Chelsea lifted the Champions League trophy for the first time in their then 107-year history on this day ten years ago.
It was a dramatic affair in May 2012, with the Blues winning 4-3 on penalties after drawing 1-1 with Bayern Munich after 120 minutes failed to separate the two teams. The game had the rare combination of seeing Bayern playing on their home soil, but they failed to use that to their advantage as Didier Drogba was the hero of the night on his final game for Chelsea, before rejoining the club two years later.
Bayern took the lead seven minutes before the end of 90 minutes, only for Drogba to level the tie five minutes later, with his header sending the game to extra-time and then penalties.
When the game went to penalties, former Ivory Coast international forward Drogba converted from 12 yards to give Chelsea the trophy, the first of two in their collection.
The trophy win was the first of two Champions League trophy lifts for Chelsea in their history. Last season, a 1-0 win courtesy of Kai Havertz’s first half goal sealed a final victory over Manchester City in Porto, Portugal.
The win in Munich a decade ago will forever go down in history as the most famous night in the club’s history, overcoming the odds to beat Bayern in their own backyards, heading into the game with multiple suspension and injury absentees, with captain John Terry missing the game after being sent off in the semi-finals of the competition that season away at Barcelona.
That historic night felt like the beginning of the end for Chelsea’s golden era, with the likes of Drogba, Terry, Frank Lampard, Petr Cech and Ashley Cole leaving the club in the years that followed, although some of those would return to the club later on in a different capacity.
Chelsea fans on social media have been sharing their memories of the win in Munich a decade on, with the Blues still currently the defending champions of the competition after last year’s win in Portugal.
Here is the Chelsea XI that played that day – and what has happened to each of them since.
Petr Cech
The ten years that have preceded the trophy win in Germany have been quite eventful in the life of Czech Republic’s most famous goalkeeper, Petr Cech. The now 39-year-old spent the next three years after the win still at Chelsea, but the emergence of Thibuat Courtois led to Cech being dropped to second choice.
After 11 years and 494 appearances in all competitions, Cech departed but did not go far, moving across London to play for Arsenal. Cech would spend the next four years at the Emirates Stadium and helped Arsenal to the FA Cup title in the 2016/17 season. He also played in the Europa League final with the Gunners in 2019, losing to Chelsea in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Cech retired from playing professional football in 2019 and turned his hand to ice hockey and has spent the last three years playing as a goaltender for Guildford Phoenix in Surrey, having played 18 games for the fourth division outfit.
In 2019, he returned to Chelsea as a technical and performance advisor who in 2021, helped to stop protests outside Stamford Bridge when fans plotted to stop the launch of the Super League, with Chelsea being among the first clubs to drop out of it.
Jose Bosingwa
Like it was for Drogba, the final win in Munich was the last appearance for Chelsea made by Portuguese right-back Jose Bosingwa, who was released at the end of the 2011/12 season.
The 39-year-old, like Cech, stayed in London after his Blues exit, signing for Queens Park Rangers for a season before leaving the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium just a year later.
Following his exit, Bosingwa joined Trabzonspor in 2013 and stayed until November 2015, leaving the club for two months due to unpaid wages. He returned that January until the end of the season before retiring from professional football in the summer of 2016.
David Luiz
Centre-back David Luiz was a cult figure at Chelsea and had success at the club across his two spells, winning the Premier League, two FA Cups, two Europa Leagues and the Champions League during 248 appearances between 2011 and 2014 and 2016 and 2019.
With Terry suspended, Luiz partnered future Blues captain Gary Cahill at the heart of defence as Chelsea beat Bayern in the final.
The Brazilian left Chelsea for Paris Saint-Germain in 2014 for a two-year spell in France before returning to London two years later for a five-year stay. Of his next five years in London, Luiz spent the first three with Chelsea before moving to Arsenal for a two-year stint in 2019.
When leaving the Emirates Stadium in 2021, he returned to Brazil to join Flamengo, where he still plays now. He has also owned an Italian restaurant in London with former Chelsea and Brazil teammate Willian called Babbo.
Gary Cahill
When Terry left Chelsea in 2017, former Bolton Wanderers man Gary Cahill replaced him as captain, although Cahill largely skippered the side during the Blues’ title-winning side of 2016/17 as Terry played little football in his final year at Stamford Bridge.
Cahill won everything barring the FIFA Club World Cup, a haul that included two Premier League titles and two FA Cup trophies.
The ex-Blues skipper left Stamford Bridge in 2019 but remained in London, although he did not follow Cech and Luiz, joining Crystal Palace on a free transfer.
Following his exit for Selhurst Park last year, Cahill joined Championship side Bournemouth on the south coast and helped them to gain promotion up to the Premier League this season.
Ashley Cole
Left-back Cole spent two more years at Stamford Bridge but following an injury and falling out of favour to makeshift left-back Cesar Azpilicueta, Cole departed in the summer of 2014.
