It played out the same way in 2012, the first time Chelsea were crowned the best team in Europe. They were ranged against a team managed by Pep Guardiola then, too, in the semi-final. And they were dismissed and discounted then, just as they were before they ran out to face the might of Manchester City at the Estadio do Dragao.
They were told they did not have a prayer when they met Guardiola’s Barcelona side in the semi-final. They were dismissed as ‘stingy, cowardly and miserable’ by the Spanish press. They shocked the world when they dethroned Guardiola then and on Saturday night, driven on by the indefatigably brilliant N’Golo Kante, who played with the energy of 10 men, they shocked the world when they did it again.