2011-12 UEFA CL: Chelsea are European Champions

[5DOM]

Sky ends their program with this: "English team beat a German team in a penalty shootout. Good night"

[suckfish]

Never thought I'd witness this to be honest. Especially this season of all seasons.

Only gone and done the double, including the big one!

[Man of Steel]

Bale won't be in London next year then. FCB or RM, I wonder?

[Double Helix]

Been a Chelsea fan since Robben's era. I didn't post much over here this year but I lurked. This is the proudest and happiest I've been about a win since I was 11 years old and Michael Jordan's
Bulls won their first title. I was just a kid then and became a Raptors fan after that once the league expanded. All my other teams have sucked so this had been a riot. It's 6pm and I'm **** faced! What a day!

[LittleOzzy]

DH you need to post on the soccer forum more often.

[J-Mezzy]

Wow Bayern deserved to lose. They had so many opportunities. Congrats to Chelsea. What's next for Chelsea?

[Batu7]

Robben is a massive choker. This was proved in the World Cup final, and tonight was just the icing on the cake.

I feel real bad for Schweini, hope he can recover from this(In another team maybe?)

Kinda ironic when you concede a header just after putting Van Buyten on. An unnecessary substitution if you ask me.

Chelsea have earned this. They defended great, and Bayern just decided to **** it up in front of the goal.

How sad must Tottenham fans be right now?

[Double Helix]

Agreed. What a run since AVB was shown the door! I liked AVB but we didn't have the midfielders beyond Mata to execute his game plan. Classic defence and counter is why we are champs tonight and De Matteo realized that's what our team was best build for.

What's most exciting is the future. Roman clearly wants more offence and I expect a big offseason. Sturridge and Mata are the future. Can't wait to see who else we add.

Ashley Cole. Peter Cech. Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba (the old guard) are why we won tonight though! What a great past couple months! I'm even more optimistic about Torres heading into next year now.

[VicG]

This is akin to Greece winning that Euro tournament.

Chelsea defended hard and got a great deal of luck, but most importantly, they showed huge heart throughout the tournament.

Not sure what they do from here, but who really cares, they've finally reached the top of the mountain and should enjoy it.

Watched it as a neutral, but was pretty happy to see Robben F up. Don't like that dude.

[Ill]

Just got back from the bar. Me and my friends drove down to NYC this weekend to watch the game with another one of our diehard friends. Bar was crazy and I lost my voice.

Just our year. When Drogba scored, I just the got the feeling we were going to win.

[kdawg32086]

YES, NO CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FOR TOTTENHAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i sat at a bar watching this next to a spurs fan.

HAHA. Here's to hoping Vertonghen changes his mind again and dumps them for Arsenal.

[Baphomet]

How sad must Tottenham fans be right now?

I for one am heartbroken. It's difficult enough without scumbag Arsenal fans adding further insult to injury by celebrating a Chelsea cup victory, another London rival, just to spite Spurs. This really sets us back years. I don't think I could be much angrier.

[Kahn_2001]

I really really wanna punch chelseas coach in the teeth, guy is just asking for it.

[5DOM]

Di Matteo or Eddie? because both are all class - liked by all media guys

[Next Coming]

Kinda felt like destiny for Chelsea. What a run for Di Matteo and the boys. What a finish to Drogba's Chelsea career if he does move on.

Guess this means Modric and Bale are goners in Tottenham.

[kdawg32086]

Kinda felt like destiny for Chelsea. What a run for Di Matteo and the boys. What a finish to Drogba's Chelsea career if he does move on.

Guess this means Modric and Bale are goners in Tottenham.

Hopefully it means Vertonghen will be a Gunner.

[jerrod]

i sat at a bar watching this next to a spurs fan.

HAHA. Here's to hoping Vertonghen changes his mind again and dumps them for Arsenal.[/quote]



he's convinced that bale and modric are gone too

[IronChef]

To be honest, I was rooting for Munich, pretty much on the basis of not wanting to see John Terry win the Champions League. What a year for Chelsea though, gotta give it to them for turning it around.

