1 Beating an in-form Valencia side 3-0 to reach the knockout phase with the players in revolt and manager's head on the block. 2 Coming back from 3-1 down to beat Napoli with a caretaker manager. 3 Beating Europe's greatest ever side against the odds. Playing with 10 men away from home, coming back from 2-0 down, despite losing two centre halves during the match and your captain sent off. 4 Beating the heaviest ever odds-on favourites in the final in their own yard. With four suspended, two injured CBs and a CL debutant. And beating the Germans on pens in front of their end, saving a pen in extra time and getting a late equaliser in normal time!
It's certainly been a manic period in our history. The fact we've defied all odds in every game like you say is epic in it's own right and went on to win it despite our busy fixture list.
I think we have got a strong SQUAD tbh, full of depth! Everyone has played their part but I agree with the fixture list, especially being the only ones with a jam packed schedule!
Chelsea deserved this 2012 Champions League title as we had the hardest route to the final Napoli, Benfica, Barcelona and Bayern Munich and beat them all. Before and at the start of this season pundits said whoever beats Barcelona deserves to win the Champions League. That is exactly what Chelsea did we beat the Spanish, European and World Champs holders in their own ground with 10 men. Chelsea also scored a total of 12 goals in the 2012 Champions League knock out rounds not bad for a supposedly defensive team.
Indeed. God saw Fabregas's and Ribery's dives and said I'm going to do something about that then Messi and Robben both miss their penalties. Lovely!
It was as "epic" as Greece winning 2004 IMO. Sure it was effective football in a way, and 'against the odds' at points, but not many people (besides Greeks i suppose?) mention that side in a positive light.
I think the Liverpool 05 final by itself was the most epic final but overall I think our C.L run as a whole was more epic given the teams we faced, the interim manager situation, injuries, suspensions, 'away' final etc. That Barca 2nd leg alone must go down as one of the great nights in European football for tension and drama.
Not for me. Let's be honest outside the haters and bitter journalists all of us here believed we had a chance against Barca because of our previous encounters with them and their inability to break us down. Chelsea are hugely respected in those parts because we are the only team Barca have consistently struggled to beat. I was praying for Bayern because I knew we could beat them even in Munich, we would have had no answer to Real IMO. When we got Liverpool in 05 I remember thinking they had absolutely no chance of getting past us. It was just about as confident as Ive ever been watching Chelsea and to lose to a team that finished 37 points behind us in the way we did hurt me. I am over Moscow, even over Barca in 09 but I'll never get over that semi. To beat that Chelsea team who had lost only twice all year (in all comps) and then beat the greatest Milan side since Saachi having been 3-0 down at HT is commendable and in my eyes the most epic final I've ever witnessed closely followed by 1999. I would have been balling my eyes out If I had been a Bayern or Milan fan on those nights. People talk about Chelsea's luck in Munich but Bayern could and should have scored at least 4 times before United even managed to score once. Milan could and should have been 5-0 up at half time and had a goal disallowed
Fair play to you lot giving us credit where due. There's no doubt that the run you lot had up to the final was difficult and every team needs a bit of luck to win a final. There seems to be more respect between our clubs (in general) since the FA Cup Final.
Chelsea fans have always been ones to give credit when due. When Dalglish last won the title at LFC our fans gave him a standing ovation. But familiarity breeds contempt and most of the hatred came from the meetings and our managers contempt for one another. I won't lie I used to hate Liverpool almost pathologically to the point where I would cheer on whoever they were playing even West Ham and Spurs. Still don't like Liverpool but my respect for them went up after the 4-4 in the CL QF and even moreso when Benitez left. Since then I've not found it in me to hate you guys as much but have always had a begrudging respect for Liverpool as a club. Right, now just need a corner to throw up after saying that
