Chelsea FC '08/'09 Season Review Part Three: Seconds Make Seasons

April brought the first leg of the Champions' League Quarter Final with Liverpool at Anfield.

The Reds were ahead after six minutes with an admittedly superb Fernando Torres strike, and although Chelsea stepped up a gear, clear shots on goal were wasted time and again.

It had begun to look like the curse of Liverpool would strike again.

All that changed when on 39 minutes, centre half Branislav Ivanovic headed in from a Frank Lampard corner.

That goal changed the game and Chelsea began to completely dominate, with Gerrard being made to look like a Sunday league player by Michael Essien, who provided the most commanding display of man marking I have ever witnessed.

Chelsea took the lead on 62 minutes courtesy of another fine header from Ivanovic, plus some more sloppy defending by Liverpool.

Then Didier Drogba got a chance that he really couldn't miss, and after 67 minutes Chelsea were 3-1 up and in complete control of the tie.

Three away goals? Liverpool were surely down and out.

There was no way they could come to Stamford Bridge and score three goals. No way...until Bolton Wanderers did exactly that three days after the Champions League tie.

Chelsea had battered Bolton from the outset, but struggled to find a way through until Michael Ballack's goal five minutes before half-time.

The home side added to their lead with two goals from Drogba either side of a penalty from Frank Lampard, before both players were substituted in the 65th minute. Bolton went on to score three goals in eight minutes as Chelsea completely lost control and it truly looked as if they had done their best to throw away a 4-0 lead at home.

This was three days before the next leg of the Quarter Final against Liverpool, where they held a 3-1 aggregate lead.

Apprehensive optimism was the mood of the evening, and both teams had chances to take an early lead. It was Liverpool who struck first however, as Aurelio stunned Chelsea's defence with his free kick. 

The back four were in trouble again 10 minutes later as Alonso was hauled down in the box by first leg hero Ivanovic, and proceeded to score from the resulting penalty. Down 2-0 at half-time Chelsea were still going through, but Liverpool had proven that the contest was far from over.

Five minutes after the break, Chelsea were gifted a goal as Reina appeared to throw the ball into his own net from the softest of shots from Didier Drogba.

It was Liverpool's turn to be stunned as Alex scored a superb free-kick from 25 yards after 57 minutes and it look to be game over soon after as Lampard forced the ball over the line in the 76th minute. 3-2 on the night, 6-3 on aggregate, Chelsea were in cruise control.

A mistake by Petr Cech in the 81st minute gave Liverpool an equaliser and they went in front two minutes later after Kuyt was unmarked in the area and headed in to make it 4-3.

This was just silly now.

By the time Lampard equalised with a beautiful strike, I felt I had run the full gauntlet of football related emotions 10 times over. What a game. Chelsea advanced to the Semifinals 7-5 aggregate winners.

Up next was another cup game, this time an FA Cup Semi Final against Arsenal at Wembley, which really is an exceptionally big stadium.

Chelsea followed their recent pattern of going behind only to dominate the game and following Theo Walcott's opener, goals from a markedly improved Florent Malouda and Dider Drogba proved the difference. Everton beat Manchester United the following day to make it an all blue Final.

A frustrating midweek stalemate in the dress rehearsal against Everton and a hard fought 1-0 win away at West Ham followed for Chelsea, who were increasingly focused on the big shiny trophy of the Champions' League.

Chelsea went to Barcelona on May 6 and promptly defended, with a 0-0 score line clearly the desired result. They got their wish, with a confident display suppressing Barcelona's various attacking threats. If only they had been more careful what they wished for.

Following a weekend 3-1 victory over local rivals Fulham, it was Barcelona's turn to visit Stamford Bridge. The tie hung precariously in the balance and a single goal could make all the difference.

The home side went in front early on against the run of play through a Michael Essien volley, a volley of such sublime quality that it rivals Joe Cole's effort against Sweden in the 2006 World Cup.

