Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink enjoyed a winning farewell at Stamford Bridge, as goals from Florent Malouda and Nicolas Anelka clinched a 2-0 win over Blackburn Rovers on Sunday.
Hiddink was taking charge of his last home match before resuming his role as Russia coach on a full-time basis after the FA Cup final against Everton on May 30.
The Dutchman has one more league game at Sunderland next week before that Wembley date, but this was his final appearance at the Bridge and Chelsea’s players and fans gave him a rousing send-off.
Malouda struck early in the first half with a bullet header and Anelka put the result beyond doubt just before the hour.
Although Chelsea still have a chance of snatching second place from Liverpool, they are likely to finish outside the top two for the first time since Roman Abramovich bought the club in 2003.
But Hiddink takes no blame for that after revitalizing a team in danger of missing out on the Champions League places altogether when he replaced Luiz Felipe Scolari in February.
He has lost just one of his 12 league games and was within seconds of leading the Blues to the Champions League final before Barcelona’s agonizing late goal.
“It was surprising to me to see such a reaction from everyone because I was only here a short period,” Hiddink said. “But I worked with a lot of joy with these players and also received a lot of support from the crowd. I’m very proud of the players. They responded to everything I asked of them.”
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