be immense for the players.

The club was eliminated at this stage of the competition to an Italian side two years ago when Inter Milan defeated Chelsea 3-1 on aggregate en route to their European title.

Napoli have a ton of talent and will be a challenging opponent for the London club, and if they should be knocked out of the competition to the Serie A club, it would easy to see Abramovich making some foolish moves.

One move that could be made is sacking Portuguese manager Andre Villas-Boas, who has been criticized a lot this season because of Chelsea's inconsistent play in his first year at the helm.

Villas-Boas spoke about the club and its future this week, saying via Soccernet:

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I'm really confident about next year. That doesn't take any responsibility for what's happening now, but we had a three-year project to change not only the team, but the culture and structure of the club.

There's a lot we needed to do, a lot of plans, so that's why I'm excited about the future. Having said that, we have to build a team to win trophies from the start.

With that in mind, the fact that we're no longer in the Carling Cup and don't have a chance to win the (Barclays Premier League) title is a shame. But we are still confident we can do well in the Champions League and the FA Cup.

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If Chelsea win the Champions League, all the troubles and failures in the other competitions this season will be forgotten, but if they fail to reach at least the semifinal, then the club will likely make more risky changes to help them fare better next season.

Chelsea covets Champions League glory so much, which in all honesty is fantastic, that the obsession over winning the competition has hurt the club.

They cannot make changes in reaction to Champions League failures, because that will ultimately hurt the club going forward. Establishing some consistency at the manager position is the first step to getting Chelsea back to the Champions League final.