Chelsea’s elusive Holy Grail
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.
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Many believed that this could be Chelsea’s year to win the competition, as we proved a tough side to crack, however, we was drawn against Liverpool once again, something we was all to familiar with. With the tie leading to penalties at Afield, the slice of luck that you need to win the Champions league eluded us, and we was knocked out on penalties, with heart-ache and misery felt for all the Chelsea fans, players and the head coach Mourinho.
This would prove to be Chelsea’s last full Champions League tournament with Jose Mourinho as he left by ‘mutual consent’ in September 2007. This left us with one of the most unlikely of choices of manager, Avram Grant. Although the fans struggled to warm to Avram at first, he would prove to be the manager who would take us all the way to the Champions League Final in Moscow, the first in Chelsea’s history. This campaign would see us beat Olympiacos, Fenerbache and finally Liverpool, who were dealt a much needed revenge win after the previous years when they had captured the wins against us. This led us to the final in Moscow; the Holy Grail was finally insight, as John Terry led the boys out, in what is the biggest night in the clubs history.
The tie ended 1-1 after 90minutes, extra time had to be called upon, with all Chelsea fan’s desperately hoping it wouldn’t have to go to penalties. It did! Drogba was sent off late into extra time, meaning he wouldn’t be available to take a penalty, leaving certain brave Chelsea players to step up and take one for the team. It got to Chelsea’s fifth penalty with our captain, our leader, our legend, Terry stood up to take what could have been the winning penalty.
Unfortunately, we all know what happened after that, a moment that I have not seen since the game. Another European campaign leaving Chelsea with nothing to celebrate, but as a Chelsea fan I am still incredibly proud to have seen my club compete in the Champions League Final, something myself, family and friends thought we would never get to see as Blues fans.
After the disappointment and heartbreak of the Final, Avram Grant was relieved of his post and Luiz Felipe Scolari was to take over. We all know what happened with Scolari, what we really want to talk about is the man who took over Chelsea on a temporary basis, Guus Hiddink.
Hiddink will always be thought of very highly around The Bridge despite the fact he was only with us a short period of time. Under the former Holland coach our results improved, which came at the right time for a visit to Anfield, as we had come to know so well. After an excellent performance at Liverpool, which saw us win 3-1, we took them back to The Bridge, in what would be one of the most exciting matches in Chelsea’s Champions League history.
After we played out a 4-4 draw on the night, we went through to the next round on an amazing score line of 7-5 on aggregate, after 2-legs that I will never forget. Confidence was high and with the new leadership of Hiddink and Chelsea legend Ray Wilkins working well; we lined up to face a talented Barcelona side.
First up was a trip to the Nou Camp, as we became the first team not to concede their all season with a 0-0. We headed back to London, convinced we would finally triumph and win the trophy. We took the lead in the second-leg after a perfect Michael Essien volley and led until the dying moments. An Andres Iniesta strike, gave Barcelona the crucial away goal that they needed, which meant they went through to the final.
But that night will not be remembered for the great goals or performances, it will be remembered for the abysmal referee decisions by Tom Henning Øvrebø. The Norwegian missed numerous penalty shouts, which would have given Chelsea (if converted) a 3-1 or perhaps even 4-1 win. It left the Chelsea fans, pundits, journalists and football managers shocked to see such poor refereeing in such a high profile, important match. A night that no one will forget for all the wrong reasons…
Another year, another manager for Chelsea as Carlo Ancelotti was announced as the Italian took the helm in the summer of 2009. He won 2 European cups as Milan’s cheif and we hoped he’d do the same for the Blues.
Everything went to plan in the group stages but we were then drawn against Mourinho’s Inter Milan, the first time we would meet Mourinho since he left in controversial circumstances in 2007. The tale of the two legs in these matches will be remembered by me personally for how tactically outclassed we was against Inter and how we was made to look like a Conference side at home. We did not deserve to progress this year and were left more disappointed with our performance in the second leg than anything else.
This brings me on to this year, with the final being held at our second home Wembley Stadium. I write this piece following our 1-0 home defeat to Manchester United in the week, a couple of days prior to the second-leg at Old Trafford. I feel the score-line still means we have it all to play for and will not go down without a fight. We have a very good record against United at Old Trafford and I hope this will continue. With Alex and Yossi Benayoun back, we have an injury free squad, competition for places and our form is picking up after a considerably slow season this year.
Do we have enough to secure the Champions League this year, in a year that our Premier League title has all but slipped away from us? I’m being optimist and think we can!
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