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Do you believe in miracles and comebacks? Chelsea certainly does as its miracle run in the UEFA ChampionsLeague climaxed Saturday with a rather improbable win in the finalover host Bayern Munich. Facing certain loss with time running out, the Blues managed topull off what had to be considered a lost cause in enemy territoryat Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany. The Blues won their very first Champions League crown via apenalty-kick shootout, 4-3, after playing Bayern to a 1-1 deadlockafter 120 minutes. Ivory Coast international Didier Drogba turned out to be the man oftwo hours, connecting for the equalizer goal in the 88th minute andscoring the winning goal in the shootout to give Chelsea owner andoil baron and billionaire Roman Abramovich the Europeanchampionship he had so desperately sought for nearly the pastdecade. The victory also highlighted a Chelsea comeback from March, whenmanager Andre Villas-Boas was fired. Italian Roberto di Matteo wasbrought in as a caretaker coach and he guided the Blues to theEnglish F.A. Cup game two weeks ago, and now European glory. During the shootout, Bayern grabbed a 3-2 lead as Phillip Lamm,Mario G mez and goalkeeper Martin Neuer made their shots. Butafter Neuer had stopped Spaniard Juan Mata's first attempt, DavidLuiz, Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole converted their tries to tiethe shootout at 3-3. Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech managed to knock away Ivica Olic'sattempt and forced a tired Bastian Schweinsteiger to his the rightpost. Up stepped Drogba, who calmly buried his attempt, most likely hisfinal kick for Chelsea, into the lower left corner. The game had plenty of twists and turns as heroes were replaced andheroes turned potential goats before his own goalkeeper saved himearly in extra time. The best and most dramatic moments in regulation came within afive-minute span late in the match and then early in extratime. First, Thomas Muller, who had endured a night of frustration,scored off a spectacular header in the 83rd minute. A cross camefrom the left side and Muller, while Ashley Cole was concerned withMario G mez on the right side, Muller slipped in and headed anemphatic shot, one bounce over Cech at the near post for his secondChampions League goal in 12 matches. The stadium erupted, especially with only seven minutes ofregulation and another three minutes of stoppage time, as it turnedout, between Bayern and its fifth European title. But it was to be a long, long time. First, Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes decided to pull Muller for adefensive replacement Daniel Van Buyten in the 86th minute. It backfired, as late in the 88th minute Drogba found some room onthe right side of the penalty area and headed Chelsea's firstcorner kick of the game past Neuer for a 1-1 tie, a goal thatstifled an celebrations the home crowd had prepared. Drogba had an opportunity to boost Chelsea to the title as his28-yard free kick at the death of stoppage time (three minutes)sailed into the stands. Drogba, however, almost went from hero to zero only three minutesinto extratime when he clipped Frank Ribery from behind in thepenalty area for a yellow card and a penalty kick. Arjen Robben wascalled on to take the spot kick, but Cech guessed correctly, divingto his left to deny the Dutchman. I am an expert from jsczhy.com, while we provides the quality product, such as Turnover Mechanism , Seat Slide, Seat Slide,and more.
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