In the end it was as if
exhaustion enveloped them all. Chelsea's victorious players, the majority suited
and booted but all with winners' medals draped around their necks, piled on to
Titan Airways flight ZT7412 from Schiphol and rather slumped into their seats,
basking in the afterglow of success. Petr Cech raised a plastic thimble of a
glass of Champagne. Frank Lampard and John Terry, just inside the door, each
enjoyed a bottle of beer. All sported weary smiles as the hefty Europa League
trophy was passed, row by row, down the plane.
The contrast with Munich
last May was stark, not least with the players travelling back immediately
after their late win at the Amsterdam ArenA with a final league game still
ahead, rather than enjoying an overnight celebration at their hotel before the
victorious trip home. The mood reflected many things: relief that a slog of a
season had finally yielded silverware; satisfaction at a second successive
European title; fatigue as a campaign that has stretched to 68 fixtures is
nearing a conclusion.
It was as if the initial
flurry of riotous celebration in the dressing room immediately after Branislav
Ivanovic's stoppage-time winner had drained the last drops of emotion from a
squad that, emotionally and physically, are on their last legs. After the rush
of adrenaline came the lull.
"Lamps and Terry
screaming with the trophy and people taking photos on their phones …" said
Juan Mata, recalling the post-match scenes deep in the bowels of the arena.
"They seemed really happy, and I was really happy for them. For Lamps, it
was a really good moment, one he deserves. For Branislav, too. He has the
personality of a leader, and his header showed that."
The Serb, denied involvement
in last season's Champions League showpiece due to suspension, had managed to
miss the celebrations this time as he conducted 13 separate interviews with
various media outlets, the weighty Uefa man-of-the-match award he had claimed
never far from his side. By the time he returned to the dressing room his
team-mates were changed, the floor littered with strapping and spent bottles of
energy drinks, and readying to depart for the airport. "I was too late to
join in," he said, albeit without any real hint of bitterness. "My
phone battery had gone, too, so I haven't even received any messages of
congratulations." His BlackBerry must surely have trilled with recognition
on Thursday.
"There was a lot of
satisfaction in that dressing room," said Lampard. "Munich was
special – it was the pinnacle. Amsterdam was always going to be different, but
there was still a real sense of achievement. It had been a tough, long season
and there was a real desire to win in those circumstances. We were very content
afterwards. There was no Didier Drogba to deliver a speech [as he had last
year], and we knew we had the game on Sunday as well, so there wasn't
over-celebration. But it was important we won something. You are defined by
that. We all are. It's something to put on our CV. If we'd walked away having
lost it would have been a horrible feeling, so it was a huge game to win."
Rafael Benítez, if perhaps
only privately, would echo such sentiment. The interim first-team manager has
endured much over his tumultuous seven-month spell at this club but, if only in
the last throes of his tenure, a grudging respect for his methods has developed
among those in the stands who so loathed him from the outset. He will still
never be loved but history may end up recalling his brief period in charge,
which will fizzle out after next week's post-season tour of the US, more
fondly. The overriding memory may not be livid mutiny at his mere presence, but
of progress and reward.
"I don't think anyone
expected the way it was at the start, but I don't think it affected him,"
said the assistant manager, Bolo Zenden, of the ferocious reception afforded
the Spaniard back in November. "We knew gradually it would be a bit
better. The whole thing has been a crazy ride. The target was to finish top
four and make sure of Champions League football, and we've secured that. But to
reach a final and finish like this is super. We've had games every three days,
with a squad that wasn't the biggest.
"We had all 25 of our
players in Holland, and only 18 were available, so it says a lot that we
managed to keep them fit up until that last game at Aston Villa. It's been
hectic, busy and the last time we had four days between games it just felt
weird. It was, like: 'What's going on, we're having a mini-holiday?' But it's
been a great ride."
It says much that Chelsea
mustered a late winner in their penultimate game of the season despite not
making a substitution in Amsterdam. It is the first time in 21 years that a
finalist in a major European showpiece has not introduced a player from the
bench, but Benítez's options had been limited.
They merited their sense of
achievement, the outpouring of elation that had greeted the final whistle
shared with a delirious support. The victors had been joined by an interloper
on the pitch, 11-year-old Louis Kearns from Liverpool infiltrating the
celebrations and even climbing the steps with Chelsea's players to shake hands
with the Uefa president, Michel Platini. A spokesman for the governing body
confirmed the young boy had been "quietly removed once he was spotted on
the ceremony tribune". He departed quietly. Benítez, in contrast, has gone
out with a bang.
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