With Liverpool edging Chelsea in yet another Wembley penalty showdown perhaps its time to ponder on the blues era that has seen unprecedented success but which now is soon to come to an end.
Mason Mount looks dejected with his runners up medal.
When Chelsea finished above Liverpool in 2003 what followed was the beginning of a new era in the Premier League. The arrival of Roman Abramovich and his billions meant a total change of the way football would be viewed and success would be attained. They brought in Jose Mourinho and spent millions at ease making a huge statement especially to clubs like Arsenal, Liverpool and United that their glorious history didn’t make them special anymore, what mattered was the present and in the present with Mourinho and Roman’s money Chelsea were the bigger fish.
Chelsea were rampant winning game after game and a seemingly unthinkable Premier League title looked like attainable reality for they had the coach and the team to produce magnificent results. Liverpool with Benitez offered some intense competition in the cups, ending Chelsea’s 86 game unbeaten run in the league, several Champions League encounters, overall Chelsea had more trophies despite Liverpool’s resistance and with Roman’s money with or without Mourinho, success would follow the blues everywhere.
Cut to the Klopp years, Salah’s goal at Anfield which continued the reds title run in 2018/19 season, Adrian’s save in Istanbul for the Super cup, and 4 thrilling and tight encounters in this season with 32 penalties taken overall at Wembley between these two, Liverpool have emerged with the silverware on all the occasions. And perhaps the 2022 FA cup was Chelsea’s last attempt to win a major trophy in sometime to come but Ksimikas became a Liverpool hero denying the blues anymore glory. With Roman’s departure imminent and Rudiger, Christensen, Cesar set to leave Chelsea look like a club thrown in a rabbit hole of uncertainty.
It was perhaps prophecy that Liverpool would be the team to beat the blues as their beloved ownership would be coming to an end as they were the ones who were beaten before all of it began. The new ownership will not be able to match Roman’s ambition nobody can and that’s a fact. Will Chelsea storm back? Perhaps not…. For a change in such a leadership group means massive overhauls and a consortium led ownership means a clash of wants and needs.
It will be some time before the blues got back on their perch again for leaders like Shankly and Alex Ferguson and perhaps even Roman don’t come around often, ask the Man Utd and Liverpool fans and they will tell you exactly what you need to know about dealing with loss of such leaders and unprecedented change.
