Worst Season of Abramovich Era, But Best Trophy Won

Chelsea's owner did not make it a secret that this is the trophy he was after, for a long time. But I'm sure not even he had high hopes of winning the Champions League, at the time of Villas-Boas' demotion, not too long ago.

So, Chelsea won the Champions League. Finally.
Before the match, coach Di Matteo had said that they worked hard at perfecting their penalty strategy. He wasn't kidding! (Although, to tell the truth, after the first five penalty kicks of the ten, I thought Chelsea was going to crack, and that they were going to lose yet another final penalty shoot-out.)

Di Matteo deserves some credit. He seems to be a very lucky coach. Just like Drogba has been a very lucky player (and, actually, a good-luck talisman for his team) lately.
Yes, Drogba caused a couple of penalties against Chelsea, but neither was converted, and on the other hand he also scored some crucial goals at crucial moments, including the last penalty kick of the CL final. Likewise, Di Matteo was also lucky that their opponents in the two finals, the Champions League one and the FA Cup one, in addition to Barcelona in the CL semifinals, missed very important chances against his gameplay strategies (such as a couple of very important penalties, and one header pushed out right from the goal line by Petr Cech).

But I can't say that Di Matteo is a very good coach, because Chelsea should have played better in the Champions League final.
It seems like Di Matteo told his players to soak up the German pressure. And the English players weren't even marking the Germans too tight. Under such conditions, no wonder the Germans caused some serious panic going forward, had about eight times more corner kicks that Chelsea in the 90 minutes, and also got a penalty in extra time, which should have probably meant certain victory. (Why the hell was Drogba responsible for defending against Ribery, in the 94th minute, anyway?)

Bayern, of course, went for glory from the start, because, after all, the game was played on their own stadium. Much of the stands was simply a sea of red.
But Bayern is not exactly the best team on the continent, though, and they have deficiencies when finishing their attacks. The Bayern attacking players understood that the spaces left by the Chelsea defense can be exploited mainly with long shots, but so many of the German shots, even from very favourable positions went high over the net. (In the 43rd minute, after an attack which left the Londoners scrambling nervously in defense, for example, Gomez should have scored.)

But the Germans eventually did gain the advantage, through a Thomas Muller header that made Cech look pathetic in goal. (The Czech would exact his revenge, though, come penalty time.) It was minute 83, then, and an entire stadium was getting ready for a Bayern victory.
However, Chelsea showed unexpected resiliency, and Drogba was able to head the ball perfectly, in the 88th minute, following Chelsea's first corner of the match. Goalkeeper Neuer could not do anything to it. 1-1, and that was the full-time score.

The same net, and even the same side of the net, actually, would witness an amazing penalty save, in extra time. Robben went for power instead of accuracy, after Ribery was fouled by Drogba and the referee pointed to the spot, and Cech caught the ball under him. The minute was 95.
(Arjen Robben, the Dutch player who just cannot win anything these days, really should practice his finishers, especially his penalty kicks. I said that before, here. Seriously, if he had scored more of the huge chances he got, in 2010 and now, maybe his country and club would have been champions now. Robben is just like a bad-luck charm for the teams for which he plays.)

Bayern did attack more in extra time, too, even after the disappointment caused by Robben's miss, but no more goals were scored and the penalty lottery still came.

The very first Chelsea kick was missed, by Mata, but the other takers all scored for the English team. Even Lampard, who always shoots straight down the middle. (Maybe Neuer did not study penalties as well as Cech did...)

The last two kicks by the Germans were missed. Schweinsteiger was the one who aimed at the post, and missed last, thereby allowing Drogba the chance to win the match with his PK.
Supposedly, Schweinsteiger wasn't even going to take that kick, but Robben (- good move!?!?... -) and Kroos refused to take that deciding penalty. Bastian Schweinsteiger had to step up... and his shot had power, but a little less accuracy than needed.

Olic was the other inaccurate penalty taker for Bayern.

And, so, the Bayern people saw what it's like, losing a penalty shoot-out on their own stadium. (Real Madrid fans will appreciate the irony, I'm sure.)

Here's the evolution of the penalty shoot-out:

Penalties:   Bayern - Chelsea   3 - 4

1st penalty Bayern: Lahm P. - GOAL (1-0)
    
1st penalty Chelsea: Mata J. - MISS (1-0)

2nd penalty Bayern: Gomez M. - GOAL (2-0)

2nd penalty Chelsea: Luiz D. - GOAL (2-1)

3rd penalty Bayern: Neuer M. - GOAL (3-1)

3rd penalty Chelsea: Lampard F. - GOAL (3-2)

4th penalty Bayern: Olic I. - MISS (3-2)

4th penalty Chelsea: Cole A. - GOAL (3-3)

5th penalty Bayern: Schweinsteiger B. - MISS (3-3)

5th penalty Chelsea: Drogba D. - GOAL (3-4) - END

See highlights here.