[treiz]

OMG what a day! Was shouting throughout the whole game. Amazing but that whole game was written in the stars for us. So happy right now! What a game!

6th best team in England, best team in Europe !

[treiz]

Ok now that I've managed to calm down a bit here's some more thoughts

Cech - Rarely troubled to be honest, apart from that Robben chance in the first half where he saved it with his foot, made pretty easy saves throughout the game, including the penalty from Robben mainly because of the heroics of our defence. Immense in the shootout though, went to the right direction throughout, and could've saved 4 out of the 5, unlucky with Lahm's penalty, but should've saved Neuer. But he did come massive with the Olic and Schweinsteiger saves.

Ashley Cole - Best left back in the world no questions asked. Absolute world class performance from him, nobody on the right could do anything against him: Robben, Muller, Ribery couldn't do squat against him. Also covered magnificently and blocked a crucial Gomez chance in the 2nd. Got a bit caught out towards the end of regulation as shown from the Muller goal. Clutch penalty as well, MOTM for me

Cahill and Luiz - Performed amazing. Luiz won every aerial battle with Gomez, had a few of WTF moments especially when he fouled someone in the box and ball ran to Gomez, but most of it was because you could clearly see him being bothered by his injuries, he couldn't run fully throughout that whole game, another great penalty from him too. Cahill, Got a foot in nearly every shot, played that covering defender well and really sweeped behind Luiz, had a couple of fantastic blocks as well.

Bosingwa - Played well, Robben and Ribery tried to interchange to try to get past him and abuse that side, and he did well, blocks a lot of crosses and did a good job with Kalou. Ruined the celebration, the trophy should've been lifted with Terry on one side of the cup and Lamps on the other.

Mikel - If not for Cole's performance, he would've gotten MOTM for me. Calm, composed, showed great feet on a few occasions and kept it simple and really protected the back four, had a couple of moments when he should've closed earlier allowing the shot from far but I'm just nitpicking here, showed great awareness when defending and strength. One in particular was when he tackled Ribery/Robben (not sure which one), slipped and got tackled got back up and got the ball back. Best performance of his career and it's amazing how far he's come.

Lampard - Did well, gave the ball away needlessly at times that led to 2 of Bayern's best chances. Other than that, him along with Mikel showed great feet when under pressure. Very composed and led by example, marvelous defensive performance from him, won nearly every tackle and even beat Robben a couple of times. Took a captain's penalty.

Mata - Quiet but performed admirably, can't blame him since he was up against Kroos and Schweinsteiger since Lamps/Mikel were far from him, tried to initiate attacks but couldn't but he did do a decent job defending when called upon.

Bertrand - Did well to help out Ashley and neutralize the Bayern right side, had a performace that was expected of him. Defends well but a bit lacking going forward, one in particular was in the 1st half, where I think it was Mata spread the ball to him to the left, Drogba in acres of space in the middle and he cose to run at Lahm. Other than that, good performance from him, and let's hope that he can learn from this.

Drogba - What can I say, an absolute legend, hit was absolutely written in the stars for him. I hope he stays because he deserves to retire with a blue shirt, but if he does leave what a send off. Couldn't do much in the first half attacking wise but his hold up play was terrific as usual. GREAT header from him for the equaliser. Boneheaded tackle for the penalty, but despite that he defended well, won every header in corners and put in a shift down that right side when Kalou came off. Had to be him for the 5th penalty, and like I said what a send off, I know Chelsea have said that they will have contract talks next week, but if he does ply his trade elsewhere, thanks for the memories Didier, best striker in our clubs history.

That said, commiseration's to Bayern, terrible finishing haunted them that whole game and it was an exciting game, we had some chances too but terrible decision making (see Bertrand for example) didn't allow to have a crack at Neuer. My heart was in my mouth the whole time. Just watched the shootout again and I am buzzing right now, what a great day for our club