Didier Drogba has revealed how he thought Juan Mata would be the key in winning Chelsea the Champions League in 2012 – months before the Spaniard assisted his dramatic late equaliser in the final.
Enduring a difficult league season in which manager Andre Villas-Boas was sacked in March, Chelsea triumphed against all odds, beating Bayern Munich on penalties in the final.
On the eighth anniversary of the Blues’ greatest night, Drogba told the story of their victory in a Twitter thread.
He wrote: “Eight years ago, the manager had been sacked by the club and we, the players had a team meeting where we recognised being partly responsible for his [Villas-Boas'] departure.