After Chelsea defeats Sunderland and wins the Premier League trophy, Didier Drogba steals the show in his farewell game.
At 5:12 p.m., John Terry lifted the Premier League trophy with his teammates coiling to spring at his back and the departing Didier Drogba at his side.
Although Chelsea’s dominance over rivals was really established during that scorching start last October and was only briefly contested by Manchester City at the beginning of the year, the title had already been theirs for three weeks.
Being unbeaten at home for 274 days, Chelsea is the only team out of 92 to hold that position. Their campaign has been one of complete control.
As Madness blared over the public address system, players and staff paraded with their family amid the ticker-tape, and people from the Shed End to the Matthew Harding stand jumped with delight, rightfully celebrating the triumph.
José Mourinho gave his daughter Matilde his winner’s medal and gave the cameras eight fingers, representing the number of league titles he had won at four different clubs across multiple nations.
Crowned by the trophy lid, Drogba took the mic and pointed out that Frank Lampard, who had scored for Manchester City on his farewell game at the distant Etihad, was not present.
Maybe the pomp and circumstance would have been more appropriate in the immediate aftermath of that title-sealing victory over Crystal Palace on May 3. If nothing else, the exuberant pandemonium provided Drogba and, most likely, Petr Cech with appropriate farewells following illustrious careers here. As expected of a player with his charm, the Ivorian stole the show in a victory on the last day in which he only played 28 minutes.
Just after Sunderland grabbed the lead, Chelsea’s captain for the day was brought off the field by chairlift, with the home team’s Mikel John Obi, Juan Cuadrado, and Branislav Ivanovic bearing the most of the weight.
Drogba took two minutes to leave, with the sporting director, Michael Emenalo, and the entire coaching staff waiting on the touchline to give the striker a handshake. Before the game, the theater had been scheduled in advance and approved by Dick Advocaat of Sunderland.
It made the event feel like a testimonial, even though certain athletes are deserving of this kind of praise.
Sunderland has problems of its own as well. Due to Advocaat’s remarkable success in preventing relegation, there is a growing demand for him to continue and lead the player personnel change that the Dutchman acknowledged was essential.
He remarked, “It’s not up to me because they already offered me two or three years.” “However, I have to be honest with myself and everyone else about my future plans.”
He will decide this week, around the time Chelsea leaves for their post-season tour of Thailand and Australia, after consulting with Lee Congerton, the sporting director. There will be a long march across the borough on Monday to continue the celebrations.
Regarding Cech, Mourinho remarked, “He’s a legend of this club but he’s a legend at 33.” Furthermore, 33 is a fairly young legend for a goalie. I’m not sure if we would have won the championship if Petr hadn’t been there to make clutch saves in the seven [league] games he participated in.
He challenged Cech’s current teammates to win awards like this “on a regular basis.” He went on, “This team is just getting started.”
Both the Premier League and the Capital One Cup were won by it. In order to improve upon the 2005 squad, they must win more games.
Cech has to make a difficult choice. Eleven years after moving to south-west London, he may have already decided it’s time to go on after a disappointing season in which he mostly filled in for Thibaut Courtois.
The supporters expressed their overwhelming wish for him to remain, celebrating his rejections of Sebastian Larsson, Connor Wickham, and Jermain Defoe. Despite Steven Fletcher’s misplaced pass that allowed the visitors to advance, the fans was still happy that he was there.
After John O’Shea tripped Cuadrado, Diego Costa, his replacement, duly leveled the score with his 20th league goal of a stellar debut season in English football.
Even though Drogba returned to the field after the game and grabbed the match ball for himself, Loïc Rémy, another substitute, scored twice after the break to secure the third-highest point total in this club’s history. He had no one to contradict that.
“He belonged to the ‘other’ team,” Mourinho added, alluding to the 2005 Premier League champions, eight of whom had already joined John Terry, Cech, and Drogba on the field prior to kickoff to commemorate that accomplishment ten years earlier.
However, he is a part of this new Chelsea as well. It’s great that these players get to meet him, work out with him, live with him, play with him, and share with him. He was an enormous asset to these youths. They took note of a commendable model.
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