Chelsea FC League Cup Moments: The Dawn of Chelski

As we all know, this Sunday Chelsea take on Tottenham in the final of the Capital One Cup. Throughout the years, while the Football League Cup has taken many guises, Chelsea have brought it home on four occasions, a feat which only Aston Villa and Liverpool have bettered. However, one of those wins is arguably more important than the others.

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Roman Abramovich bought the club from Ken Bates in the summer of 2003. After spending over £100 million during the summer transfer window, Claudio Ranieri was unable to deliver any trophies for the club’s new owner. Despite finishing 2nd in the league and reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League, this was not good enough from Abramovich’s perspective and the Russian oligarch saw an opportunity to bring a fresh, exciting manager to the club. He sent Ranieri packing, and brought in Jose Mourinho, the man who had just lead Porto to an unprecedented treble the year previous. He took charge in the summer of 2004.

Spending close to £100 million again over the summer, Chelsea entered the season under pressure. Further to this, Mourinho himself came into it under much more pressure and scrutiny than he’d ever experienced. Proclaiming himself to be The Special One upon his arrival, he just had to bring silverware to Stamford Bridge or otherwise face humiliation and most probably the sack. On February 27, Mourinho faced his first moment of truth with his Chelsea side taking on Liverpool in the Carling Cup Final at the Millenium Stadium.

By Ronnie Macdonald from Chelmsford, United Kingdom (Jose Mourinho Uploaded by Dudek1337) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia CommonsGoing into the weekend, Chelsea sat atop the league nine points clear of next best Manchester United. The Blues undoubtedly went into the game as favourites, as determined by their league domination and the quality of players in the squad. However, this was only the second time Chelsea had reached a final since their last cup win in 2000 (FA Cup) and Mourinho, despite what the table said, had to back up his words with a win here.

With all this, the game got off to a nightmare start. John Arne Riise fired Liverpool ahead within the first minute smashing home a Fernando Morientes cross into the far corner. The rest of the first half proved reasonably stale only for it to come alive soon after the break as Jerzy Dudek pulled off a fantastic double save from a Gudjohnsen head and a Gallas strike to preserve the lead. It was end-to-end from there, as Chelsea’s quest for a goal left them vulnerable at the back relying on the likes of Cech and Ferreira to make big plays when it mattered.

Then, in the 79th minute, Chelsea equalised through a stroke of good fortune. Paulo Ferreira’s free-kick was nodded by the Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard into his own net after he and Riise failed to put a name on the ball. Mourinho, meanwhile, was sent to the stands following the goal after his choice of celebration (putting his finger to his lips) directed towards the Liverpool fans was deemed too provocative. Dudek then again saved the day preventing Damien Duff scoring a one-on-one taking the game to extra time.

The first fifteen minutes were relatively uneventful, but moments after the break Didier Drogba made a nuisance of himself in the box, managing to gather and convert on a long Glenn Johnson throw. Not long after, Mateja Kezman capitalised on confusion in the same area to surely put the game beyond doubt. This was not necessarily the case. A minute later, Antonio Nunez made Cech look the fool as he rose above him on a high ball to head it into the net. What followed were a nervy seven minutes for Chelsea but nevertheless they emerged victorious 3-2. Despite watching most of the drama unfold from the stands, Mourinho had won his first trophy in England, and Chelsea its first under Abramovich.

The League Cup is often disregarded as a joke of a trophy, and winning just that in a season is sometimes viewed as a disappointment for a big team. However, this victory was different. It was the win that truly signalled the beginning of the modern Chelsea era, or perhaps it should be dubbed the Chelski era. Yes, the men in blue were odds on to win the league by the time this match took place but nothing changes the fact that this was the first physical piece of evidence that indicated that the club would now be up there with the big boys.

Chelsea FC League Cup Moments: The Dawn of “Chelski”

By Ajitesh Rasgotra | Feb 25, 2015

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