Chelsea FC-True Blue

As the manager search continues, lets take a look at those who are now favourites for the job. Mark Hughes, Roberto Mancini, Luiz felipe Scolari are the three who are high on the list.

Mark Hughes is a former Chelsea player and was a fans favorite back in his three years at the club. A astute tactician, he has done extremely well to take Blackburn to their present heights. Appointing him gives the club and the board some time from the media. But he has no Champions League experience whatsoever. And also whether he will allow Roman to interfere in his transfer targets and team selection is another question.

Roberto Mancini is the ex-head coach of Inter Milan and was sacked a few days ago. He has certainly proved his quality with Inter where he has won three consecutive Scudetto's. But he has failed spectacularly in the Champions League with the same club. For a owner who wants the biggest prize more than anything else, it surely poses some doubts. His idea of defensive football also wouldn't convince Roman.

Luiz Felipe Scolari is currently the national team coach of Portugal. He has won the World Cup with Brazil in 1992. An passionate of attacking football, he surely won't be going away from that policy should Chelsea appoint him. But he dislikes media, their pressure and so on. Whether he will be able to handle the high pressures that will come when managing Chelsea is a serious doubt.

Finally, looking at these three, Rijkaard still seems to better of them in every department. I would certainly not want Mancini and Scolari. So Hughes would be the choice to go if its not Rijkaard.

Henk Ten Cate, the assistant manager has been sacked. The club website has confirmed that his contract will be terminated immediately. He is sacked after joining the club in October, 2007. It seems like no one can ever predict what is going on at the club right now because, I believe that Peter Kenyon, the Chief Executive has lost his mind. Back in September he and the owner choose to appoint an unknown guy called Avram Grant to one of the biggest jobs in world football and then pays a compensation to get the services of Ten Cate, who was at Ajax. Kenyon said at that time that Grant is the man to take us forward, blah, blah, blah. After eight months, two cup final appearances and a second place finish, he thinks that Grant is not the right man for the job. Grant gets a cool $10m pay off for his eight month work.

A week before, Ten Cate said that his position at the club was safe and that he had received assurances from Kenyon that he will remain in the job. Today he is sacked. I am not saying that Ten Cate is the best manager or assistant coach in the world so that we must be worried of his departure. If he is not the right man, then why appoint him in the first place. Is Kenyon trying to turn us into, The Real Madrid of England ?.

How fitting it was for John Terry, Captain of his country on the night and exactly seven days after missing the crucial penalty in the CL final, to score the first goal of the match against USA in Wembley. It was another flawless performance from him, as England manager Fabio Capello was very impressed with his performance. JT, scored from another David Beckham free kick on 38th minute. He said that he dedicated his goal to all Chelsea fans. To come back strongly from such a disappointment and put in a performance like that, I think that this is what makes him such a great character. A real leader on and off the pitch who always gives 100% and will throw his body in the line to help the team.

Didier Deschamps, former Monaco and Juventus manager has claimed that he is on the shortlist of four managers to replace Avram Grant as the manager of Chelsea FC. The former French international who won both the 98' World Cup and Euro 2000 is currently out of work after leaving Juventus. A former Chelsea player, he spent one season with the blues, winning the FA cup in 2000.

He is well known as a manager for leading French outfit Monaco to the Champions League final in 2004 where they lost to Jose Mourinho's Porto. He then took over at Juventus, who were in Serie B following their relegation due to match fixing. He led them back to Serie A immediately the following season, but parted them soon afterwards.

Guus Hiddink and Mancini are both out of contention after they publicly stated that they were happy with their present roles. The four man short-list is said to be comprised of Frank Rijkaard, Mark Hughes, Didier Deschamps and Luiz Felipe Scolari. If a manager of the class of Rijkaard is available you appoint him immediately. He is young, proven at the top level, plays attacking football, what more can you ask? If i were Peter Kenyon, I would definitely do that.

Grant's fairy stale story as Chelsea manager is over, as the club today confirmed that they have decided to end his contract with immediate effect. He wasn't the right man for the job in the first place. It can be rightly called as a hasty decision, more like Steve Mclaren's appointment as England manager. Yes, he has taken the title race to the wire, guided Chelsea to the first ever Champions League final appearance, but at the end of the day, when so much money has been invested it is not about finishing second or the way you finish second. Its about winning trophies. And at the end of the day, Grant has WON NOTHING. I believe that this was what ultimately convinced Roman Abramovich and Peter Kenyon to sack him after only eight months of his appointment.

