Champions League

Chelsea’s sole visit to the top table of European football came in 2012 with their glorious triumph in the Champions League final in Munich.

Chelsea Champions League Wins

2012

Drawn in a tough-looking Group E with Bayer Leverkusen, Valencia and Genk, Andre Villas-Boas’ side made a great start by beating the German side 2-0 at the Bridge before a draw at Valencia and an easy 5-0 win against Genk put the Blues in a commanding position at the half-way point of the group stages.

Things were in the balance after a draw at Genk and a 2-1 defeat at Leverkusen, but a dominant 3-0 win against Valencia got the job done on match day 6 to put Chelsea in the last 16 as group winners.

Chelsea were drawn against Napoli in the round of 16 and it looked to be all over after a damaging 3-1 defeat in the first leg in Italy, the club then dispensing with Villas-Boas as manager.  However, in winning by the same score at the Bridge the Blues took the tie to extra-time during which Branislav Ivanovic scored a crucial late goal to put his side into the quarter-finals.

With Roberto Di Matteo now in charge, a 1-0 win at Benfica had Chelsea fans dreaming, and a semi-final place was confirmed at Stamford Bridge when after a late Raul Meireles goal the home side won 2-1 on the night and 3-1 on aggregate to book a place against the almighty Barcelona in the last four.

Didier Drogba scored the only goal of the game in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final at home, the 1-0 scoreline looking incredibly vulnerable against a Barcelona outfit so goal-happy at the Camp Nou.

Indeed, in the second leg Barca went 2-0 up before half-time and looked to have ended Chelsea’s dream run, but a late first half goal from Ramires gave the side hope and a stoppage time equaliser on the night from Fernando Torres had the travelling fans in raptures as Chelsea reached the Champions League final for just the second time.

In the final Chelsea were made to feel like the away side given that the game was played at the Allianz Arena, home of the opposition Bayern Munich, and when after a tight affair Bayern scored with just seven minutes to play it really did seem to be all over for Chelsea.  Not so!

With two minutes left on the clock, club legend Didier Drogba powered home a header from a corner to send the final into extra-time.  No more goals arrived and the match went to an incredibly nerve-racking penalty shoot-out.

Chelsea were 3-2 down after three penalties each and were odds-on to lose, however two consecutive misses from Bayern gave that man Didier Drogba the chance to net the winning spot-kick which he duly did to hand Chelsea their biggest success of all time.

Near Misses

Chelsea have been beaten in the semi-finals of the Champions League no less than five times in the Premier League era including in 2006/07, a season in which the Blues were runners-up in two other competitions while winning another pair.

The closest they came without winning it though was in 2008, the Blues reaching the final against Manchester United but ultimately losing on penalties.