BlueChampions The Chelsea FC Blog – views, opinions, discussions, debates, polls, videos . . .
We have done it! Chelsea are the champions of Europe! After years and years of pain and hurt, Chelsea have finally made it. The irony is that we’ve had much better and younger Chelsea teams that were more capable and better chances of landing this trophy but didn’t. This season was supposed to be worst season since Roman had taken over. We were going through several internal turbulence and our opponents were growing stronger and stronger. This champions league this season could have been won by Real Madrid, Barcelona, Man Utd, Man City, Bayern or Milan – very strong teams in much better form than ours. Ours was a team that was in a downward slide. Players have become older and slower. Odds were stacked totally against Chelsea. And still we made it.
It wasn’t easy. We had to win our last group league game to make it to the knockout round. And that too, we had to beat Valencia. ‘That’s it for Chelsea?’. Not yet. We had to win the last After Chelsea lost 3-1 at Naples, not many gave a chance for Chelsea to overturn that deficit against red hot Napoli which had the world-class attacking trio of Cavani, Hamsik and Lavezzi. ‘That’s it for Chelsea?’. Not yet. With one eye on the domestic scene, we made heavy weather of eliminating Benfica. At 1-1 in the home leg, it was anyone’s game. ‘That’s it for Chelsea?’. Not yet. Drawn against Barca. Second leg at Camp Nou. 2-0 down and a man down with 50 mins to go. ‘Surely that’s it for Chelsea?’. Not yet. Final at Munich against Bayern with a 1-0 down at the 84th minute. ‘Surely now, that’s it for Chelsea?’. Still not yet. We are the champions of Europe!
Bayern were the favourites. It’s incorrect to say they had an ‘edge’ because it was much more than just an ‘edge’. The whole city of Munich was waiting for this occasion. Bayern have been mentally preparing for this ever since the beginning of this season. The whole city was awash in red. It was red everywhere. This was the celebration the football-crazy city was waiting for. As per the UEFA allocation, both Bayern and Chelsea were to get 17.5k seats each but Bayern ended up filling the rest of the stadium with their fans. This was the champions league final being hosted in their pitch where, in Jupp Heynckes’ words, they knew every blade of grass. The odds were completely in their favour. If Chelsea were beaten, the football world would not have complained. European giants Bayern winning the champions league trophy at Fussball Arena Munchen is perfectly in line with the script.
A Chelsea win would ruin their party. Bayern weren’t even thinking of that possibility. They knew they could win and the opportunity to play the final in front of their home fans was a gift from the God. But probably the key factor was exactly that. As I had mentioned in my preview post, playing at home could also be very stressful and that’s what Bayern found out. The first half went by the script. Bayern to attack relentlessly, Chelsea to defend and look for counterattacks. Bayern could have taken the lead but just couldn’t calm themselves and show the composure that was required. Chelsea were living dangerously. In the second half, Chelsea settled into a defensive rhythm, like they did against Barca, and dealt with Bayern more comfortably.
When Muller scored at the 84th minute, Bayern and their fans certainly thought it was game over. Think of this, Bayern were goal up and charged up. They had their fans behind them. All along the game, they had the ball. So it should have been quite easy for them to see through the remaining few minutes. And then Chelsea got their second corner of the game for Drogba to arise and blast a header in. 1-1 at the 88th minute.
The Bayern heads and shoulders were beginning to drop. They were getting more and more frustrated and annoyed that things weren’t going their way. They knew that he had their one hand on the trophy when Muller scored and they dropped it. Chelsea meanwhile were bouncing around with no signs of tiredness. Chelsea were mentally more prepared and alert. A penalty conceded in the extra time of a champions league final had to be conclusive. And it was. The moment Cech saved Robben’s penalty, I ‘knew’ that we were surely going to win that night. It was like Messi’s penalty miss. Even in the Barca game as soon as Messi missed the penalty, I ‘knew’ that we would go through. Here too, Robben’s miss confirmed my hope that it’s our destiny to win the champions league this season.
