You might know about this already, but it's always good to laugh at those tossers down at The Bridge.
The real reason Chelsea didn't include Ballack in their Champs' League squad is because they didn't read the UEFA rule book properly. To explain, I have to get into the rules, which is a bit boring. But it's worth it, to understand how those smug tits managed to lumber Chelsea with a smaller squad than everyone else and had to omit Ballack and Scott Sinclair. To make matters better, the situation will be even worse for Chelsea next year (if they qualify).
The rules:
1. Clubs can submit a squad of 25 A List players plus as many B List players as they want. B List players are 21 or under and have been at the club for at least 2 years. Cesc is one of our B List players.
2. 6 of the 25 A List spots are reserved for locally trained players (at least 3 for those trained by the club).
Chelsea only have one player who counts as club trained (Terry), so they could only name 23 players (plus 2 inexperienced reserves as B List players). We on the other hand have at least 7 (and possibly up to 11) senior/senior-ish players who qualify, and some of them (like Cesc) qualify as B List too. So, we got to put in our entire senior squad of 25 plus another 3 B List players (i.e. in addition to Cesc). AND, if we sign someone in January, we still have a spare A List place, so can put that player in straight away, whereas Chelsea would have to displace one of the senior players to accommodate a signing.
No other club in the Champs' League managed to screw up like Chelsea, everyone else got their entire senior squad in.
The situation gets worse for Chelsea next year, because the number of places reserved for locally trained players increases from 6 to 8.
Ha ha ha ha! Twats! Another reason to congratulate Arsene - top man!
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