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Drogba hero as Chelsea are 'Champions'


Didier Drogba was the hero as Chelsea shattered Bayern Munich's Champions League dream on Saturday with victory during a nail-biting penalty shoot-out at the Allianz Arena.

Drogba stepped up to rifle home the winning penalty for Chelsea once earlier saving his facet with an equalising goal 2 minutes from time to cancel out what gave the look of a winner from Thomas Mueller because the match finished at 1-1.

It was an agonising defeat for Bayern, who saw midfield maestro Bastian Schweinsteiger miss with their final kick to convey Drogba the chance to get the penalty to clinch the shoot-out 4-3.

Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech additionally saved brilliantly from Ivica Ovic to urge Chelsea into the shoot-out once Juan Mata had missed the Premier League side's gap effort.

Drogba's winning spot-kick was a fairytale ending for the 34-year-old Ivorian striker, who had been sent off within the final minutes of Chelsea's Champions League final defeat in Moscow four years ago.

But the loss left Bayern shattered as their dream of lifting their fifth European title before their own fans at their home ground resulted in agony.

A match Bayern had dominated visited penalties once a frenetic end to traditional time, with Mueller heading Bayern into the lead seven minutes from time just for Drogba to equalise for Chelsea within the 88th minute.

A dramatic begin to extra-time then saw Bayern's former Chelsea winger Arjen Robben miss a penalty - saved by Cech - once Drogba had needlessly brought down Franck Ribery within the space.

For a lot of of the match a Bayern victory had looked the likeliest outcome, with the Bundesliga giants revelling within the raucous support of their home fans.

They suffered an early setback when Schweinsteiger was booked for a nervy handball once solely 2 minutes, however thereafter they enjoyed a virtual monopoly of possession.

Schweinsteiger was the primary to line alarms off within the Chelsea back four, having his shot deflected behind by Gary Cahill once solely 3 minutes.

Toni Kroos was next, his low shot drifting simply wide of Cech's upright.

Chelsea coach Roberto Di Matteo had sprung a surprise by handing a primary Champions League begin to youngster Ryan Bertrand in an endeavor to chop off the availability lines to Arjen Robben down the proper flank.

However the wily Dutchman found house with ease within the eighth minute, cutting in from the flank and curling an endeavor over the bar.

The former Chelsea winger created the simplest probability of the 0.5 on twenty one minutes, teasing the ball past Jose Bosingwa to dart into the world. Robben's shot was low and exhausting, however Cech stuck out a leg and also the ball cannoned to safety.

The closing stages of the 0.5 saw Bayern up the tempo and that they carved out a string of openings that they may well have scored from.

On thirty six minutes Ribery and Diego Contento combined down the left to send Contento racing away. The left-back whipped in an inviting cross however Mueller may solely slash his first-time volley wide of the post.

Chelsea, largely anonymous in attack till that time, then forced Neuer into his initial save of the match.

A sweeping counter-attack saw captain Frank Lampard lay off to Salomon Kalou whose thumping low drive was gathered at the close to post by the Bayern keeper.

Bayern's pressure ought to have earned a bequest however Mario Gomez squandered 2 promising openings shortly before half-time, slicing from shut vary on thirty-nine minutes and then blazing over from simply within the world once losing Cahill.

The second 0.5 followed largely constant pattern because the initial, with Bayern having a goal disallowed for offside by Ribery on fifty four minutes.

The Germans were thwarted by some dogged Chelsea defending, with Cole saving the Londoners with a series of telling interventions.

It looked everywhere for Chelsea when Mueller headed in to place Bayern 1-0 seven minutes from time. however Drogba had alternative concepts to line up the extra-time finale.

However Chelsea looked to possess squandered parity within the fourth minute of extra-time, when Drogba needlessly clipped Ribery to concede the softest of penalties from referee Pedro Proenca.

Once again though Chelse'sa refusal to yield came to their rescue, Cech diving low to his left to thwart Robben's spot-kick along with his legs because the tension rose to excruciating levels.

Substitute Olic nearly won it for Bayern within the 108th minute, however his shot flashed across goal because the game visited penalties.

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