As far back as you look, Chelsea have always had a very special relationship with European Football.
European Cup Winners Cup x 2
UEFA Europa League x 2
UEFA Champions League x 2
UEFA Super Cup x 2
Real Madrid can keep their fourteen Champions League trophies, for it is only Chelsea Football Club who have won the four major European competition’s twice. A very prestigious, albeit very unique record to have.
The records don’t stop there though, for only three other teams have progressed through Champions League ties having lost the first leg five times. Barcelona, Real Madrid, Juventus and Chelsea. Decent company, to say the least.
The first leg in Dortmund was a strange one. As I’ve said before, I felt real anger leaving the stadium. Not directly because of the performance, more so what it meant in terms of a running theme for the team. It didn’t seem to matter how well we played orhow many chances we created, we failed to win every game without fail.
Stepping back from the game, fair play, it was a good performance. Of course, we didn’t win. But if you were to look at it purely from the stats point of view, something I hate doing particularly in isolation, it was actually a good performance. Furthermore, it was away from home, meaning we should even have an advantage in the second leg with the away goals rule being abolished.
Fast forward to Saturday’s game, at home to Leeds United. It was far from perfect, but at last a win! Something to be happy about. And yes, we didn’t score from open play. But we scored nonetheless.
Heading into Tuesday night’s game I was confident. I felt comfortable knowing that if we could put in a performance similar to the one in the first leg then we would stand a very good chance of going through. And, low and behold…
Tuesday night is second only to Monday night in terms of kick off times I’d prefer to avoid. In fact, it may even be worse simply for the fact that Monday is almost an extension of the weekend. By Tuesday, the new week has begun and it’s a sad reminder that it’s still three more days until the weekend.
After a busy day at work, I eventually found myself in SW6 at 6:45pm. Arriving at the ground straight from work, I had been reliably told by friends that I’d have to drop my work rucksack off at the grounds bag drop.
In perhaps the least expected turn of events; the bag drop was completely unfit for purpose leaving me to awkwardly make my way around the evening with a JCB rucksack.
Mercifully there was time to meet everyone for a couple of swift ones pre-game. I boldly predicted that we’d win the game 2-0 and my reasoning was clear.
Nine times out of ten, Chelsea would’ve won the first leg by two. The goal was an isolated incident where Enzo was left stranded and I knew we’d set up in such a way to avoid a reoccurrence. Furthermore, any other night and we would take at least one of the multitude of chances we created.
I have to say, the atmosphere on Tuesday night was the best I’ve seen it in a very long time. So long in fact, that I can’t pinpoint a grander occasion in recent memory. I genuine think the atmosphere on Tuesday was the best I’ve ever seen.
From the banners shown pre-game, to the crowd being behind every pass and shot that our players took it was brilliant and a huge amount of credit just be given to the various fan groups that had worked together pre-game to do just this.
Few were positioned well to see the first few minutes of the match itself and I can’t help but be impressed by the sheer number of flares that the visiting Germans were able to sneak into our away end. Despite nobody being able to see much more of than 20 yards around them, kick off was somehow allowed to go ahead as planned with the only delay being from a previous blocking of team buses.
In a repeat of the first leg, Chelsea looked excellent with every minuscule action being backed by the home crowd every step of the way.
It’s hard to even pinpoint any individuals for good performances when near enough the entire team was excellent throughout. A very rare occurrence these days but a very pleasant surprise nonetheless.
Raheem Sterling typically spent much of the game offside, however he was instrumental in opening the scoring with a very lucky, albeit well-taken goal. Unfortunately, I strongly suspect half of the ground missed this goal given they were still in rage at his initial miss.
Special credit must be given to Kai Havertz. With Jorginho moving a few miles north-west in London, it was down to our German no.29 to take on penalty duties. For years, all Chelsea fans have wanted is someone who walks up to the penalty spot and smashes the ball into the back of the net.
Unfortunately, this message didn’t get to Kai who decided to use a stop and stutter penalty in our biggest game of the season. My jaw dropped in disbelief as it smashed into the post but this angst was short lived as a swift retake was ordered. Thankfully, lightning didn’t strike twice.
I’m not sure if Enzo Fernández has emptied his pockets from Tuesday night yet, but I do hope Jude Bellingham has finally been released from captivity. Bellingham was completely outplayed by Enzo in the middle of the park and by the end of the game the occasion had well and truly got the better of him as he was reduced to needlessly shoving and scrapping with our players.
The referee’s final whistle was unsurprisingly met with jubilant celebration at full time and it was nice to hear the sweet tones of ‘One Step Beyond’ by Madness echoing round the bridge at full time. The stadium was still near enough full at this point in time which is testament to the importance of the occasion.
Despite promising to meet at the Butcher’s Hook pub post-game, the very pub Chelsea were founded from in 1905, it was just myself and dad who raised a toast to the evening’s proceedings.
It may only have been two games, but the mood around Chelsea has picked up again. It’s obvious why in some ways, we only have the Champion’s League to work with this season now and success in that was seemingly jeopardised until Tuesday night. Now we’re in the quarters and once again have something to play for I hope the form can transition back into the Premier League.
A seventh place finish isn’t impossible, and would give us a crack at the newly-formed UEFA conference league which I certainly wouldn’t be against.
Anyway, see you at Everton next Saturday.
The Shed Diaries 