CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Kevin McCarra examines Chelsea's failure to live up to their expensive expectations

Poverty is the one asset that money cannot buy. Thrifty Monaco and Porto may not like their comparatively puny budgets but the affluent clubs envy them their places in the Champions League final on May 26th.

Not since 1991, when Red Star Belgrade overcame Marseille, has the trophy been contested without the presence of at least one side from the well-heeled quartet of England, Italy, Spain and Germany.

In addition to swallowing disappointment, there is much for Chelsea to digest after Wednesday's woe. Their sprawling, expensive squad allows individuals valuable rest periods but Claudio Ranieri will be sacked this month for, among other offences, failing to establish a solid system into which the men who were vying for selection could be fitted. With a £6 million pay-off awaiting, he has been careful not to break his contract by talking to interested clubs. Ranieri's preference is to remain in England and he is among the candidates being considered by Tottenham.

Jose Mourinho is expected to be installed as Chelsea's coach by the end of the first week of June. Talks are at an advanced stage and the deal should be formalised soon after he has led Porto for the last time, in the Champions League final.

Chelsea yearn for the stability of the sides that will face one another in Gelsenkirchen.

Having lost 3-1 in the Stade Louis II, they could do no better than draw 2-2 with Monaco in the return match. In contrast to the victors Chelsea were chaotic, incapable of taking proper care of the promising positions they held in each match.

They are therefore trying to purchase efficiency in their move for Mourinho. While knocking out Deportivo La Coruna, his well-schooled group had the Spaniards in a panic over their failure to exercise any command whatsoever.

Chelsea were not spared an even more profound illustration of those qualities.

The side, 2-0 in front at Stamford Bridge and ahead on the away-goal rule, will grumble about the Monaco goal, in which the ball ricocheted off the arm of Hugo Ibarra, but Didier Deschamps' side had far too many chances in each leg for the justice of the outcome to be disputed. They touched a higher level, never more so than when Fernando Morientes was dropping deep to link before turning to slice through the back four, as he did for the sumptuous equaliser on Wednesday. There Monaco, just like Porto the previous evening, exhibited the glory of fine-tuned teamwork that is just an aspiration for Chelsea.

Monaco have had no option but to make the best of one another's company. There have been few alterations to the line-up because, last summer, the club had to appeal successfully against relegation imposed because of debts that breached French League rules.

Even now significant transactions can proceed only with the approval of the league's watchdog body. Morientes did come to the Stade Louis II on loan but some 60 per cent of his wages are still being met by his previous employers. Real Madrid literally contributed to their own downfall by paying the centre-forward whose goals helped knock them out in the quarter-finals.

Monaco have had other surprising benefits. In the close season, while on the verge of ruin, they could not have prevented stars leaving but a meeting saw the players decide to stay at a club where they still felt they were on the brink of success. The attacker Shabani Nonda spurned an offer from the French champions Lyon.

The winning of such solidarity has been the first great prize of Deschamps' managerial career. On his arrival in 2001 there were challenges to his authority from a dressing-room riven by factions. The departure of players such as Marcelo Gallardo, Marco Simone and Christian Panucci is interpreted as proof of his resolve when his vulnerable new career might have been smashed.

Mourinho, too, is formidable enough to emit warning signals and there is no trace of Ranieri's weakness for playing the fool in public appearances. Even so the Portuguese will have to show he can make the changes he deems essential while charting a short cut to consistency. Chelsea dread disruption but cannot avoid it. Conscious of Roman Abramovich's means, they find it as hard to keep away from the chequebook as it is for a compulsive boozer to steer clear of a mini-bar.

Having waited to join so rich a club, Mourinho cannot be barred from the transfer market. Then, however, he has to labour on the training ground. Newcomers must be blended with regulars such as John Terry, Wayne Bridge, Frank Lampard and, with his shoulder repaired, Damien Duff to create a variant of the 4-4-2 system that serves him so well.

The trouble is that Chelsea have just reached the Champions League semi-finals and are on course to be Premiership runners-up.

Mourinho will definitely have earned his salary if he can settle in England, supervise the latest fresh start and do every bit as well immediately.

Guardian Service