Former Chelsea forward Juan Mata has reflected on the club’s ‘miracle’ Champions League win in 2012 in which the Blues repeatedly bounced back from a cavalcade of setbacks to win their first European Cup.
The 2011/12 campaign was a somewhat rocky one for the Blues, who would stumble to a sixth-place Premier League finish after disposing of manager Andre Villas-Boas in March, with former Chelsea midfielder Roberto Di Matteo taking interim charge.
That managerial change came after their Champions League last-16 first-leg tie, with Mata opening up to FourFourTwo about their unlikely triumph that year.
“In the last 16, we lost 3-1 in the first leg at Napoli and Villas-Boas was sacked; two weeks later we won 4-1 in London” he tells us. “The semi-finals against Barça could also be the subject of a book: John Terry’s sending off, Lionel Messi’s missed penalty… it was a miracle. Then the final against Bayern was in Munich, which seemed impossible.
The contest came at the twilight of several Chelsea players’ careers, with Mata admitting that these players saw this as their final opportunity to win the trophy.
“No doubt about it,” the Spaniard added. “Didier Drogba said it wasn’t easy to reach a Champions League final at his age. John Terry missed it because he was sent off at the Camp Nou, but it was a culmination of their careers – they deserved it for everything they’d given not just to Chelsea but to football.”
It was Mata’s 88th-minute corner that Drogba headed home to equalise in the 88th minute and force extra time, with Mata modestly admitting luck played its part.
“I said to myself, “Get the ball up and put it where there’s people – don’t let it fall short”. Luckily I found Drogba. In that Champions League we had been lucky during several moments in the knockout stages and I was convinced we were going to have a chance in the final as well. I think it was written.”
After neither side were able to fashion a winner in extra-time, Mata stood up to take Chelsea’s first penalty in the shootout, only to see his weak effort saved by Manuel Neuer.
“I just wanted Bayern people to miss after that,” admits the Spaniard. “For three penalties, they didn’t. I didn’t want to lose because of that penalty. It’s funny, because our goalkeeping coach told me that Manuel Neuer would go to the left when a left-footed player took a penalty and I was planning to listen to him and put it to his right, but at the last minute I had the feeling Neuer would go to that side and I changed my mind. That’s why I missed.”
Ivica Olic had the chance to put Bayern on the brink of victory, only for Petr Cech to save the spot kick before the Czech stopper turned the tables by saving Bastian Schweinsteiger’s effort.
Drogba duly stepped up and beat Neuer to win the trophy, but Mata admits he will forever be thankful to his goalkeeper.
“He’s invited for life to whatever he wants!” he laughs.
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