Grant will be having no worries about this because he had nothing to lose. No reputation, No CV etc. We could have won three trophies easily this season if it was not due to his tactical inadequacies. The Carling Cup final against Tottenham where he played the players out of position and ended up losing, against Aston Villa, Tottenham, Everton, Wigan in the league were he failed to kill off the games only for it to come back to haunt. The list goes on. In the end, he was totally a wrong choice. But I give him credit for atleast stablizing what seemed like a very bad season and turned it into a fair one.

Lets hope that the Kenyon and Abramovich learn from their mistakes and bring in someone who has the potential and CV to manage a big club like Chelsea. Possible name mentioned are Frank Rijkaard, Guus Hiddink, Sven Goran Eriksson. I would love to see Frank Rijkaard for the wonderful football he brings with him.

Robinho has admitted that he has an offer from Chelsea and A.C Milan. to Stamford Bridge, according to the player and his agent. Chelsea are prepared to pay £28million to bring Real Madrid star RobinhoRobinho's agent has said,

"I met Peter Kenyon, Chelsea managing director, in London on Thursday. He told me that they (Chelsea) were considering making an offer of 35 million euros for Robinho."

"What could happen is that I could go to Chelsea, as I have an offer from them," Robinho added.

footballers is that when things are going well, they are fantastic. They party all day long but nobody complains about it. It is only when things don't go according to plan that everything goes wrong. The whole team comes into the media spotlight for the wrong reasons. Stories which may not be true gets spread around. The best example of this can be Now, Robinho is a fantastic player, no doubt about that. But the thing with these brazilianRonaldinho and Adriano. Further is he really worth £28million. I doubt it. Maybe around £20m may be a fair evaluation.

On the positive note, he is truly a fantastic player with a lot of skills and pace. Plays in a similar position to Kalou. A good finisher. He is one of the few flair player who can fit into the 4-3-3 system that is in practice. Do you think he can be a success? I think so. But given the price there will be huge pressure on him.

Is it the end of Avram Grant's short reign as Chelsea manager. Chelsea's Chief Executive, Peter Kenyon, is refusing to confirm that Grant will remain as the manager next season after the first trophy less season since the arrival of Russian billionaire, Roman Abramovich. Nobody has supported him since the day one he took over from Jose Mourinho, but if you take a look back at the season as a whole it has been fantastic, except that there has been no trophies. We were in the Carling Cup final, Quarterfinals of the FA cup, went into the last day of the Premier League season level on points with United and nearly beat them in the Champions League final, except for a small slip by John Terry.

On the other hand, he does not even have the proper coaching badges and if he were to remain in charge for another year then it would be another transitional period for the club. Everybody gets a huge lift when a great manager like Frank Rijkaard, Marcello Lippi, Guus Hiddink, Van Basten takes over. And that is what needed at the moment, after two years which have been not so good.

The next major change that is expected is the huge clear out. At the moment there are 28 senior squad members alone and to be fair it is quite large. Kenyon has said that the squad will be trimmed to 25 players and three high quality signings will be added. Drogba, Carvalho, Malouda, Belletti, Sidwell, Pizarro, Ben Haim are all expected to leave. Frank Ribery, Rafeal Van Der Vaart, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Amauri, David Villa, Micah Richards are some of the names that we are interested. It is going to be a very busy summer in West London.

Manchester United 1 Chelsea 1 (6-5 penalties)
Man Utd Goals: Ronaldo 26
Chelsea Goals: Lampard 45
Sent off: Drogba 116
Well, the season's over. Our last chance to get a silverware this season ended in disappointed. The way in which we lost was the most disappointing. Losing after the final whistle is one thing and losing in a penalty shootout is another. We were awful in the first half and could have gone into the break 3-0 down, but for some excellent keeping from Petr Cech kept us in the game. But he could not prevent Ronaldo from heading into the net. Then came a moment of fortune for us when Essien's shot deflected of two Man Utd players and Lampard, like ever scored by his trademark runs. We had got out of jail. They had a plan to play Ronaldo on the left with Essien and it payed dividends. Essien is not a defender and he proved that. Lampard and Ballack failed to close down Carrick and Scholes and hence as a result of which they controlled the match in the first half.

