Once the biggest-spending manager in Chelsea's history, Claudio Ranieiri is now out to make his old employers pay another heavy price by knocking them out of the Champions League.

Ranieri will be back in the dug-out at Stamford Bridge for the first time tonight since he was sacked in 2004 and the Italian is clearly looking to prove a point with his Juventus side.

Six years ago the Italian spent over £100million in six weeks as he was given the honour of being the first manager to play with new owner Roman Abramovich's fortune.

Despite Manchester City's best attempts, English football has still not seen such an exciting splurge in the transfer market by one club. Yet for Ranieri it marked the beginning of the end as Abramovich expected immediate returns for his investment.

The 57-year-old was only given a fourth season at the club by default as they failed to entice Sven-Goran Eriksson away from the England job.

By the following summer he was gone despite taking Chelsea to second place in the Premier League, which was their highest finish for 49 years, as well as the semi-finals of the Champions League for the first time.

Another three managers have come and gone after failing to satisfy the hierarchy's demands and now Guus Hiddink has been handed the task of rescuing a season that was in turmoil under Luiz Felipe Scolari.

While Ranieri insists he doesn't bear a grudge toward the Russian, he does feel that the multi-billionaire has played a part in English football changing for the worse.

He said: "I agree with Sir Alex Ferguson when he says football is changing in England. In the past, one would have had time to build a team, bring in young players and get them experience.

"Everyone wants to win but there can only be one winner. We've seen new owners come in from Russia and America put their money in and they want an instant return. But football isn't like that. The players and manager need time. Money helps but it's not all about money. It isn't what makes you win, which is probably just as well."

Picking up on a similar theme ahead of tonight's clash, Hiddink should also acknowledged that he has no time to waste. He said: "It would be easy for me to sit here and ask for two, three or four weeks to see the team and observe everything and then I will start working.

"We must not give an excuse, it has to be done in the moment. We did it against Aston Villa on Saturday and now must do it against Juventus."

Chelsea would argue that Ranieri had four years to deliver a trophy and failed despite being backed financially even before Abramovich took over.

However, the former Napoli coach made perhaps the most significant acquisitions of any manager in the club's history having bought Frank Lampard, Joe Cole, William Gallas, Damien Duff, Claude Makelele, Arjen Robben and Petr Cech, who made massive contributions in the club's title triumphs in 2005 and 2006.

Crucially, he also made John Terry a first-team regular and captain. Ranieri's contribution was treated with little respect by the hierarchy, particularly chief executive Peter Kenyon who was critical of him on the club's DVD Blue Revolution released in 2007.

Kenyon said: "After the first week I didn't feel Ranieri was up to the job. Having been around a winner like Sir Alex Ferguson, Ranieri certainly didn't come into that class, so we embarked on looking for a new manager."

Kenyon's views were in stark contrast to most Chelsea fans, who forgave him for his tendency to constantly change the team, as well as his bizarre tactical decisions which caused them to lose to Monaco in the last four of the Champions League in 2004.

On his enduring popularity with the supporters, Ranieri added: "When I come back to England all the Chelsea fans say, 'Hello Claudio, well done. You did a very good job'.

"I spent a lot of years here and lived very well. I have kept my house and sometimes when I come back it's nice for me to remember something good.

"I was criticised for my rotation policy but after we got to second in the League and beat Arsenal in the Champions League, things began to change.

"People began to realise I was right to rotate the players because I wasn't tiring them out in Premier or Champions League games."

The Juventus coach walked round his old hunting ground yesterday with a smile and greeted Lampard and Terry warmly but there was a steely resolve in his eyes that betrayed a desire to make his former bosses suffer more European disappointment.

He said: "History will say they're the favourites and we know Chelsea are a strong team but I believe we're going to have a say as well."