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Throughout the long history of Chelsea Football Club, there have been plenty of excellent European nights under the bright lights of Stamford Bridge. This iconic stadium has played host to some of the greatest comebacks in the history of the sport. While only making their Champions League debut in the 1999/00 season, the memories that have been created in that time are sure to never be forgotten by the Chelsea faithful.
Throughout this blog post, we are going to be discussing some of the greatest European matches that have taken place at Stamford Bridge as well as how these games have played out compared to the expected outcomes.
As debutants in the Champions League this season, no one expected much from this Chelsea side despite impressing in the league to secure qualification the previous year. The expectation was that making out of the groups would be an excellent achievement.
However, Chelsea were more than impressive enough to make it out of the group stages and into the knockout stage where they were drawn against Barcelona in the Quarter Finals where there was no chance Chelsea could topple the Catalan giants.
Many already had feared that Chelsea were out of their depth in this stage of the Champions League, but this did not stop them from staging an incredible Stamford Bridge performance in the first leg of the tie beating Barca 3-1 with goals from Gianfranco Zola and two from Tore Andre Flo.
While this elation did not last in the second leg with Barca blowing the plucky new side away in extra time to secure a 5-1 win, nothing can take away from beating an impressive Barcelona team on the grandest stage of them all.
The first leg of this iconic fixture was what laid the groundwork for that iconic moment for Fernando Torres with the unforgettable commentary from Gary Neville, This performance from Chelsea was imperative to allow them to go all the way in the competition.
Facing the current champions of Europe in the semi-final with a certain Lionel Messi, who was in the middle of the greatest calendar year that football has ever seen, seemed to be an impossible task for the Blues to overcome.
But the power of Stamford Bridge pulled the Blues to a pivotal 1-0 victory to take to the Nou Camp. The seemingly perfect Chelsea backline and an outstanding Didier Drogba led Chelsea to defy the odds again and again to reach the final against Bayern Munich, where they would go on to win the whole competition.
In a match that lives in a slightly less recent memory of the Chelsea fandom, the Blues were well and truly brought back from the brink in the second-leg tie against Napoli. After a crushing 3-1 defeat in Naples, it looked like Andre Villas Boas’ side would crash out of Europe with little to cling on to for hope, with the manager departing shortly after this match.
However, Stamford Bridge had proven that it was capable of lifting any team to unimaginable heights and was waiting in the second leg for what would be an immense comeback from the Blues. Chelsea would turn up in the greatest way with all of their veterans popping up when they were needed, securing an emphatic 4-1 victory over Napoli in the capital. This truly was one of the greatest comebacks in Champions League history.
The iconic Rivalry between Chelsea and Liverpool has been defined by incredible matches like this in the Champions League. By the time they had met in 2008, the Red Giants had outmuscled the Blues in two separate semi-finals in 2005 and 2007. This set the stage for a third, could Chelsea finally overcome the old guard and bring in a new wealth of Champions League history? With a 1-1 draw at Anfield going into the second leg, the signs looked promising.
A major and unfortunate setback would befall the blues as Frank Lampard’s mother would tragically pass away just days before the teams were due to step onto the field together. It looked like Lampard may not be able to play in the tie. However, Lampard would use this as a way to dedicate a moment in time to his mother, by scoring a penalty in extra time to put Chelsea 2-1 up in the second leg in what can only be described as a heartwarming moment that he will never forget.
No other Champions League tie at Stamford Bridge has ever been better than this absolute classic in 2005. The third on this list against Barcelona, Chelsea has made a habit of incredible matches against the Spanish club. After losing 2-1 in the first leg at the Nou Camp, the stage was set for another classic at the Bridge. Chelsea immediately raced into a 3-0 lead putting in an incredible display early on, giving them an overall lead of 4-2 in the tie.
However, some individual brilliance from Ronaldinho got two goals back for the visitors drawing it level at 4-4 but with Barca going through on away goals. Then, a corner falls Chelsea’s way with 15 minutes left on the clock, up leaps the captain, John Terry, who nods home a wonderful header to send the Blues into the next round.