History of Chelsea F.C. - Roberto Di Matteo: Champions League Winners (2012)

Roberto Di Matteo: Champions League Winners (2012)

On 4 March, following a 1–0 defeat against West Bromwich Albion, Andre Villas-Boas was sacked as Chelsea manager after 9 months in charge; his win percentage was under 50%, which was unprecedented for Abramovich-era Chelsea managers. At the time of his sacking the team were 5th in the league and on the brink of Champions League elimination after a disastrous 3-1 away loss to SC Napoli; many fans supported the decision, with the song 'Roman Abramovich, he sacks who he wants' being sung at the first match after his sacking. A club statement read that results had "not been good enough and were showing no signs of improving at a key time in the season." Italian first team assistant manager (and former Chelsea player) Roberto Di Matteo was appointed caretaker manager until the end of the season. In his first match in charge, Chelsea beat Birmingham City 2–0 to reach the FA Cup quarter-finals thanks to second half goals from Juan Mata and Raul Meireles. Two weeks later, on 14 March, Chelsea beat Napoli 4–1 in the second leg of their UEFA Champions League second round match, overturning a 3–1 deficit from the first leg. Due to defeats for Arsenal, Manchester United and Manchester City, this left Chelsea as the only English team still in Europe. The good run of form under Di Matteo continued on 18 March when Chelsea progressed to the semi-finals of the FA Cup after beating Leicester City 5–2 at Stamford Bridge; this match was particularly notable for Fernando Torres ending a 24 match goal drought .

On 4 April, Chelsea progressed to the Champions League semi-finals for the sixth time in nine seasons, courtesy of a 3–1 aggregate win over Benfica. This set up a tie against holders Barcelona, the sixth time the two clubs had been drawn against each other in the competition, and the fifth in eight years. On 15 April, Chelsea progressed to their third FA cup semi-final in four seasons by thrashing rivals Tottenham Hotspur 5-1 at Wembley; Didier Drogba scored first to extend his incredible record of scoring at every match he'd played there (seven at the time). Three days later Chelsea faced Barcelona at Stamford Bridge as heavy underdogs; despite Barcelona dominating possession and having the greater number of chances, Chelsea secured a hard-fought 1–0 win to gain the upper hand. In the return leg a week later at Camp Nou it looked like Chelsea were going out as they went 2–0 down and had captain John Terry sent off within the first 45 minutes. However a goal on the stroke of half-time from Ramires put Chelsea into a winning position, one which they maintained thanks to a Messi penalty miss. In the dying moments Fernando Torres scored to clinch a place in the final, giving Chelsea a "truly remarkable" 3–2 aggregate win.

Despite their progress in the cups, Chelsea's league form remained indifferent, with draws with Tottenham and Arsenal and a home loss to Newcastle effectively ended their chances of finishing in the top four of the Premier League. This meant that they would have to win the Champions League to secure qualification for the following season's competition. In the FA Cup final, Chelsea faced Liverpool. Chelsea were the better team for the first hour; Ramires put them ahead early in the match, and in the second half Didier Drogba doubled the lead. Despite Liverpool halving the deficit with an Andy Carroll strike, Chelsea held out to win their seventh FA Cup, largely thanks to heroics from Petr Cech, who pulled of save of the season to narrowly deny Andy Carroll an equaliser; this was Chelsea's fourth success in the competition in six seasons and the best record of any club in the competition since Wanderers won it five times in seven years in the nineteenth century.

In the UEFA Champions League final, Chelsea's opponents were German club Bayern Munich. By coincidence, the match was being held at the Allianz Arena, Bayern's home ground. Bayern took the lead after 83 minutes through Thomas Müller, but five minutes later Drogba headed in the equaliser - his ninth goal in nine cup finals for Chelsea - to take the game to extra time. Bayern were awarded a penalty, but Arjen Robben's strike was saved by Petr Čech. The game remained 1–1, meaning it went to a penalty shootout. Bayern took a 3–1 lead after Juan Mata saw his penalty saved, but Cech then saved Ivica Olić and Bastian Schweinsteiger's efforts, leaving Drogba to score the decisive spot-kick to clinch Chelsea's first UEFA Champions League title in their history.