FOUR omens suggest Chelsea could repeat their miraculous Champions League win from 2012 and lift the coveted trophy this year.
An injury and suspension-hit Blues somehow went all the way to be crowned European champions nine years ago, beating Bayern Munich on penalties in the final in their own Allianz Arena.
Chelsea made the quarter-finals for the first time since that historic year with victory over LaLiga leaders Atletico Madrid in this season’s Last 16.
And the Blues now have one foot in the last four of the competition after an inspired 2-0 win over Porto in the ‘away’ first leg of their quarter-final tie on Wednesday night.
SunSport looks at the four spooky similarities between this campaign and 2012 that could indicate Chelsea fans will soon be celebrating again.
Sacking a young manager
Former Chelsea star Roberto Di Matteo was the caretaker manager who finally landed the one trophy that had eluded Roman Abramovich’s grasp.
But the 1997 FA Cup final goalscorer was only in place because the Blues sacked Portuguese boss Andre Villas-Boas on March 4, 2012.
The then 34-year-old was axed after a poor run of results, including the 3-1 defeat away to Napoli in the last 16 first leg.
This season, club icon and another young manager Frank Lampard, 42, was dismissed with Chelsea languishing down in ninth in the Premier League.
Losing to West Brom
Thomas Tuchel’s side were smashed 5-2 at Stamford Bridge by West Brom last week.
The Baggies demolished the German’s team to unceremoniously end his 12-game unbeaten run.
The result caused quite a stir but Tuchel’s men bounced back in style against Porto in midweek.
Similarly, a 1-0 defeat to West Brom proved to be the final straw for Villas-Boas back in 2012 as he was sacked with the defeat leaving the side three points off fourth spot.
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Beating a Portuguese team in the quarter-finals
Under Di Matteo, Chelsea cruised past Benfica in the quarters in 2012.
Salamon Kalou scored the crucial away goal at the Estadio Da Luz to take a 1-0 lead back to the Bridge.
And a Lampard penalty and stoppage-time Raul Meireles goal ensured Chelsea went through 3-1 on aggregate despite Javi Garcia’s 85th minute goal in West London.
This year, of course, the job is only half done but Tuchel and Co will surely be expecting to get through in the second game against Porto with two away goals in the bag.
Playing Spanish giants in the semi-final
Few will forget Fernando Torres’ stunning breakaway goal against Barcelona in the Nou Camp that secured Chelsea’s final berth and got Gary Neville very excited.
The Blues had won the first leg 1-0 at home thanks to Didier Drogba’s strike before the stunning 2-2 draw against their El Clasico opponents.
John Terry’s sending off couldn’t stop Di Matteo’s men with Ramires’ wonderful dink and Torres’ late strike cancelling out Sergio Busquets and Andres Iniesta’s first-half goals that had given the Catalan giants a 2-0 lead on the night.
History could repeat itself with Tuchel’s side in line to play another Spanish giant in Real Madrid in the last four this year.
Los Blancos have a 3-1 first-leg lead over reigning Prem champs Liverpool and if both Zinedine Zidane’s men and Chelsea capitalise on their early advantage they will meet in the semi, mirroring the events of 2012.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
