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It’s probably reading Chelsea’s current situation too much to think that on the 10th anniversary of the Blues’ iconic Champions League triumph over Bayern Munich in 2012, the end of the Roman Abramovich era couldn’t have been better. summed up only tonight.
Few words can do it justice, the twists and turns, the tension I still feel watching the game today, a feeling that no other replay of a major game has given me. He symbolized a golden generation of Chelsea players and, more broadly, how he cinematically concluded a nearly 10-year pursuit for the Holy Grail.
Winning the Champions League in the Allianz is unlikely to be dominated by a future Royal Blue side, simply for the power of what it was the first time around and the chaotic series of events that led to its end. this dreamy May night.
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I wasn’t in Munich, but I knew several who were, some who had traveled to Germany without a ticket, only to watch the game in fan zones larger than the local Bayern fans. After Didier Drogba’s penalty, it was amazing that evening to go out into the streets of my neighborhood to soak up the joy around Stamford Bridge.
The most hilarious thing is that a supporter just in his underwear came out of his apartment to hug me and my father, two people he had never met before. I haven’t seen the man since, but that night every Chelsea fan was in sync. We had all felt the pain of the phantom goal, the heartbreak of the Moscow penalty and the disgrace of a certain official’s performance in 2009.
Although the 2021 triumph was very emotional, the journey to it was measured and controlled, as was the eventual victory over Manchester City. Thomas Tuchel’s side had been assured defensively, ruthless at the break and rarely seemed in danger of collapsing. The final reflected how far we’ve come, just like the 2012 final – but in the opposite direction.
From the return of the second leg against Napoli after André Villas-Boas was sacked, there was endless drama. The most convincing of wins over Benfica in the quarter-finals saw Chelsea survive a deluge of attacks in the first leg, also seeing a fiery comeback in the second.
Both matches against Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona will go down in Chelsea folklore, with the second triggering a set of circumstances that would have seen most teams in Europe. Trailing 2-0, a captain was sent off and crashed out against the reigning European champions. The Spanish giants were expected to comfortably end the dream.
But then a pass from Frank Lampard in first-half stoppage time and a Ramires chip from the sky later, and everything changed. Like the eventual final, it was 45 minutes of endless stress, made worse by one of two penalties conceded by Drogba in the final two rounds, both of which were missed by two of the competition’s best players, Lionel Messi and Arjen Robben.
Fernando Torres’ goal in itself is worth its own coin, a moment that many believe will keep the Spaniard on the right side of Chelsea’s hearts forever, even if his £50m move never brought the wealth we hoped for, that goal will be replayed for generations, something very few players can achieve in a career.
Didier Drogba, for some, is considered Chelsea’s greatest. On May 19, 2012, he catapulted himself onto the faces of Mount Rushmore in Chelsea. With a flick of his head and a flick of his right boot, he had gone from legend to icon, symbolically finding Lampard and John Terry for a hug during the assured celebrations. Three names, along with Petr Cech, helped define an unprecedented era in Blues history.
One who, as the club enters an uncertain future, will forever bring joy to fans on replay. 2012 best symbolized the Abramovich era for all its flaws and troubles, but its overriding success. It was frenetic and, at times, cobbled together, with Ryan Bertrand starting his first Champions League game on the night of the final.
An interim to Roberto Di Matteo taking an underperforming and lacking direction team into a team that would continue to take the final step that seemed out of reach as key players aged and the team looked weaker than its peak under Jose Mourinho in the mid-2000s.
As we close the book on the Abramovich era, the phrase that keeps coming up is chaos and trophies, two very fitting words for the past 19 years and few games sum this up better than the night Chelsea won the Champions League for the first time.
