chelsea finally claimed their first uefa champions league title, didier drogba converting the decisive spot kick to deny bayern a home victory.
chelsea fc's long quest to win the uefa champions league finally reached a successful conclusion as a penalty shoot-out triumph ended fc bayern münchen's hopes of becoming the first team to win the competition in their own stadium.
bayern largely held the upper hand throughout yet were unable to capitalise until thomas müller headed in with seven minutes remaining, and it looked like the trophy was heading to munich for a fifth time. chelsea and didier drogba had other ideas, the ivorian levelling in the 88th minute with a powerful header, and when petr Čech kept out arjen robben's penalty after drogba had fouled franck ribéry early in extra time, their hopes rose even higher.
with neither side able to find a winner it took spot kicks to decide the contest, a prospect both sides were all too familiar with; bayern's last triumph came in a 2001 shoot-out while chelsea lost by the same method four years ago.
the german club had also beaten real madrid cf on penalties in the semi-finals, and when manuel neuer saved juan mata's first kick, they had the initiative again. philipp lahm, mario gomez, david luiz, neuer himself and frank lampard all converted before Čech saved from ivica olić. ashley cole restored parity and Čech then touched bastian schweinsteiger's effort on to a post, leaving drogba to slot in the final kick to spark unconfined chelsea joy.
much had been made of bayern's familiarity with the surroundings and their fans attempted to make the atmosphere like a home game, unveiling a banner reading 'unsere stadt, unser stadion, unser pokal' – our city, our stadium, our cup – as the teams emerged. their favourites started brightly as chelsea's reshuffled rearguard came under intense scrutiny.
roberto di matteo had opted to give 22-year-old ryan bertrand a uefa champions league debut in an unfamiliar role on the left of midfield in a bid to hold robben in check, but bayern's threat was relentless. in the 18th minute müller's clever flick found gomez in space but, with the goal at his mercy, the competition's second top scorer this season missed his kick.
minutes later robben switched flanks but the danger he posed remained unchanged, the dutch international wriggling away from two defenders inside the penalty area. a low shot struck Čech's right shin and only the right-hand post kept the scoresheet blank.
bayern had won all seven of their home european matches this season, scoring 21 goals, yet chances continued to come and go. müller volleyed diego contento's left-wing cross wide when unmarked, before gomez wrong-footed gary cahill only to shoot into the crowd with just Čech to beat.
the german side had managed 11 shots to chelsea's two in the first period, although with nine missing the target it was clear where improvement was needed. robben had an effort blocked by cole, ribéry's joy at tapping in the rebound cut short by an offside flag.
bayern's corner count was mounting steadily although jupp heynckes' side were struggling to penetrate chelsea's deep-lying defence. it took a fortunate rebound off ribéry to give müller another opportunity; again the shot was wayward.
seven minutes from time, bayern's no25 made no mistake, creeping in at the back post to meet toni kroos' left-wing cross with a firm header that bounced up and in off the underside of the crossbar. the home fans were preparing to party – five minutes later the songs died on their lips as drogba's emphatic near-post header from mata's right-wing corner proved too powerful for neuer to keep out.
once more celebrations proved short-lived as drogba clipped ribéry's right foot three minutes into extra time but again chelsea survived, Čech diving to his left to block robben's driven penalty. the omens looked to be with chelsea, and so it proved.
yardımcı hakemler: bertino miranda (por), ricardo santos (por)
4. hakem: carlos velasco carballo (esp)
çizgi hakemleri: manuel de sousa (por), duarte gomes (por)
bayern: manuel neuer (gk), franck ribéry (dk. 96 ivica olić), arjen robben, jérôme boateng, philipp lahm (c), thomas müller (dk. 87 daniel van buyten), diego contento, bastian schweinsteiger, mario gomez, toni kroos, anatoliy tymoshchuk
chelsea: petr Čech (gk), ashley cole, david luiz, frank lampard (c), juan mata, didier drogba, john obi mikel, josé bosingwa, salomon kalou (dk. 84 fernando torres), gary cahill, ryan bertrand (dk. 73 florent malouda)
yedekler: ross turnbull (gk), michael essien, oriol romeu, paulo ferreira, daniel sturridge,
bayern mühih, 82. dakikada müller ile chelsea karşısında 1-0 öne geçmesine rağmen 88. dakikada drogba'nın attığı golden sonra penaltlarla şampiyonlar ligi şampiyonluğunu kaptırmaktan kurtulamadı.
maçın ardından görüşlerini aktaran bayern münih teknik direktörü jupp heynckes, "çok fazla gol fırsatını değerlendiremedik." derken, "genel olarak iyi oynadık ve maçın hakimi olduk. ancak golleri bulamayınca chelsea cezayı kesti. "ifadelerini kullandı.
raphael honigstein'ın "dördüncü yıldız: alman futbolunun kendini yeniden keşfi ve dünyayı fethi" adlı kitabından
örneğin 2006 dünya kupası yarı finalinde italya’nın galibiyet golünü fabio grosso bir korner sonucunda atmış ve aynı senaryo 2010 dünya kupası yarı finalinde ispanya karşısında da gerçekleşmişti. (bu kez golü atan carles puyol’du.) 2012 avrupa şampiyonası yarı finalinde ise almanya’nın sonuçsuz kalan 14 kornerinden birinin sonucunda gelişen italyan kontratağında balotelli gök mavilileri öne geçirmişti. (yarı finalden bir ay önce altı milli oyuncu chelsea’nin galibiyetiyle sonuçlanan şampiyonlar ligi finalinde bayern forması giymişlerdi. bayern’in maç boyunca kullandığı 20 korner atışı sonuçsuz kalırken, chelsea’nin kazandığı tek köşe vuruşunda drogba’nın kafasıyla bulduğu gol maçı uzatmalara ve daha sonra da penaltı atışlarına götürmüştü. (chelseali mata korneri kullanmadan önce bayern ceza sahasına doğru koşan luiz, schweinsteiger’in kulağınla eğilip, “gol şimdi geliyor,” demişti.) maçı tribünden izleyen löw ve bu travmayı yaşayan alman milli takım oyuncuları için önemli bir dersti bu. ancak almanların aldıkları dersin öğretilerini tam anlamıyla kavramaları için biraz daha vakit geçmesi gerekecekti.
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