10 years ago Today, Chelsea won the Champions League | This is the short story of Chelsea’s Miracle of Munich.
10 years ago Today, Chelsea won the Champions League.
The drama of that night in mid-May will undoubtedly grab attention, but Chelsea's road to the final had been long and winding.
Even to get out of their group, Andre Villas-Boas' squad had struggled. Valencia would have been eliminated from the competition early if they had not been beaten in the section's last game. Before kick-off, John Terry and Didier Drogba (who was in the final year of his contract) addressed the players in a huddle, with the Spanish side eventually seen off comfortably.
With his job on the line, Villas-Boas left Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard, and Fernando Torres out of the opening leg of their last-16 encounter against Napoli. His team was swamped, and if replacement Cole had not cleared the line late in the game, Naples would have been left with a 4-1 deficit to overcome. Di Matteo subsequently said, was "the most critical event in our Champions League campaign."
By the time Chelsea hosted the return, the Italian had been appointed caretaker manager, and the Premier League team produced an unexpected comeback, with experienced people playing as if this was their final game at this level. Branislav Ivanovic scored the game-winning goal in extra time to give his team a 5-4 aggregate victory. In that atmosphere, their quarter-final victory against Benfica seemed easy.
Then came Barcelona.
An unlikely first leg win.
Second leg at the Nou Camp, With the visitors down 2-0 in first-half stoppage time, Gary Cahill injured his hamstring and Terry was sent out for kicking out at Alexis Sanchez. Ramires' magnificent chip secured a crucial away goal in the last minutes before the break, but it was all backwards from there.
A questionable backline – full-backs Ivanovic and Jose Bosingwa ended up as centre-halves, with Ramires filling in at right-back. Drogba was penalized for tripping Cesc Fabregas, resulting in a penalty kick, which Lionel Messi slammed against the crossbar.
Torres storming alone into enemy territory in stoppage time to collect Cole's blasted clearing and convert to end Barcelona's chances.
The players and staff involved relive the magic of that victory over Bayern Munich in 2012...
19/05/2012
10 years later, and we still remember that game as if it was yesterday.
The greatest night in history of Chelsea Football Club.
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