The equalizer seemed to give us more confidence and we played far far better and were looking more likely to score. Avram Grant changed the way we closed down and it payed dividends, as we were the controlling team in the second half, Carrick and Scholes who were previously attacking were forced into defensive. Drogba had a superb shot which was prevented from going in only by the post. If it had gone in there would have been very little time for United to come back. But it stayed that way for 90 minutes and finally extra time came.

In extra time it looked like one of the days when nothing goes in for you when Frank Lampard struck the crossbar this time. Then in the pouring rain we allowed ourselves back into trouble when a unnecessary fight over a throw-in resulted in Drogba, possibly playing his last game for the club was sent off. Then match with tired legs out there looked like going to penalty shoot-outs, which is what exactly happened. Grant took off Makelele and brought on Belletti to take the penalties.

1.) Defender Ashley Cole badly injured his ankle during training when Claude Makelele jumped into him in a two footed tackle. Makelele is 35 years old and is one of the experienced member of the squad. Now why is there a need to tackle such a important person in such a manner ahead of the biggest game of the season. He must have truly lost his mind.

Even though Wayne Bridge is on stand by, Cole is a defender, even though not in his best form, can stop Christiano Ronaldo. He has done it time and time again in the past and is certainly one member of the squad you can't afford to lose.

2.) The probable team line up up to now is as follows in a 4-3-3 formation.

1.) Inter Milan are reported to have agreed a four year deal with Frank Lampard, whose contract runs out in a year. These reports have been claimed rubbish by Lampard's agent. Reports about Lampard switching clubs now will most probably not be true because it is widely believed that Lampard will go to a club where former manager Jose Mourinho takes up his job.

2.) Petr Cech suffered a severe skull fracture last season. Dailymail has revealed the pictures of the MRI scan for the first time. The picture shows the extent of his injury. Image Courtesy: Dailymail

3.) Ahead of the Champions league final it is revealed that the pitch will not be good as there has been trouble in maintaining the pitch at top condition due to Russia's climate. So a free flowing football match is unlikely to be seen. One can expect a game more like last years FA Cup Final.

4.) John Terry, Ricardo Carvalho, Didier Drogba have all recovered from their injuries and are expected to start.

5.) The Referee for the Champions League final has been announced as Slovakian Lubos Michel. He is famous for awarding the 'Ghost Goal' for Liverpool against us in the semifinals in 2005. Chelsea have lost both the games he has officiated, both by the same margin of a single goal. The defeats were against Liverpool and Werder Bremen.

Chelsea take on Manchester United in the final of the biggest Club competition in the world, The Champions League. This match even though taking place in Moscow, looks like a home match as this is the place where Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich grew up as a orphan to make his billions. The match takes place at Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow in the same conditions as like last year's FA Cup Final when United had won the league and we had only the league cup. This time around though the League Cup is also missing. In fact the Trophy Cabinet is empty this year. This might help us more since we head into the game hungrier of the two. If we don't win the match then this would be the first trophy less full season since the arrival of Roman Abramovich.

Ahead of the build up to this game, Wayne Rooney and Nemanja Vidic have both come out and branded Drogba as diver in the same manner as Rafa Benitez, who before the semifinal said the same. We all know how he was left Red-faced after the match, seeing Drogba's impressive performance. Lets hope for a similar fiery performance by Drogba. Chelsea's line-up is all but known in a 4-3-3 with the only doubt being whether it will be Malouda or Kalou on the left flank. United's line-up is the ony surprise with Alex ferguson having to decide whether to go with the usual 4-4-2 or the 4-3-3 they opt in the Champions League.

Slovakian Lubos Michel has been named as the match referee. He is the referee who awarded Liverpool the famous 'Ghost Goal' in the semi's against us in 2005. Chelsea have lost both the matches that he has officiated in by a single goal margin. Will this be a third time lucky? Can we get our first Champions League Trophy? Wednesday's match is sure to provide all the answers.

On 21st May, 2008, Chelsea face Manchester united in the Champions League final. Before previewing the game itself lets take a look back at some of the key moments during this wonderful journey to Moscow.

1.) Chelsea 1 - Rosenberg 1
This was the match that everyone will remember as Jose Mourinho's last match in charge as a Chelsea manager. The Portuguese coach left by mutual consent within 24hrs after the end of the match, which was witnessed by a half full Stamford Bridge.

2.) Valencia 1- Chelsea 2
This is the match which is considered as a turning point in Chelsea's season. After losing to Manchester United and draws against Fulham and Blackburn, this was new manager Avram Grant's first major victory. It was made memorable by goals from Joe Cole and Drogba to come back from behind.

