Sunday, May 20, 2012

Chelsea the new Champion of Europe.


           Didier Drogba scores from the spot & history is created for The Blues at Allianz Arena lastnight, they have won the 2011-12 Champions League after a gripping 4-3 win over Bayern Munich on penalties. Europe get new champions, Chelsea reach in the UEFA Champions League hall of fame, disaster for the German giant Bayern Munich in front of their homecrowd. It is the most awaited dreamfinal for the supporters of Bayern Munich, since this Champions league started they wanted to see their team to play the final in the home & lift the trophy. Since the 87th minute of the match everything was going like fairytales for The Bavarians, but the African lion Didier Drogba spoilted the entire rhythm for the holders just after that, the Ivorian equalizes the match in the death of the schedule time, scores the decider in penalty shoot-out for the visitors, guides Chelsea towards their first ever major European triumph in front of their Russian owner Roman Abhrahimovic, puts the entire homecrowd into silence.
               The Bavarians does everything apart from winning the match only, just imagine in schedule 90 minutes Bayern have occupied 16 corners, failed to convert none of them while the Chelsea side managed to have 2 corners only, the scored from one of them. The German side started to dominate the entire midfield on behalf of Schweinsteiger, Ribery & Tony Croos from the beginning of the game. They had 57% ball possession while Chelsea had 43% only.
          Every article of creating a marvellous thriller was present in the Allianz Arena lastnight. Di Matteo changes his strategy relatively since last few matches, Chelsea are in a fair bit of open & aggressive, they always composed counter attacks & made a mess in Bayern defence several times & the Englishman Ashley Cole was reacting like a wall & leading the entire defence throughout the entire match in the absence of their captain John Terry
        Thomas Muller's 83rd minute header following a through ball from left side had earlier appeared likely to give Bayern victory on their home ground, Toni Kroos curled in a cross from the left and Cole seemed unaware of Muller's presence behind him at the back post as the Germany international's header bounced down and over Cech before going in off the underside of the crossbar.
       Bayern brought on Daniel van Buyten in a bid to shut the game down, but were punished with two minutes left when Drogba powerfully headed home at the near post from Chelsea's first corner of the game. Only for Drogba's stunning riposte to send the game into extra-time.Drogba blotted his copybook by conceding a penalty early into extra-time, only for Petr Cech to deny Arjen Robben Drogba completed his redemption by maintaining his composure in the shoot-out.
Di Matteo sent Chelsea out with a game-plan to contain Bayern and, for the most part, the policy worked as Jupp Heynckes' side sought to pick holes in a resolute defence.
Midway through the first half, Robben wriggled into space inside the box, but the former Chelsea winger was denied by a smart reaction stop from Cech, who diverted the ball onto the post.
Mario Gomez, who had scored 20 goals in his previous 17 Champions League appearances, was enduring a frustrating night and he skied over just before half-time as Bayern remained the dominant force.
The second half followed the same pattern as the first as a marginal offside decision against Franck Ribery went Chelsea's way when the French winger turned home the loose ball after Robben's shot had been blocked by Ashley Cole.
Drogba looked primed to go from hero to villain three minutes into extra-time when he tripped Ribery in the box, but Cech spared the striker as he kept out former team-mate Robben's low penalty.
After the extra time match heads towards tie-breaker, Bayern had numerous chances to wreck the dream of Chelsea, but they failed to utilised chances.
1.      Philipp Lahm takes the first penalty for Bayern and scores
2.      Juan Mata takes the first penalty for Chelsea and misses
3.      Mario Gomez takes the second penalty for Bayern and scores
4.      David Luiz takes the second penalty for Chelsea and scores
5.      Manuel Neuer takes the third penalty for Bayern and scores
6.      Frank Lampard takes the third penalty for Chelsea and scores
7.      Ivica Olic takes the forth for Bayern and misses
8.      Ashley Cole takes the forth for Chelsea and scores
9.      Bastian Schweinsteiger takes the last penalty for Bayern and misses
10.  Didier Drogba takes the last penalty for Chelsea and scores


Beating Bayern Munich in Allianz Arena is not a easy task for an opponent like Chelsea, it can be easily compared like killing a lion in its own den. Chelsea finish sixth, 25 points behind of champion Man City in EPL tally so this win was desperately needed for Chelsea for qualifying next year’s Champion League.
Who knows this win might convert interim Di Matteo to a permanent manager for the upcoming season, Drogba made the final swansong for Chelsea very well.

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