Chelsea then took the reins and began surging forward with increasing purpose, before the curse of the Champions’ League struck again.

Malouda was held back in the box by Alves, but the referee decided to award a free kick, incorrectly believing the incident to have taken place outside the area.

He missed a second penalty appeal two minutes later when Drogba had his shirt pulled by Abidal, and although the Chelsea man made a bit of a meal of it, it was still a foul in the box.

Never mind, Chelsea were still 1-0 up, and things looked better than ok as they pushed for a second goal. Still 1-0 up after half-time they pushed forward and with Abidal sent off for Barcelona after just over an hour, they appeared to be within flight-booking distance of Rome.

The tension in the stadium heightened as Barcelona began to come back into play and a second goal cushion continued to elude Chelsea.

They needed a break, and that break came as Anelka charged down the middle and turned Pique, looking to be clear through on goal. Then, Pique committed the most blatant handball since the Hand of God, right in front of my eyes.

I could not believe it when a goal kick was given and to this day I cannot fathom what in the world the referee was thinking when he didn't give that penalty.

Barcelona had not had a single shot on target in the match and were looking like being frustrated out of the Champions’ League at the Semi Final stage two years running.

However, in the 93rd minute a cruel twist of fate saw the ball from the same left foot that had scored Chelsea's goal fall to Iniesta, who smashed it home down the centre of the goal. With less than a minute to salvage their dreams of redeeming Moscow with the rematch in Rome, Chelsea threw everything forward with Petr Cech heading back to Ballack from a last chance Lampard corner.

Ballack fired his shot straight and true, and it was beaten away by the arms of Keita.

One the one hand, the defender had only seen it at the last minute—on the other, he beat the ball away with his arms in the penalty area. Nothing given, again.

Ballack's protests were out of control and as the final whistle blew it was as though Mount St. Helens had blown with it.

Barcelona won the tie on away goals and went on to win the Final.

Didier Drogba, having been substituted in the 72nd minute after limping around following a challenge from Toure, sprinted onto the pitch in his flip-flops and screamed obscenities at the referee, and the lens of a TV camera.

The reactions were out of proportion in hindsight, but in that stadium there was a cauldron of noise with a heaping of testosterone and a palpable anticipation, an electricity in the air.

For the fans it was a level of cruelty greater than every one of their previous Champions' League heartbreaks: The phantom goal vs. Liverpool, the incorrect offside vs. Liverpool, the pain of John Terry's slip in Moscow.

It was the ecstasy of Essien's goal, it was the injustice of the unawarded penalties, it was the raw anguish of conceding defeat when victory had been so agonisingly close.

After the midweek trauma came a weekend fixture fought for pride at the Emirates, a game which saw Chelsea reclaim bragging rights after their defeat at Stamford Bridge earlier in the season.

Alex had opened the scoring after 28 minutes with Anelka making it 2-0 before half time. Shortly after the break a Kolo Toure own goal put the game out of the Gunners' reach and Bendtner's goal was little consolation as Malouda made it 4-1 and game over.

Chelsea's last home game of the season was against Blackburn Rovers, and a decidedly more chilled atmosphere combined with goals from Malouda after four minutes and Anelka on the hour to make it a thoroughly pleasant way to end the season at home.

Last game of the season proper was away to Sunderland and it took a while to get going, eventually ending 3-2 to Chelsea, with Ashley Cole capping a fine season with a well deserved and much tried-for goal.

Chelsea finished third in the Premiership behind Liverpool, their lowest finish in six years.

The FA Cup Final was to be Gus Hiddink's last game as temporary first team coach. Cries of "We want you to stay," ironically set to the tune of "We're going to Rome" echoed round Wembley as Chelsea came back from a very early goal by Louis Saha to win the game 2-1 and win the FA Cup again.

More importantly, the result was the right way to thank a manager that had taken on a demoralised, disillusioned team, and turned them back, against all the odds, into exactly what they deserved to be—winners.