3.) Chelsea 2- Fenerbahce 0
Micheal Ballack and Frank Lampard scored at the start and end respectively to help overturn a first leg deficit into a victory to send us through to the Semifinal stage of the Competition.

4.) Liverpool 1- Chelsea 1
This is probably the most important of all. Having been on the losing side against Liverpool in the previous two meeting we somehow managed to come away with a lucky draw thanks to a 93rd minuted own goal by Riise which turned the whole face of the return leg in our favour.

5.) Chelsea 3- Liverpool 2
With the decisive second leg at home we started as favourites to go through. Drogba gave us a first half lead, which was cancelled out in the second half by Torres. The game then went into extra time in which Frank lampard scored from the penalty spot and Drogba got his second of the night to send us through to our first ever Champions League Final.

Here he goes again. Drogba is certainly on of the best strikers in the world, but when it comes to keeping his mouth shut he is certainly not one of the guys you can trust. Just a week before the Champions League final, the striker comes and confesses that there is only one club in the world that he would like to play for, A.C Milan. He has also revealed that he had a secret meeting with them two years ago even when Mourinho was in charge.

Drogba said: “All footballers dream of signing for AC Milan. I explained to Paolo Maldini that Milan is a club I would love to join.”

Owner Roman Abramovich and Chief Executive Peter Kenyon surely won't be tolerating such talks in the public. The Champions league final in Moscow on 21st May looks certain to be Drogba's last game for the Blues. Only a few days ago Milan stated that they have lost the race to sign the striker, but with Drogba you never know what is going to happen.

Chelsea FC have agreed an agreement with FC Porto for the transfer of Jose Bosingwa, 25, for a fee of £16.2m. The player is in Stamford Bridge for agreeing personal terms and to undergo a medical. Manchester United, Liverpool and Aston Villa were all very much interested in the player with Man Utd heading the list. He is one of the highly rated right back's in Europe.The deal is expected to be completed with 48 hours and he is expected to sign a five year contract. Welcome to the Chelsea family, Jose.

The greatest disappointment for all Chelsea Fans must be the injury of John Terry. He collided with Petr Cech and got himself injury early on in the match against Bolton. At that time it was feared that the injury might be serious but it has been confirmed that it is only a slight dislocation of the elbow and he should be back within three or four days.

After being at Chelsea since the start of his career, it will be huge blow if he were to miss one of the biggest match in the history of the Club.

Usually John Terry plays even if he is only fifty percent fit. Having him and Ricardo Carvalho, the best Centre back partnership is massive and essential for us in the final.

Well, Jose Mourinho is certainly not coming back to Chelsea FC. Its actually Jose Bosingwa, 25, FC Porto's right back. Manchester United may win the title today but we will be most probably be the one's who will win the race to sign their target. Man Utd were very keen on the Right back but were unwilling to match the £15.8million price tag put on him by Porto.

But Chelsea, desperately in need of a proper Right Back have suddenly jumped in the race for him. According to Portuguese papers, a fee has been agreed with the clubs and it will be confirmed by Monday. He seems to be handed a five year contract at the bridge.

He previously played under Jose Mourinho and was a unused substitute in Porto's Champions league win over Monaco in 2003. I watched some videos of him over on Youtube and he seems to be very good. He is a fast and makes quite a lot of overlapping runs, more like our current player, Belletti. Hope he's much better than him in the defensive areas though.

Avram Grant, The man who has led Chelsea FC to our first ever Champions League Final. A man who has transformed what could have been a hugely disappointing season into a position where we have the possibility of getting a double. This is a incredible turnaround particularly considering the conditions in which he took over.

He took over from one of the charismatic manager's ever, who has won 6 titles in 3 years. We were in 5th position when he took over. Now we are 2nd based only on goal difference. The Press, Fans, and me too to a certain extent thought the he was not the right man for the job. But he has proved everyone wrong.

Can we lift the Premier League trophy for the 3rd time in 4 seasons ? I think so. Because we go into the final game of the season level on points with the so called 'Best Team on Planet'. This is ridiculous. How can they be the Best team when we are level on points with them (but with inferior goal difference) and share a place in the Champions League final along with them.

