Chelsea came a whisker away from winning the 2008 Champions League final against arch-rivals Manchester United. First-half goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Frank Lampard meant that the game ended in a 1-1 draw and resulted in extra time. Both sides were unable to score during extra-time and the game subsequently went on penalties.
In his time, Michael Essien was quite simply a behemoth in the middle of the park. Emerging from a class of hard-nosed yet classy midfielders which permeated the fabric of the English top-flight in the early 2000s, the Ghanaian played a major part in the establishment of Chelsea as a domestic powerhouse in England.