Chelsea stars beg Ranieri to stay

Chelsea's players are pleading with head coach Claudio Ranieri not to leave them for Barcelona.

The club's preparation for their FA Cup semi-final against Fulham at Villa Park on Sunday has been overshadowed by doubts over the future of Ranieri.

The Italian has been offered a new deal by Chelsea but is believed to interest the Spanish giants, who are looking for a new manager next season.

Two of his senior players, Mario Melchiot and Carlo Cudicini, have expressed the team's feelings over the speculation .

Dutch defender Melchiot said: "He has done a good job at Chelsea. People are seeing how much he has improved us since he arrived.

"The players want him to stay here and I believe he will stay to finish off the job. It would not be a good time to lose our coach. It says something about what he has done here, that a club the size of Barcelona want him."

Italian goalkeeper Cudicini added: "We want him to stay. He gave me my chance in football and he is a great coach. This is a very good club and I hope the chairman can keep him here.

"I don't know if qualifying for the Champions League will make him stay because there are a lot of other things going on but we will try to achieve that."