VICTORY FOR CHELSEA

VICTORY FOR CHELSEA
        History was made and word of football shaken as Chelsea FC. Was crowned European Champions, on 19th may 2012. It would be recalled that the closest the London club has ever gone was a final appearance in 2008 in Moscow, against archrivals, Manchester United FC, with “Red Devils” carrying the day. Therefore, the “Roman Abramovic Army” came out, firing from all cylinders this time. But their chances seemed bleak in round sixteen, when they were defeated 3-1 by Napoli in Naples.
         This led to the production of a more determined Chelsea team as they over turned the table, beating Napoli 4-1 at Stamford Bridge in the return leg, thereby qualifying 5-4 on aggregate. The team had an easy ride over Benfica of Portugal in the quarter finals defeating them 0-1(away) and 2-1 at home, thereby setting up a tantalizing semi-final with defending champions FC Bercelona of Spain. The first encounter, which took place in England, saw the blues came out with 0-1 score line(albeit difficulty), despite the many threats from the reigning world footballer of the year, Lionel Messi, ‘midfield maestro’, Xavi Hernandez and ‘defence breaker’, Andres Iniesta. But the absence of the towering defence ace, Gerrard Pique, meant that there was a crack in Bercelona defence which ‘goals merchant’ Didier Drogba aptly utilized via across from hardworking Brazilian Remires.
          The return leg at Nou camp was by no means an easy task for the London club as Bercelona scored twice within the first thirty minutes from kick off. Again, Remires came to the rescue, scoring in the last minutes of stoppage time, meaning that should the game end like that, Chelsea would proceed to the finals on away goal rules. But then, Bercelona continued to mount pressure until late into the second half, when substitute, Fernando Torres scored to make it 2-2 which was the last straw that broke the camel’s back. Thus, the road was opened for Chelsea to play in the final against Bayern Munich FC of Germany, ironically on their home soil. The game was tension laden with the home team making dangerous incursions into Chelsea’s goal area but the defenders were equal to the task, as the first half ended goalless. With the avalanche of stars at Bayern’s disposal, one would have expected them to score, immediately the second half began they kept wasting their chances until Thomas Muller scored in 83rd minute, sending Bayern fans into wild jubilation but Didier Drogba once again rose to the occasion as he scored in the 88th minute to push the game to extra time. This was also eventful as Bayern continued their pressure, which led to Frank Ribery being brought down inside the Chelsea box by Didier Drogba only for Arjen Robben to miss the spot kick. The game was therefore to be decided by penalty shootout. Philip Lahm who missed his kick against Real Madrid CF in the semi-final was the first to play for Bayern and he made no mistake about it. Then came Juan Mata who shot directly into the hand of Bayern goal keeper, Manuel Neure. Others like Frank Lampard, David Luis and Ashley Cole scored for Chelsea, while Ivica Olic and Bastian Schweinsteger(who shot them into the finals) both missed their kicks, paving way for Didier Drogba to shoot Chelsea into glory, which brought smiles to the faces of the club owner, board members, coach, players and fans alike.