Chelsea must correct ten-year mistake to make Manchester United and Liverpool claim

Chelsea's first-team players are currently ensconced in Abu Dhabi, hopefully enjoying much warmer and dryer weather than they would be in Cobham.

But they are not on holiday, as some may think. They have a job to do and an opportunity to win the FIFA Club World Cup and become England’s third winner of the competition behind Manchester United (2008) and Liverpool (2019).

It may be inconvenient in a season bedevilled by injuries to key players and compounded by players getting Covid-19 – and the highest number of fixtures endured by the club for many a year.

And some might say that this competition is an unhealthy distraction from the focus on winning the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup. All arguably bigger prizes.

Others might concede that it may provide some relief from an arduous season and a chance for some much-needed team bonding.

But for me, the Club World Cup is no glorified friendly. For me, this is a must-win trophy.

A European club only gets the right to win this trophy by being champions of the continent and surely that brings with it some kudos and stature?

Chelsea have only competed in this competition once before, after winning the Champions League in Munich in 2012. Had they won the trophy back then, they would have done so before Liverpool and only four years after Man Utd. That counts in my book.

That we did not can be blamed on the awful tenure of one Rafa Benitez.

Chelsea supporters were riding a crest of a Champions League-winning wave until Robbie Di Matteo was summarily sacked after losing 3-0 away to Juventus in the Champions League in November 2012. Our despair was compounded by the hiring of the loathed Benitez as interim manager.

The only silver lining on that particular