Wednesday 30th
April from Stamford Bridge:
Chelsea 1 – 3 Atletico Madrid
I somehow got a ticket, not sure how, but I had one, and
after resisting the urge to sell it for a ridiculous amount of money, I now had
to find my way to Stamford Bridge amidst a tube strike. I left work early, put
on my new Chelsea shirt and hopped on the nearest ‘Boris Bike’ I could find. It
took me 90 minutes of arduous peddling through the London traffic to reach
Stamford Bridge, a feat that was totally worth it. Champions League knock-out
nights are always special and I got to the game 3 hours early to begin soaking
up the atmosphere.
The time had come, one more magical European night at
Stamford Bridge and we would head to Lisbon in May! I sit up the Matty Harding
end for the simple fact that it’s the end we normally shoot towards in the
second half. We never do well when we get ‘turned around’, especially versus
Liverpool and Spurs, and Atletico did just that – Bastards! I knew I should
have sold my ticket. I began to fear the worst, knowing that an away goal would
leave a red-and-white-striped mountain to climb given Atletico’s defensive
record – which I believe is due to the work rate of their midfield and a
certain Chelsea-owned keeper.
The nervy opening was
expected, but Dave playing right wing was not. 35 minutes in and some great
play from Willian out of the corner saw Torres latch onto Azpilicueta’s cross
and…Goal! Torres scuffed a deflected shot past Courtois and we went crazy. We
had been the better team in the first half, but you sensed we needed to get in
the dressing room with that lead – sadly we wouldn’t. Schwarzer hesitated to
come for a cross and Adrián scuffed his shot in. The old footballing adage of
‘worst time to concede’ sprung to mind. We were now on the back foot and
Mourinho would no doubt have to scrap his half-time team talk.
The atmosphere at half time was desolate; I even saw someone
curled up crying! The second half began and we now had to attack, so on came
Eto’o for Cole. In 2012 Drogba had two ‘striker tackles’ that conceded penalties,
but Messi and Robben missed. Eto’o would not endure that same fortune after
bringing down Costa, who smashed home his penalty to make it 2-1 and put
Atletico in full control of the tie. The visitors were then free to hit us on
the break at will and 12 minutes later Turan slotted home to make it 3-1 and
put the tie to bed. It was essentially game over and the matched did end 3-1 –
May was ruined.
The pressure’s been off since 2012, and we won the Europa
League last year, but coming so close to the final it always a hard pill to
swallow. It was a great European journey once again, most notably the PSG
comeback, but you have to concede that the better team went through to the
final. But we’ll try again and I’m already looking forward to September when
that Champions League music begins starts once more!
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