London, May 07: After their tumultuous season ended in Champions League disappointment, Chelsea can expect more upheaval in the coming weeks with the likely departure of coach Claudio Ranieri and the arrival of more big-name signings.
The multi-million pound London side looked headed for the final Wednesday after goals from Jesper Gronkjaer and Frank Lampard cancelled out Monaco's 3-1 first-leg semi-final lead.
Their joy lasted only two minutes, however. The top-scoring principality team hit back on the stroke of halftime through a fumbled Hugo Ibarra goal and the prolific Fernando Morientes added a second on the hour.
Russian oil magnate Roman Abramovich, who bought Chelsea last July and has spent over 120 million pounds ( 215 million) on new players, visited the team in a subdued dressing room after the game and said: ''It will be better next time.''

Just who will be involved in ''next time'' has been a matter of intense speculation.


Abramovich has made no secret of his desire to turn Chelsea, a perennially fashionable but underachieving club, into the biggest team in Europe.


The billionaire swept through Stamford Bridge, clearing out chairman Ken Bates and recruiting top staff, including chief executive Peter Kenyon from Manchester United, to raise Chelsea's profile and sell the brand worldwide.


Ranieri, recruited by the old regime in 2000, has said he does not expect to remain. The media in Britain and Portugal tip Porto coach Jose Mourinho, who won the Uefa Cup last year and will face Monaco in the Champions League final this season, to take over.


Ranieri has won enormous sympathy for his humour and dignity in sticking to his task, knowing the Chelsea boardroom were lining up his successor.


Mourinho, in London to watch the game, signed autographs at Stamford Bridge before sizing up his rivals for the May 26 final in Gelsenkirchen. It was a good opportunity for the suave, English-speaking Portuguese to assess his prospective employers and newspapers speculated that, despite his denials, he would meet Abramovich.

Bureau Report