"Didier Drogba delivered a long and passionate eulogy to the European Cup as Chelsea finally
secured their holy grail." The Sun, 21 May 2012
There are some matches that end up seeming primarily the vehicle for one person to somehow
attain mythical status. The Champions League final between Chelsea and Bayern was written, it seems
now, purely to allow Didier Drogba a form of poetic catharsis worthy of fiction or film.
I know what you're thinking. 1. You don't want to revisit that wretched night in Moscow. 2. You
don't want to revisit that wretched night in Moscow. However, we're going to, not just because we
have a final coming up in three days and change but also because, dammit, it's time we extinguish
this nightmare from the memory once and for all.
It had been almost five months since the last time he struck gold. No longer are we left to
wait, and no longer is he left to ponder. Fernando did the business on Sunday, and with style. Hit
the jump for details and the like:
The face of relief
Admit it, you exhaled.
Arsenal striker Carlos Vela, currently on loan at Real Sociedad, isn't renowned for his tackling.
But having found himself on the receiving end of a trip from a Sporting Gijon player, the Mexican
experienced immediate catharsis by being propelled into his own lunge on the linesman. The match
official clearly bore no grudge with Vela, [.
To preface, I'm not wholly satisfied with the catharsis I've employed since Saturday. Seems my
best efforts to cleanse the memories of what transpired have failed and I'm extremely fucking
bitter. I'm usually glass-half-full, but I'd be lying if I said there was anything worth drinking
at the moment.
Chelsea 3-5 Arsenal
We've waited a long, long time for that. To my mind, we've not had a result as fine, and as
cathartic, since sinking Barcelona in February. (We did beat Utd 1-0 at home, but that was
sandwiched between a thoroughly miserable run of form so I'm not going to include that).