Penalty shoot out in a champions league final. Bayern were favourites again. Given what happened to us in Moscow, we too had to start as underdogs again. Basically the Bayern’s and Chelsea’s statuses as favourites and underdogs respectively had got renewed ahead of the shoot out. German teams don’t lose penalties, that too on their soil. And this shoot out had to be taken at the Bayern end of the stadium. As a Chelsea player, as you run up to shoot, all that’s their in the background was red, red and more red. Mata missed his penalty for us to go ‘oh no! not again’. One thing I was sure was ‘we didn’t come all this far to lose in the penalties’.
What happened after that was epic! I must admit I couldn’t bear to see the last few spot kicks. The last I saw was Lampard making it 2-3 to Chelsea. I was so tense that I just couldn’t see it. Instead I had my ears to my home theatre speakers with my eyes closed, hoping to hear the words I wanted to hear. I heard that Olic missed. I was jumping around. Sat down eyes closed, ears to the speakers for Ashley Cole smashing it in. Again I was jumping around. Again sat down eyes closed, ears to the speakers for Cech’s save of Schweinsteiger. Again I was jumping around. The match-winning spot kick from Drogba – I don’t even remember if I saw it live or not. It’s almost like it’s irrelevant. All I remember was jumping around like a mad man at around 3am in the morning. Chelsea are the Champions of Europe!
I was so relieved, exhausted, excited and ecstatic – all rolled into one. I didn’t want the night to end. Spoke to the Chelsea mates, browsed all football news websites, all football forums and blogs. I just didn’t want the night to end. By that time the re-run of the whole match had begun. Started watching that. And ended up watching the whole re-run of 120 minutes plus shoot out plus the awards ceremony and celebrations. All along, I was reading the reading the reactions from the football world for our historic win. Soon it was 6:30 am in the morning. Went to bed and was still checking news updates on my iphone and didn’t even know when I slept. When I woke up (after a few hours), I checked my mobile to see if Chelsea are European champions. I’m not joking. I did exactly that. I know many of us did!
Champions of Europe! Against all the odds, against the run of play, against incredible oppositions, despite all the absences, we have won the champions league title. This campaign should serve as a great lesson for the students and the fans of the game. I’m so so proud to be a Chelsea fan. This is the Chelsea we know and love. They just never give up, they fight till the last, their commitment can never be doubted. That’s the Chelsea we saw in the last 100 days. What a turnaround!
We ain’t got no history, eh? We are creating history! 3 premier league titles, 4 FA Cups, 2 league cups, 2 community shields and 1 champions league title. All these weren’t in the times of Winston Churchill or Margaret Thatcher. All these titles were won in the last 8 seasons. This is called creating history while others are gloating over past laurels. While we are at it – we are the first London club EVER to be crowned European champions. How about that?
We have now joined the elite group of European champions. A true milestone in the progress of the club. The Chelsea fans deserve a round of applause for the unwavering support provided in the stadia, in the pubs and on the internet. We will come back for more. Chelsea’s next challenge is to defend the trophy – something that none of the champions have been able to do. Let’s leave the challenges for later. Now is the time for rejoicing and celebration. Rest everything can wait – managerial appointment, new transfers, induction of youth, contract extensions – they all can wait. Now’s the time to enjoy and celebrate! Go nuke the world, you champions of Europe!
Hey,
Planed to watch live screening of match at pub.. planned to go goa with friends..
But, ended up in my hall all alone with few beer bottles.. Coz wasn’t 100% sure that we gonna lift trophy this year after the dramatic sacking of AVB.
YES, i was screaming.. crying.. laughing.. dancing.. after the Drogba’s penalty, called my girl(though she don’t understand A,B,C of football), called few of my friends, chelsea fans.. Most of them called me back to know that whether was still alive or not..
#KTBFFH #RESPECT #BELIEVE #OnceBlueAlwaysBlue #BornBlueDieBlue
Truly an amazing night, made even better (if such a thing can be said) watching my brothers face (he a spurs fan) as Drogba smashed the ball home!
