Todd Boehly had his phone out before kick-off, photographing a giant tifo unveiled by Borussia Dortmund’s Yellow Wall. Cue the inevitable, and perhaps unfunny, quips that Chelsea were about to submit a bid for it and amortise the fee over an eight-year contract. Dortmund can seem the throwback club in one respect, with their vast support and almost old-fashioned atmosphere lending authenticity, and the role models in others, picking up some of the best young players, polishing them up and selling them on for vast profits. They are also a team without a league title in a decade, so no identity is without its imperfections.
But then there is Chelsea, Boehly’s great expensive experiment. Thus far, no one is copying them as, after £600m of spending, they are 10th in the Premier League and out of both domestic cups at the first hurdle. Now they may exit the Champions League in the last 16 after a first-leg defeat to Dortmund. Their new calling card is that they offer the promise Arsene Wenger used to with distinctly cheaper Arsenal teams: of a brighter tomorrow. Like then, it prompts the question if tomorrow will ever come and if it will be sufficiently bright.
