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#3 Chelsea vs. Barcelona – Round of 16, 2004-05
Across two spells as Chelsea manager, Mourinho oversaw plenty of big successes, including 3 Premier League title victories. The Champions League was essentially the one trophy that eluded the Portuguese during his time at Stamford Bridge. But despite this, he still led the Blues to plenty of memorable European victories – and one of the most notable was this round of 16 triumph over Spanish giants Barcelona in his first season at the club.
The first leg didn’t go to plan at all for Mourinho’s men; stepping into hostile territory at the Nou Camp, Chelsea took the lead through a Juliano Belletti own goal after a counter-attack in the 32nd minute, but things started to go south after half-time in controversial circumstances.
First, Didier Drogba was strangely dismissed by referee Anders Frisk after a seemingly innocuous challenge on keeper Victor Valdes after 55 minutes, and just 10 minutes later, Barca were level through substitute Maxi Gomez. The Blues tried to hold firm, but with 17 minutes to go, Lopez set up Samuel Eto’o for a winner.
The aftermath of the game would go down in infamy; Mourinho refused to say a word to the press at first, but then accused Barca boss Frank Rijkaard of making a visit to Frisk’s dressing room at half-time – insinuating that the sending off of Drogba had been pre-meditated.
UEFA ended up fining Chelsea and handing Mourinho a touchline ban for the accusations, but the Portuguese ended up having the last laugh.
Needing at least a 1-0 win at Stamford Bridge to send La Blaugrana crashing out, the Blues came out with a vengeance and flew into a 3-0 lead inside just 19 minutes with goals from Eidur Gudjohnsen, Frank Lampard and Damian Duff. Less than 10 minutes later, though, Barca pulled a goal back from the penalty spot, Ronaldinho netting after a handball from Paolo Ferreira.
And when the Brazilian levelled the tie with a spectacular, curling shot from the edge of the box, it looked like curtains for Mourinho. But there was still time for one last sting in the tail, and sure enough, on 76 minutes Blues captain John Terry rose highest to head home a corner and despite Barcelona’s attempts at a comeback, Chelsea were able to hold on and win the tie – giving Mourinho a huge moral victory in his war with the club he’d once worked with.
