Chelsea 2012: Our dreams came true as a legend said goodbye

What a year 2012 was for all of us! It’s a year that every single Chelsea fan all over the world will remember for a lifetime. After heading into the year being beaten at home by Aston Villa, with doubts about our team, our playing style and high defensive line under AVB, we finished the season under Roberto Di Matteo winning the FA Cup and Champions League and witnessed Chelsea battle against the odds to knock out Barcelona in the Nou Camp in three of the greatest games of last season.

So what better way to remember 2012 the year it was for Chelsea than to relive those three games starting with the FA Cup Final at Wembley, then that night in the Nou Camp followed by Munich 19.05.12?

Moving on to the Nou Camp. In arguably one of our other greatest nights, a night that reminded the football world of our character, our strength, our desire and determination to prove that we may have been down but we were far from out.

So, Chelsea had overcome Barcelona, won the FA Cup and headed to Munich with FOUR players missing through suspension. In addition to that, the two centre halves that started the game had NOT trained properly for a month due to hamstring injuries. Could David Luiz and Gary Cahill step up to the challenge? Could Chelsea do the unthinkable and defeat Bayern Munich in their own backyard with everything looking like being against us?

This is OUR Chelsea, we never say die and it’s never over until it’s over!

Without doubt, 2012 and the 19th May 2012 will live long in the memory of ALL Chelsea fans forever. We could now call ourselves European Champions, it was a year that dreams came true!

2012 was also the year that a legend left us and did so with the greatest gift a player could ever give the team, the club and the supporters – the winning spot kick in Munich to win the Champions League.

Didier Drogba is immortal at this football club and it comes as no surprise that the club is still trying to find a way to replace him.

He picked us up when we were down, he grabbed games by the scruff of the neck, chewed it up and spat it back out again after he had put his stamp on the game.

Talking ahead of that night in Munich, Eddie Newton, John Terry and Liverpool‘s Jamie Carragher spoke of Drogba and it’s the best way of describing the Chelsea Legend he has become. They said:

‘Some players don’t understand when to raise their game, Didier does. He can really take it to the level needed. Emotionally, you see the difference, the step up. You see the look in his eyes. Quite literally, he changes, and you know he’s ready for it.’

Eddie Newton.

‘He goes into his pre-match routine and he gets more and more pumped up and you know he’s in the zone. When we played Barcelona, when we played Liverpool at Wembley, he just gives everyone around him such confidence. He’ll come through his ritual and then you can’t even speak to him. You can see in his face, he’s gone.’

John Terry.

‘He’s not Usain Bolt, but he’s fast enough and so powerful that, even if you catch him, you can’t get a foot in to make the tackle. You would have to run around him and you haven’t the time to do that. So he’s unplayable. In certain positions, there is literally nothing you can do.’

Jamie Carragher.

What he does, it doesn’t just happen. He works hard at the gym, he puts extra time in at training on free-kicks. You see young lads who want to be like him, or Frank, but they don’t want to put in the same time and effort. He wasn’t born this way, he delivers an incredible amount of work to do it, but when you see how he seizes the moment in big games, it’s worth it.

William Gallas is a top centre half, but did you see what Didier did to him when we were playing Tottenham in the FA Cup semi-final?

John Terry

You can make all the best plans, but then he’ll do something to which you have no answer at all. And you’ll never have an answer. He’s just bigger, or faster, or harder to manoeuvre. And that is the way it will always be.

And Bayern Munich know that, too. And that’s what makes him…’Unplayable.’

Jamie Carragher

Thank you again Didier Drogba, 2012 what a year!