Over a month into isolation and I've run through at least six distinct stages of boredom, only maybe four of which I knew existed before now. Desperately in need of something to do, I decided to spend hours every week watching decade-old soccer games and then blathering about them on my personal blog for a couple thousand words. Productivity!
Anyway in a pretty blatant rip-off of The Ringer's Rewatchables podcast series I'm going to be doing a series of posts, coming out every Friday, on Chelsea's run in the 2012 Champions League. I'll do a post for each game of the knockout stages (except for the quarterfinals against Benfica, which will be one post for the two legs-when the highlight of two games is a Raul Meireles goal, you know it's got to be pretty bland).
Each post will start with a summary of the game where I'll run through what happened and why. Then I'll hit a few categories: MVP of the game; best goal; what's aged the best and worst; and "what happened to that guy," a mix of the Dion Waiters and Joey Pants awards where I'll highlight one of the (many) great role players on Chelsea's squad and track their career since then.
This run is super interesting for a couple reasons.
First, it comes smack in the middle of a really weird time for Chelsea. The players (Drogba, Lampard, Terry, Cole, Cech, etc.) who had been the core of the club during the last decade were heading out the door. Starting in 2010 the club ramped up its spending during transfer windows again in an effort to replace that core group (between 2005 and 2009 Chelsea spent just $65 million or so every window, a paltry sum compared to what Abramovich is known for). Between 2010 and 2014 the club spend well into the hundreds of millions every summer trying to find new talent, especially offensive players (like Eden Hazard, Willian, Oscar, Juan Mata, and Fernando Torres).
Even as Chelsea looked for fresh talent they also tried to revamp their on-field identity. Even though Jose Mourinho had left the club in 2007, his pragmatic and pessimistic defensive style had lingered on after him. As Barcelona's attacking play swept the world, Abramovich (like so many others) looked around and said, "I want that." So he hired Andre Villas-Boas (a really yikes decision that I'll unpack more later). AVB (despite being in the Mourinho coaching tree) promised to bring a new, more aggressive style of play to the club. Part of that transition would involve ushering out the old players, who had neither the legs nor the interest in the young manager's opinions.
In many ways the 2011-12 season unintentionally became the last hurrah of the core that Mourinho formed. Drogba, Lampard and Cole were all gone within the next two years. Cech and Terry lasted longer (partly due to club legend status in Terry's case), but they didn't impact the club after Munich like they did before it.
Second, it was ridiculously improbable that Chelsea could have actually pulled this off. All due respect to 2015-16 Leicester, but I think that this Champions League title is the most surprising soccer run of the decade and maybe ever. This was, by far, the worst team of the Abramovich era up to that point. No squad had finished worse than third and with fewer than 70 points; this team dropped to sixth on 64. It is the second worst league performance of any Chelsea team since Roman took over (2015-16's squad finished tenth on 50 points, although I think that team was better than this one and really only collapsed because Mourinho went full Mourinho in December).
2011-12 Chelsea was a pot-pourri of aging stars and journeyman role players. The team got big performances at just the right times (especially from Drogba and Cole), but for the most part it struggled to put together a consistent stretch of quality play.
On top of that, Chelsea ran a gauntlet to lift the trophy. In the semis they beat Barcelona, who the year before had won the Champions League (and the treble) in one of the most impressive 90 minutes any team has played. In the finals they beat Bayern Munich (in Munich!), who the very next year would win the treble. I'll talk more about just how good those teams in later posts, but it's insane that Chelsea beat both teams on the road in major matches.
Third, these games are just plain fun. There are so many memorable moments from this run: the second leg comeback and extra time at the Bridge against Napoli; both legs of the Barca semi, but especially the second half of the second leg; and of course the incredible final. I'm genuinely really excited to revisit these games, partly because I have such clear memories of watching them all the first time around.
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