Manchester United are at the JJB stadium facing a Wigan side managed by former Man Utd player, Steve Bruce. We are at home to Bolton, who after last week's result are all but safe. We are not going to lose this game, that much is for sure as we have not lost at home for over 4 years now, and I can't see that record being ended by Bolton when the likes of Man Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool have failed. Bolton have come out and said that they'll 'Park the Bus', a infamous quote by former Blues manager Jose Mourinho to teams who put 10 men in front of goal to limit the damage.

We have got nothing to lose for here. We are just going out there trying win the match and hope for a Man Utd to slip. It's their title to lose. Lets not forget that Man Utd have not won their last 3 premier league away games and Wigan have lost only twice at home by more than one goal. They have got credible draws against Liverpool (Away), Arsenal(Home), Chelsea(Away) this season and should be confident going into this match. I think that Man Utd will draw 1-1 with Wigan and we'll win 2-0 against Bolton and take the Premier League Crown

Signed on a free transfer two years ago from Bayern Munich with a huge reputation as one of the games greatest names, on a huge wage packet of £130,000 a week, Micheal Ballack has so far found life at the bridge hard along with Andrei Shevchenko. Last year was a season to forget for him. Branded by Jose Mourinho as one of his 'Untouchables' he went on to be unnamed from the squad of 25 for the Champions League. Last years season ended with a miserable ankle injury at Newcastle when Titus Bramble tackled him. He immediately left to Germany to have a surgery, but everybody thought that he has faked a injury and was no longer interested in playing for Chelsea FC. He had to prove his injury by actually provide the Chelsea physicians with a piece of the broken bone from his ankle. Then went nearly eight months on the sidelines. Jose Mourinho then departed from Chelsea and from then on there has been no turning back for him.

One of Ballack's most prized assets is that he is a very good header of the ball, using his huge physical presence to score nearly 50% of his goals through headers. And being a German, he can take penalties too with unmatched accuracy. Since coming back from injury he has been one of our consistent players. His goals recently against Manchester United and Newcastle has put us back in the title race. Recently it has been said that he is going to be given a new contract for his performances this season.

Life has certainly turned the corner for Ballack.

Well it must be the most ridiculous transfer rumour i have heard so far this season. It is that Chelsea are ready pay £55m for Read Madrid defender Sergio Ramos. Not that Ramos is bad or that Chelsea can't afford him, but since its such a ridiculous transfer fee for a right back. This is the 5th big name signing that we are linked this season following Messi, Kaka, Berbatov, Ronaldinho. I am sure that none of them are going to come except Kaka, in which there is some possibility.

Drogba looks set to stay after all

A.C Milan have confirmed that it will be very difficult to lure Drogba to San Siro next season. Milan sporting director Ariedo Braida has said thus about drogba

"Drogba is a very interesting player that many clubs would want to have but he is under contract at Chelsea and I believe he will remain at Chelsea next season."

A.C Milan including other host of Europe's top clubs like Barcelona, Inter Milan, Real Madrid were interested in Drogba but the Striker who has been playing well recently seems to have made up his mind against a move at the moment. It will be interesting to see where our former manager Jose Mourinho would take up his next job at. Because if he tables an official bid then Drogba is the kind of person who changes his mind too often. Its is better that we keep him, but even if he goes i won't be worried either because he is 30 now and is not going to get any better. We can use that money to bring in a young striker.

Ballack continued his good form up at Newcastle

Newcastle 0 Chelsea 2
Chelsea scorers: Ballack 61, Malouda 82

I think that the Petr Cech correctly said that this Chelsea team is stronger than the one which won the league two years back. He looks to be correct, as i have never seen a side with such great spirit and desire to win. Considering all the problems we had this season from the huge number of injuries, departure of Jose Mourinho, the African Cup of nations and a host of others, to be competing for the double at this stage is a fantastic achievement. All this good work would have been spoiled if we had not got the right result at Newcastle.

And the players did not disappoint. Newcastle parked the bus in front of the goal and let us enjoy the possession. They were in fact not having a striker out there as even Viduka was back defending. We took nearly 20 minutes to get going within which we received our first scare of the match when Cech produced an excellent save and then John Terry cleared off the line. The first half was pretty forgetful.

Second half Avram Grant made changes to the formation to 4-4-2 from 4-3-3 with Anelka and Drogba upfront and it was paying dividends, as we continued to press forward. Malouda won a free kick in a dangerous position which Drogba took and his cross was duly converted by Micheal Ballack, his 3rd goal in last two league matches. Lampard who came on for Anelka played a wonderful ball to Malouda who scored his first goal in months to settle any nerves among the Chelsea fans. Overall good performance and important three points.