Italy was Cole’s next destination after 15 years in London with Arsenal, Palace and Chelsea, joining Serie A giants Roma for two years, making just 11 league appearances and being more famous for looking awkward in a pre-season picture than his contributions off the pitch.
Like many of Cole’s former England teammates, he opted to depart Europe and move to America, playing for Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League soccer between 2016 and 2018 before a brief return to England.
In 2019, Cole was signed on a short-term deal by Derby County, then managed by Lampard. Cole coached at Derby after retiring, then followed Lampard to Chelsea, taking up an academy role. Last year, he became an assistant with England’s under-21s before following Lampard at Everton earlier this year.
John Obi Mikel
Midfielder John Obi Mikel was an unlikely winner of the man of the match award in holding midfield on the night of the Champions League win, playing a key role next to Lampard in the middle of the park.
The Nigerian stayed at Chelsea until 2017 before going on a series of moves in quick succession. In 2017, Mikel joined Tianjin TEDA in China for a year, returning to England in 2019 for a short stint in the Championship with Middlesbrough.
Mikel was back on his travels out of England in 2019 after leaving Boro, moving to Turkey to play for Bosingwa’s former club Trabzonspor for a season, returning to the Championship and England for the 2020/21 campaign, signing for Stoke City.
In 2021, Mikel joined Kuwait SC when leaving Stoke but played just five matches and departed Kuwait only four months after his arrival.
Frank Lampard
In 2014, Lampard left Chelsea following a glorious 13-year stay that led to him becoming the club’s all-time record goalscorer.
Lampard left Stamford Bridge to join Manchester City for the 2014/15 season, scoring in one of his first games for the Sky Blues against Chelsea. He left City after one season to join partner club New York City FC in America but spent a year there before retiring.
Lampard then turned to management. In the 2018/19 season, he took charge of Derby for a season and reached the Championship play-off final before going back to Chelsea as manager.
With a transfer ban over him, Lampard got Chelsea a top four finish in his first season before being sacked in January 2021 and replaced by current boss Thomas Tuchel. Earlier this season, Lampard replaced Rafa Benitez as Everton boss and is now in a battle to avoid relegation from the Premier League.
Salomon Kalou
Like Bosingwa and Drogba, Kalou’s final game for the Blues was in their Champions League final victory over Bayern. The former Ivory Coast international left England but remained in Europe for much of his post-Chelsea career.
In 2012, Lille in France became Kalou’s home for the next two seasons before he moved to Germany for the next six years.
Kalou played for Hertha Berlin in the Bundesliga between 2014 and 2020, scoring 53 goals in 172 appearances in all competitions before departing Germany two years ago.
Now aged 36, Kalou left Germany for Brazil and in 2020, left Berlin to join Botafogo in Brazil. Kalou left Brazil in April 2021 by mutual consent and has not found a new club since.
Juan Mata
Spanish midfielder Juan Mata had two fantastic full seasons at Chelsea in the 2011/12 and 2012/13 seasons, winning the club’s player of the year in both terms.
Having not got minutes under Jose Mourinho during the Portuguese boss’ second stint at Stamford Bridge, Mata was sold to Premier League rivals Manchester United in 2014, the club he still plays for now.
In 2016, he and his father became part-owners of a Spanish restaurant in Deansgate, Manchester, although it closed down in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
A year after becoming a restaurant owner, Mata also set up a charity called Common Goal in which he and other footballers pledged to donate a portion of their salaries to charitable organisations.
Ryan Bertrand
Ryan Bertrand was making his Champions League debut a decade ago in Munich as a makeshift winger, despite French international Florent Malouda being on the bench.
Bertrand, a left-back, played for Great Britain at the 2012 Olympics months after the Champions League win, leaving Chelsea in 2015 permanently, having been loaned to Aston Villa and Southampton prior to his exit to the latter on a long-term basis.
The defender spent six more years at St Mary’s before leaving after making 240 appearances for the club, before exiting last year at the end of his contract.
Bertrand stayed in the Premier League to play under former Chelsea coach Brendan Rodgers at Leicester City, although Bertrand has made just four league apperances this term for the Foxes.
Didier Drogba
Drogba was the hero in Munich in what was the last of his 341 appearances for the Blues during his first spell at Stamford Bridge between 2004 and 2012, scoring 157 goals in all competitions and winning a catalogue of trophies.
The Ivorian swapped London for China and joined Shanghai Shenhua alongside former Blues strike partner Nicholas Anelka, leaving after a year to play for Turkish side Galatasary.
Drogba returned to Chelsea for a year for the 2014/15 season, helping the Blues to win their fourth Premier League title and their third under Jose Mourinho before Drogba left the club again.
The final four years of his career came in America, playing for Montreal Impact and Phoenix Rising before retiring in 2018, becoming a minority owner at the club.