Lovely post BC,Thanks for keeping chelseafc fans together through this site..I could not believe we were champions when I woke up this morning,I had to go online to check if actually I was not dreaming..I now believe there is an element of luck in football,even when robben was to take his penalty I felt it was over..When matata missed I said well a repeat of 2008 is here again but we did it,cos it was written in the Stars,This was chelsea’s year after several disappionments and much better teams under Ranieri and Mourinho we did it at last…I want to thank Mourinho for openly supporting his former team…
Champions! Champions! Champions!
Screaming, cheering, shouting, cursing, fist-crunching, nail-biting, jumping 4-feet above ground in front of my in laws…. And tears…… Tears of Joy…. All in the 128 minutes or so…
It wasn’t exactly written… It’s was simply an EPIC MIRACLE!!!
No words can describe the feeling we all had, it’s was magnificently magical. Regardless of our poor and confusing tactics, ignoring our un-beautiful football, we are still proud of what the team did to win this tournament. DD, LAMPS, COLE, TERRY, MIKEL, ESSIEN and even KALOU together with the rest of the team deserves it, for their never say never attitude.
I was at Stamford Bridge last week for the first time in my life after being with CFC for 19 years… And was very disappointed not to see the FA Cup 2012 trophy as it was still “on the way”… and missed the parade as I’m with the Swiss now… I’m desperately planning to detour back to London next week before heading back to Malaysia, to catch a glimpse of our 2012 achievements, so wish me luck!
BC – You pretty much summed all my thoughts and emotions. Great pics posted here and around the site. I just can’t get enough of looking at them – put a huge, beaming smile on my face everytime. I’ll tell you what: I’m definitely ordering the season-recap DVD whenever it becomes unavailable. I want to relive all of the bewildering and bat-shit moments that this season gave us. I even want to go back and watch all of the group games again just to see how we’ve progressed since that point.
I watched the game at a pub and I thought that eased the tension a bit. But it was still unbelievably tense. But at the end, when we won, the whole place went ballistic. Women were taking their shirts off and partying just in their bras. I lost my voice. Random people were hugging. It was just unbelievable.
I have now watched the game (FT+ET) about three times. I have watched the penalty shoot out about 15 times. I haven’t had enough yet.
John Obi Mikel kept telling Robben in his ears (before he took the penalty in the ET): “You’re going to miss it, Cech knows whic you’re going. You’re going I miss it surely”. And he did.
Petr Cech said: “I didn’t know what to do with Robben. Half the time he shoots to the right, half to the left. He even runs up the same way to the ball, whether he’s shooting right or left. No pattern, whatsoever. But when you’re tired, you’ve played in 104 or 105 minutes, players choose power rather than technique, rather than placing it. I thought he’d smash it somewhere near the corner and he’s left-footed. If I’m left-footed, I thought: ‘I’d go across goal’ [to the right]. Which is why I went that way.”
Petr Cech had in his possession a two-hour DVD of every single penalty Bayern have taken since 2007. His analysis had been spot?on.
Many Bayern players (incl Robben) refused to take penalties in the shootout and that’s why Neuer had to take the third penalty.
Everyone thought Roman Abramovich will finally feel relieved having won the elusive trophy but he said this to the players in the dressing room, after the champions league win: “We’ve won it. But this is just the beginning!”
Above are some of the material I’ve been tweeting this morning. Wanted to post them here as they are some really interesting stuff.
Drogba said that Mata told him before Robben taking penalty that even “if Robben scores , we have enough time to come back and score again” ..This is the kind of belief which wins such big titles .On such grand occasions simple football is not enough,the qualities like real passion and determination make miracles happen just like what we saw on 19th May.
It was wonderful, that night on the 19th of the 05th month in 2012. I was watching the game, clinging on to the faintest of hopes. Hoping against hope that a fellow Blue fan i had never met, but whose words i had read on another Chelsea supporters fourm , would come true.
He had never posted a comment online about Chelsea. He had done that on that day though. It was after the Birmingham game when AVB left. His point was that, he was “burdened” with something. He had had a dream – yep , not that one again. He described it as a leading character in the Final Destination movies would. He was from India, wasn’t too into football, just a passing fan of the Mighty Blue Army.
