MY MOST MEMORABLE FINAL EVER.
My most memorable final has to be the 2011/2012 UEFA
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL, which featured BAYERN MUNICH FOOTBALL CLUB of Germany
against CHELSEA FOOTBALL CLUB of England. Chelsea's march to the
final was impressive, to say the least. Following a 3:1 loss to Napoli in the
round of sixteen first leg which led to coach Andres Villas-Boas being sacked,
assistant coach Roberto Di Matteo was put in temporary charge and he sparked a
revival, starting with a 4:1 win over Napoli in the reverse leg.
They went on
to dismiss Benfica in the quarter finals before setting up an encounter with Catalan
giants, Barcelona. Despite being tagged as under dogs, the Blues edged out
Barcelona 3:2 on aggregate.
With
Barcelona eliminated, the stage was set for a titanic battle even though Bayern
Munich were still overwhelming favourites despite Chelsea's heroics against
Barcelona in the semi-finals.
Chelsea went
into the game with many problems of their own. For instance, Branislav Ivanovic
and John Terry were ruled out of the game. They then had to field the likes of
Jose Bosingwa and Ryan Bertrand. Bayern Munich started excellently and Chelsea
were repeatedly rescued by the heroics of Petr Cech, together with a combination
of good defending by the likes of Gary Cahill, David Luiz, John Mikel Obi, and
Ashley Cole.
Bayern
Munich however took a deserved lead when Thomas Muller headed in a cross from
the left wing in the 83rd minute. Chelsea however managed to drag themselves
into the game when Didier Drogba headed in Juan Mata's well taken corner. Chelsea
thought it was all over when Didier Drogba's irrational tackle on Franck Ribery
led to a penalty. Arjen Robben, who was guilty of having wasted several chances
in the game, steeped forward to take the penalty. It turned out to be a poorly
taken one and Petr Cech saved.
The game
went on to extra time, and subsequently, penalty shootout. Juan Mata missed for Chelsea, while the likes
of David Luis, Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard all converted theirs. Philip Lahm, Thomas
Muller, and Mario Gomez all scored for Bayern while Ivica Olic and Bastian
Schweinsteiger missed, setting the stage for Ivorien power house, Didier Drogba
scored to hand over the title to Chelsea, their first UCL title since they came
into existence.
All in all, the game was very memorable as the
rule of "the better team always wins" was set aside.
👍
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