Chelsea’s Champions League defence has come to an end. Wow, it still feels painful to say it. As a fan, you get carried away with the idea of your team winning every single competition. Not because you think it’s an easy task, but because you know that you are good enough. Out of the Premier League title race, fell short in the Carabao Cup final and is now out of the Champions League.
Could I say that this has still been a successful season? After watching the battle against Real Madrid, I say yes.
We may not come away with another trophy, but we have achieved something that is almost as commendable.
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Jose Mourinho, Antonio Conte, Maurizio Sarri and Frank Lampard all had the same feasible excuse after a loss, and that was the mentality of the players. The cognitive dissonance within the squad resulted in the inability to pick themselves back up after a tough period. It became an unnatural norm within the Chelsea camp despite winning trophies in the process. From Mourinho’s second homecoming right up until Lampard’s exit, Chelsea managed to secure five trophies, but the feeling was not of fulfilment.
For a long time now, we’ve enjoyed the trophy celebrations and the glory over our rivals that have come with it, but now it feels a little bit different. I didn’t want to get ahead of myself after last season’s Champions League final. However, Thomas Tuchel’s presence has broken the mentality curse. Not once have I seen his team give up or put their heads down after defeat. Most of the time, they get back up and go fighting again. There have been dips throughout the season, but it’s only been temporary.
There are not enough reasons to call this season a success. The Blues were expected to compete for a Premier League title, win another domestic cup and retain the Champions League. High expectations if you ask me, but it was not out of the question for the reigning Champions of Europe.
Losing to Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final was a blow from which I probably wouldn’t see former Chelsea teams bounce back. 0-0 after 90 minutes with two goals ruled out to VAR would have killed off the game if this was the season of 2015/16. If that didn’t do it, a 3-1 loss at home to Real Madrid in the 1st leg of the Champions League quarter-final would have.
I mean, how often does a team go to the Bernabeu and turn around a two-goal deficit. There’s only one team in history that has inflicted such damage against the European giants. I could not in a million years imagine Lampard’s young set of players or Sarri’s rebellious squad to have come as close as Tuchel’s men did. It was a statement to go 3-0 up against some of the most frightening names in European history.
Cobham’s finest, Mason Mount, Reece James and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, caused havoc against Karim Benzema, Luka Modric and Toni Kroos. The script wrote itself last season when they played in the Valdebebas, but the atmosphere and the history of the Bernabeu is a different kettle of fish. The belief in the faces of the players, the concentration and the passion cut deep for many football fans. It wasn’t just those faithful to the West Londoners rooting for that fairy tale ending, neutrals also wanted Chelsea’s hunger to be rewarded. They had given it everything, and that's what turns this failure into a success.
How often have we seen a manager with such passion in the Chelsea dugout? How often have we seen our players huddle together, going into extra time with the belief that they could win this tie? You can call it a failure to have lost, but the fight was admirable and reminded me of the days when we’d see Didier Drogba, Lampard, John Terry and so on leaving it all on the pitch.
If anything, the loss to Real Madrid proved that this group of players has shifted the dynamic. To top it off, we’ve finally found the manager who has been able to do what some of Chelsea’s finest managers couldn’t.