In his dream we had won the FA Cup and the Champions League. He prayed that, even though he is Blue through and through, he wouldn’t want to be burdened with “seeing” things. He said it was so vivid he had to share it with the forum and pray it doesnt come to true. I am not sure BC if i should mention the forum on this blog.
I couldnt believe it myself. I am a believer but never one in premonitions and psychics. But surely if it was written in the stars, you just have to wonder if there wasn’t some Mighty hand behind all of this. At times in the near history of our Club, you just have to wonder if we have not been cursed, never to win the trophy with the Big Ears. Everything seemed conspired to thwart us. From referees, to nature to UEFA officials.
All the hurt, the disappointments, the gut wrenching near misses, I just broke down when the final penalty by Drogba hit the back of the net. I was in shock. It just wasn’t supposed to happen. No single team has had to endure such misfortune just to win one single trophy.
Media men ridiculed us, pundits made jokes at our expense. According to them Chelsea is the only team “obsessed” with the Big Eared Cup and no team actually want to win but us. Sometimes even our own fans believed all the tripe fed them by these journalists whose only pleasure is to see the day Roman will walk out on the Club. They’ve been waiting for almost 10 years now and long may it continue.
No matter what you want to believe Roman Abramovic has been good for Chelsea Football Club. SHow me one single owner who has shown this much commitment to his Club. He needs our respect even if our opponents paint him in all the filth they can find.
Thank you Roman and long may the Blue Flag Fly High.
Fellow Blues, remember these days. Remember them well, cos they will be days you will be telling future generations of Blue fans. Your children and your Children’s children.
I will talk about Drogba and Robbie di Matteo later. Let’s enjoy this victory for the moment.
I love it when the haters say “The luckiest champions ever”. Well, they didn’t give a flying fu(k when we were the most unlucky team of the past decade. So, hell yeah, moan baby moan.
MatBlue – Please share the details along with the link. We all belong to the same Chelsea community after all. I don’t see a fellow Chelsea blogger or a writer as a ‘competition’. That would be absurd. I do this for passion and not for anything else. So please feel free.
The best post match comment for me was when Drogba said pointing towards Cech.. .” If you have a guy like him standing in goal… You’ve got to BELIEVE ” …. I reckon this kinda sums up for both the cup finals we have won this season… Cech+Drogba have been magnanimous… We shud enjoy this moment.. and I cudn’t agree more with RA when he says “ths is just the beginning…. We shud definitely build on this win to attract some star talents… coz i think this is the last time we can do it before the FFP kicks in….
Lets enjoy this moment… We are the freakin Champions of Europe ( I get goosebumps even when i type this)
..KTBFFH..!!!
Alright BC. You will be amazed at this. I actually never took this seriously, i went digging for the link again cos i never bookmarked it cos i didnt believe it could happen.
http://www.chelsea.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=528384
Enjoy.
Hi MatBlue! That’s really unbelievable to have ‘seen’ that in mid-March!!! Does he do that often or this was an one-off?
That’s the strange bit, it was a one off. I usually scoff at these things but i took notice when i read it. At the time it sounded even more ridiculous as we were no where near these trophies . I also refused to spread it, even here, cos i feared to jinx it. (lol, a football fan’s greatest fear). He hasn’t made anymore predictions. Lol, I dont think he will. Cheers mate.
@matblue… aft watching the UCL SF and Final and then reading this … i think we can make a movie about the last 100 days of CFC and name it Paranormal Activity 3.. Lol…
neway… my phone js didnt stop buzzin tht 19th night.. and all my friends have ganged up on me to give a treat for CFC’s win…. i guess for tht night.. normally i kinda cut a lone figure around ma friends who r either arsenal/L’pool or utd fans… but for the night…all of us wud be CFC fans… its gonna b good..
My Beloved Fellow Chelsea fans… COngrats to all of you..!!!! So bloody proud to be a cheslea fna today…
Its been 9 loong years this trophy has eluded us love it love it!!! love themoment we wontit!!
havent slept sicne saturday.. and liek BC here.. hav watch the penalties 5 times already1!
me too i almost went craizy!yelld arnd dancin with a grp of fans til dawn.i became drank yet i didnt consume any alcohol.