Former Chelsea boss Claudio Ranieri is confident fans will love new manager Carlo Ancelotti.

Ranieri, the last Italian to manage the Stamford Bridge outfit, said: "Ancelotti is a fantastic manager and a good choice for Chelsea.

"He is one of the best managers in the world, right up there with Alex Ferguson, Marcelo Lippi, Fabio Capello, Jose Mourinho and the rest.

"Now you have The Four Tenors in England because Ancelotti has joined Ferguson, Benitez and Wenger. And he will have as big a voice as any of the others in the Premier League.

"He has won a lot of trophies, including two Champions Leagues - and he can win the Champions League with Chelsea too.

"The club has come so close in recent years. There was John Terry's penalty miss in Moscow in last year's final, then the last-minute Barcelona goal in this year's semi-final second leg. All Carlo has to do is keep Chelsea in that top four or five clubs in Europe who can win it.

"After that, Chelsea just need a bit of luck - and Carlo is a lucky manager. That's partly why he can win Chelsea the Champions League - and the fans will love him."

Ranieri, who managed Chelsea from 2000 to 2004, also shrugged off fans' fears over Ancelotti's struggles with the English language.

He added: "The Chelsea fans are fantastic and they will love Carlo Ancelotti. They will realise that Carlo is at the start of a new experience and needs a little time.

"But he speaks some English already. When I arrived in London I didn't know any. Ray Wilkins helped me out at the beginning because he speaks Italian and he is there again to help out Ancelotti now.

"But Carlo already speaks a lot more English than I did when I arrived in London. And after a few weeks he will speak it even better than he does now.

"Besides, there is only one language in football."