Man of the Match: Micheal Ballack

Drogba is in scintillating form going into the match

We face a resurgent Newcastle United on Monday evening knowing that after Manchester United's 4-1 victory over WestHam United anything less than 3 points would see our title hopes all but over. The previous situation we were in a similar situation, was back when United had won against Arsenal and we needed to get 3 points against Wigan Athletic but we failed to do so after conceding a last minute Heskey goal. This is what happens when players are under pressure to get the points. Manchester United also slipped up when we were playing before them. They drew against Middlesbrough and Blackburn Rovers after we had won the previous days.

To complicate matters our record at St James Park has been very poor.We have not won there for the past 5 seasons, with three wins and two draws for Newcastle. This match also does not seem any easier as under Kevin Keegan they are enjoying a mini revival having not lost their past 6 matches. But we can be confident as all those opponents they have either beaten or drawn, baring Portsmouth are below them in the table or have nothing to play for. Last week they held WestHam united to a 2-2 draw at Upton Park. They are very good going forward as Keegan found a way to put up three strikers in the offensive formation with Micheal Owen playing a deeper role. As Newcastle have nothing to play for lets hope that they do us a favour since next week United have a chance to slip up as they are at Wigan and will be playing on their awful pitch.

'News of the world' reports that Chelsea are set to make a audacious $160m bid for Barcelona star Lionel Messi. Barcelona are in a state of confusion whether to sell the player or not. It's no big secret that Chelsea owner Abramovich is a big fan of Messi and he can certainly provide attractive football as craved by the owner. Abramovich is determined to pay what it takes to bring Messi to Chelsea FC. Wages certainly won't be a problem and status too, as we are in a Champions League final for our first time and surely capable of winning it. He should fit comfortably in the 4-3-3 formation that we play. Should the rumour be true and the transfer goes through then it will break the world record fee of $93m paid by Real Madrid CF to Juventus FC for Zinedine Zidane in 2001.

Early in August Abramovich met Ronaldinho's agent and his brother to discuss a possible move to Stamford Bridge but the transfer fell through due to the player's poor form and also due to the new policy that Chelsea won't be buying players above 28 years of age. But Messi is only 20 years of age and would be a instant fans favourite should he come here.

Drogba and Lampard were at their scintillating best

Chelsea 3 Liverpool 2
Chelsea Scorers: Drogba (33,105), Lampard 98 (pen)
Liverpool Scorers: Torres (64), Babel (116)

Rafa Benitez must be wondering why he opened his mouth to speak against Didier Drogba just before the match. Rafa benitez said that Drogba was a diver and a cheat. Well on Wednesday Drogba showed that he is not a diver but a world class striker by scoring two brilliant goals. And there was Frank Lampard too, best as ever.

We were splendid in the first half. We had a total of nine shots on target which may tell you the level of dominance. Liverpool were enjoying better possession of the ball, having 60% possession in match. But creating chances and taking them matters more and we did just that. Lampard was simply brilliant and his England colleague Gerrard could only watch and dream about it. He played some 5 brilliant balls which were capable of destroying and defense. Such was a pass that led to the opener. Kalou got hold of the ball and shot, Reina could only parry it to his right. Drogba coming in scored from that difficult angle without taking a touch. He then went over to celebrate before the Liverpool dugout.

I expected Chelsea to come out all guns blazing in the second half and kill the game off. But it was exactly the opposite of it. It was like the Manchester United match where we sat back and allowed them to attack us. Then the pressure eventually paid off when Torres scored from a Benayoun pass. Carvalho and Terry were superb at the back even though both were at fault for the Torres goal. It then took us to nearly 80 minutes to find out feet again. But it was not enough as the tie went in to extra time as last year.

But we started brightly in the extra time even though there were some tired legs out there. Essien who was fantastic all through the night scored a beautiful goal after his shot evaded all the players in the box. But it was called offside when it seemed it was a very very good and proper goal. It only happens to us. But then immediately Ballack was fouled by Hyypia and a penalty was given. Up stepped Lampard and scored a unstoppable one. He broke into tears after dedicating it to his mother who passed away recently. Drogba soon added a third from a good low ball from Anelka who came on for Joe Cole and we were on our way to our first European Cup Final even though Babel scored with minutes remaining to give us a scare, but it was not enough. We were in the Final. The players smiles told it all.