For many years now Chelsea have been chasing the dream of capturing there first ever Champions League trophy. The west London club have encountered triumph and heartache in this competition, with some unforgettable nights at Stamford Bridge.
Some say that you always need that little but of luck to win the competition, a decision to go your way, a penalty shout or a controversial goal to be given, but unfortunately for Chelsea luck has never been on their side in this competition.
The journey began in August 1999, when we took the Champions league by storm in our debut season in the competition. We convincingly made the quarter finals that year, coming up against Barcelona, which is something we are all too familiar with nowadays. Amazingly, we beat them 3-1 at The Bridge, however we succumbed to their great power and skill in the second-leg losing 5-1, on the night and 6-4 on aggregate.
Also, I cannot talk about our debut season in this inaugural competition without mentioning Dennis Wise’s fantastic goal against AC Milan, which is still chanted from the stands to this day. This journey would stay with us forever and made us more determined to return to the competition in the future.
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After years of being very close to the Champions league qualifying places in the league we finally qualified again on the last day of the season after beating Liverpool 2-1 at Stamford Bridge back in May 2003. The Reds were also battling for the fourth spot, but Jesper Grokjaer’s winner left them without Champions League football for the following season.
So, it was 2003 and we were about to make our return to the competition that held us so many great memories years before. This was the year Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea Football Club and spent over £100million to strengthen the squad for not only the upcoming campaign in the Premier League but the Champions League as well. We made the semi-finals that year, but after some controversial decisions to say the least from Claudio Ranieri we were knocked out by AS Monaco, which ultimately led to the Italian’s dismissal paving the way for the self proclaimed ‘Special One’ Jose Mourinho. That cup run did provide us with a very memorable night at Highbury that no one will ever forget when we knocked them out in the quarter-final stage, with Wayne Bridge cementing a place in Chelsea’s folklore with the winning goal.
The following season gave us a change of manager with Jose Mourinho taking the helm at Stamford Bridge, with his eyes firmly set on not only domestic success but also European, just as he achieved with Porto the previous year. Many new faces came in to Chelsea, with a high turn over of players, as Jose looked to build his own team and take certain elements of Ranieri’s in the process, giving us our first title in 50 years. In the last 16 knockout round we were drawn against Barcelona. The first-leg saw us lose 2-1, with Didier Drogba controversially sent off.
However, Chelsea returned to Stamford Bridge and beat Barcelona 4-2, in a thrilling match, with our captain John Terry scoring the winner. We beat German side Bayern Munich in the quarter-final and this set up a semi-final with fellow English team Liverpool. A 0-0 draw is all Chelsea could achieve in the first-leg, but we then went out to a Luis Garcia goal in the away second-leg at Anfield, leaving the chance of winning the trophy a dream for another year.
In the 2005-06 season Chelsea were drawn in the same group as defending European champions Liverpool, which meant we finished second in the group to Liverpool. This led us to a last 16 draw with the team that we had knocked out the following season FC Barcelona, only this time they were set out for revenge. After a 2-1 loss in the first-leg at The Bridge, we achieved a credible 1-1 draw at the Nou Camp, however this was not enough, as the Catalans went through 3-2 on aggregate.
Nice piece. I have a question, what do you think might have happened to the team that campaigned 08/09(Hiddink-that got to semi-final), 09/10 and 10/11(Ancelloti- that was, as you put it, tactically outclassed)? Yeah, it is Ancelloti. And do you sincerely think his tactical nous has changed well enough to overturn the deficit we are in right now? I DO NOT THINK SO. If we achieve anything it will boil down to the players themselves. I do sincerely wish and hope that Carlo will disappoint me and shame my analysis here.