Every football club has a century-long history of ups and downs. In 1905, Chelsea Football Club began their march for trophies, making their first appearance in the FA Cup at a professional level and securing the right to play in the English second division. It was in 1905 that the history of English football began.
A perpetual club in the AFL
Today it is unthinkable to imagine the APL without Chelsea FC in London. There have been times for every football team to prove that they should be the one to compete in the country’s most prestigious division. Until 1992, the Blues performed with mixed success, playing in the first division and occasionally relegating to the second. Today’s fans would consider this to be folly. The reason for this is that the APL was created in 1992.
Since that season, Chelsea has never found themselves in the first league. During all the subsequent years, the club has been consistently performing in the AFL, showing excellent results and imposing competition to the top clubs of England.
During their history in the AFL, the Blues have won the league title 6 times. The worst result was in the 1993/1994 season when the team took 14th place.
This statistic can be compared to the bookmakers from India. The current ipl betting bonus is open to players from all countries and always gives a head start. Like Chelsea’s status, the Indian bookmakers’ policy does not change.
Offensive blunder
May 21, 2008, is a date that has remained forever in the hearts of Chelsea fans. Throughout the 2007/2008 season, the team showed good play. They finished in the top 3 of the AFL and finished second, two points behind the winner Manchester United. The intrigue remained until the last game of the closing round.
In the FA Cup, Chelsea lost to Tottenham FC in the final game with a final score of 1-2.
The Blues were seemingly one step away from taking both the Premier League and the FA Cup but came up a little short at the last minute. The supporters of the London club could only hope for the Champions League final, which was to be held at Luzhniki. Manchester United, who had denied the Blues their UEFA Champions League title, were the opponents.
In the history of their participation in the Champions League, the Chelsea players had never managed to reach the final match in 2008. Abraham Grant, the Londoners’ head coach at the time, did manage to get his team through to the final.
The match was played on equal terms, and it was impossible to favor either Chelsea or Manchester City. In the first half, the Red Devils opened the scoring, but at the end of the first half, after a series of ricochets, Frank Lampard restored the balance on the scoreboard, making it 1-1.
After the break, the Chelsea players looked more active, but they failed to break down the experienced MU defense.
The game went into extra time, with the scoreline retaining the same 1-1 after 15 minutes. Didier Drogba was sent off at the end of the second extra time.
The teams began to prepare for a penalty shoot-out. It all ended in favor of MU, 6-5. Ronaldo failed to score the only penalty for the Red Devils, but an unpleasant story happened to the Blues’ players for their fans. With the score at 4-4, John Terry, the team captain, set off for a potentially final strike. Had the Chelsea captain scored, his team would have had the Champions League trophy. John accelerated, and his leg went in front of the shot.
He managed to get a shot past Van Der Sar and the ball into different corners of the goal, but it hit the bar. “It was the third time MU won the Champions League, while Chelsea that season was one step away from triumphing in the APL – 2nd place, the FA Cup – 2nd place, and losing the Champions League final.
First Champions League trophy
It took Chelsea a long time to win the Champions League. Despite a good showing in the APL, the players failed to win the trophy. Having been successful in the group stage, Chelsea has stumbled in the play-off round, reaching the semi-finals or losing the final match.
The 2011/2012 season saw a reversal of this trend. Despite finishing sixth in the APL, qualifying only for the UEFA Champions League, Chelsea managed to win the Champions League and retain the right to participate in the tournament the following year.
That season, Portuguese Andre Villas-Boas was at the helm of the team. He had a host of talented players at his disposal, including a long-established core of Chelsea legends: Petr Cech, John Terry, Didier Drogba, and Frank Lampard. The Blues finished the group stage with 11 points and qualified in first place.
In the first leg of the last eight, the Chelsea players lost to Napoli. The final score was 3-1. After the match, the club management decided to change the head coach, Roberto Di Mateo (formerly of the Blues) was appointed in Villas-Boas’ place.
The return leg ended in a 3-1 draw with the Londoners leading up to the tie on aggregate. In extra time, Branislav Ivanovic headed Chelsea into the quarter-final in the 105th minute, and they were subsequently defeated in both games by Benfica.
The Blues faced Barcelona in the semi-finals. The match in Spain ended 2-2, while at Stamford Bridge, the Chelsea players won narrowly and advanced to the long-awaited final.
FC Bayern Munich was the runners-up.
Before the match, Chelsea’s side suffered losses due to disqualification. This list included Raul Meireles, Ramires, Branislav Ivanovic, and John Terry. The Munich club also had some unpleasant surprises. Luis Gustavo, David Alaba, and Holger Badstuber, who had earned some clean sheets in the course of the tournament and had to sit out the final, were unable to take part in the match.
The regulation time ended 1-1, with Toni Kross of Bayern scoring in the 78th minute before Didier Drogba converted in the 88th minute to make it an extra-time game, which also failed to decide the winner. It was a penalty shoot-out in which the Chelsea players were luckier.
Petr Cech admitted after the match that he was prepared for such an outcome before the game and studied in detail the manner of the Bayern players’ penalty kick. The 2011/2012 season will go down in Chelsea FC history forever. They finally conquered that heavy trophy.
Championships in the Europa League
Despite their triumph in the UEFA Champions League in 2012, the next season did not go smoothly. A high final place in the APL (3rd), but there were still questions about the performance of the Chelsea players.
The most unexpected twist was their exit from the Champions League group stage. Shakhtar Donetsk shared the 2nd-3rd place with the Blues, but statistically, it was the Ukrainian club that qualified for the play-off round.
The Chelsea players were forced to play in the Europa League. At first glance, it looked like a failure for the club, but the team had never taken the trophy before, as they had been consistent in the Champions League.
There is a silver lining to everything, and the Blues’ players have proven that once again. Having dropped out of the Champions League, they automatically found themselves in the 1/8 of the LE, where they played two games against Sparta FC. Based on the results of the two meetings, the London side was 2-1 stronger.
Then, the Blues beat Steaua (3-2), Rubin (5-4), and Basel (5-2). The score in brackets is the sum of the goals in the two meetings.In the final, Chelsea plays Benfica from Portugal. The first half ended 0-0, with the Blues striker Fernando Torres opening the scoring in the second half, but 8 minutes later, a penalty was awarded to Petr Cech, which was successfully converted by Cardoso.
It was close to extra-time, but Branislav Ivanovic scored his second goal of the game in the 3rd extra minute of regular time and the resulting winner against the Portuguese club.
Having fallen outside the Champions League. The Chelsea players diversified their club trophies in 2013 with the Europa League trophy.
Renewal of the squad 2015 – 2016
At every football club, especially the prominent ones, there comes a period when the leaders finish their careers, and the management looks for new young players to take their place. For Chelsea, this event mainly took place at the time of the 2015/2016 season.
Gradually, almost the entire golden squad left the team, with new players not quickly adapting to the team.This season, the team finished 10th in the APL, which was not a good result, dropped out in the 1/8 round of the Champions League, and did not win any trophies at all.
On the positive side, the coaching staff managed to form a new core of young players and a few veterans who are willing to share their invaluable experience with the youngsters.All these efforts were not in vain; next year, Chelsea will win the APL and will prove to many that a completely new squad is ready to win new trophies and compete with the best clubs in the world.
