Chelsea has grown as one of European football’s heavyweights throughout the years, just as the book of dead demo has grown in the online gaming club. As the saying goes, Rome was not built in a day, there have been some really interesting moments in the development of the club over the past years. Here are some of the top moments from the last two decades.
Engagement of Jose Mourinho
We take this as the key turning point in the development of Chelsea. People were amazed when Chelsea gave the new boy on the block the opportunity to advance his career in England.
In the summer of 2004, Chelsea replaced the popular Claudio Ranieri with Mourinho, who had recently won the Champions League with Porto – and he brought Chelsea the first league trophy in 50 years in his earlier season.
The dynamic manager would go on to lead Chelsea for two terms, each of which added to his reputation as one of the best managers in history. He recorded some of the best wins in the history of the club, we can say no history piece about Chelsea will be complete without mentioning him.
2004 Transfer Window
Mourinho’s tactical brilliance was crucial to Chelsea’s victory, but so was his strategic insights in the summer of 2004.
The key names who joined that month included Paulo Ferreira, Petr Cech, Arjen Robben, the famous African Didier Drogba, Tiago and Ricardo Carvalho, all of whom have written their names on a platter of Gold in Chelsea’s hall of fame.
Chelsea – Barcelona
Chelsea made their global debut with a spectacular barnstormer of a European clash against the legendary Barcelona. It was an interesting moment for all football fans; including fans from other clubs.
After falling 2-1 in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 encounter, Chelsea stormed out of the gates in the second leg and were 3-0 up before 19 minutes.
Ronaldinho tried to spoil the party with that iconic toe-punch, but Chelsea stayed firm and demonstrated to the rest of the world that they weren’t going to mess about under the new manager.
The Premier King
Chelsea won the Premier League title in Mourinho’s debut season, finishing with a 2-0 victory away against Bolton Wanderers.
That day, Frank Lampard scored both goals, closing off a remarkable season with the grandeur it deserved.
The team’s defense also went down in history. The Blues allowed only 15 goals in 38 games, which is still the norm against which current defenses are measured.
Winning the Champions League
After winning everything there was to win in Russia, Abramovich became obsessed with winning the Champions League, which he eventually did in 2012.
Chelsea, playing the rare role of underdogs, produced a stunning comeback to beat Napoli in the last 16, then beat Benfica in the quarter finals before shocking Barcelona in the semis.
The prize was a trip to Munich’s Allianz Arena to face the famous Bayern Munich, but Drogba was unfazed, scoring the winning penalty to immortalize his time at the club.
