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Chelsea vs Portsmouth

Last modified 21:07 15/05/10

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Prev

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• Page 3

What a way to banish the spectre of the Special One.

These may still be the ­players that Jose Mourinho first turned into champions – but rest assured this is now very much Carlo Ancelotti’s team.

In his first season at ­Stamford Bridge, Ancelotti has ­delivered something that was beyond even Mourinho – a Premier League and FA Cup Double.

Didier Drogba’s stunning 59th-minute free-kick ­enabled the Italian to get his hands on the oldest trophy of them all.

It was a devastating strike.

Enough to silence the ­incredible Portsmouth fans, who made this an occasion to savour, and the critics, who accuse Chelsea of having no history.

The Blues’ place among the legends of the English game is now guaranteed after an achievement that has only been savoured by six other clubs.

For Pompey it was another day of heartbreak at the end of a season when everything apart from the heart has been ripped out of the club.

Avram Grant’s men became the sixth club to be both relegated and beaten in the Cup Final.

Grant, of course, is the man that came within a penalty kick of making Chelsea the champions of Europe.

That John Terry slip in ­Moscow was two years ago this week. It must seem like another lifetime for the ­Israeli.

A new challenge away from Fratton Park beckons for Grant, while Pompey’s fans returned down the M3 ­contemplating life in the Championship and debts of £140million.

At the end, before Terry and Frank Lampard lifted the ­trophy in unison, both sets of supporters rose as one to ­acclaim Grant as he collected his medal. ‘Carpe diem’ they say in Ancelotti’s homeland. ‘Seize the day’. And it seemed like Pompey would do just that after somehow surviving a first half which saw Chelsea strike the ­woodwork FIVE times.

When Aruna Dindane tore past Juliano Belletti in the 55th minute and was then sent sprawling by the Chelsea substitute’s desperate lunge, referee Chris Foy pointed immediately to the penalty spot.

Opportunity knocked for Pompey but, when Kevin-Prince Boateng fired his kick against the legs of Petr Cech, the door slammed shut.

Within minutes, Drogba picked himself up after being fouled by the otherwise ­outstanding Aaron Mokoena 25 yards out.

And when David James took a slight step to his right as Drogba shaped to shoot, it was fatal.

Drogba’s whipped effort beat the Pompey keeper’s left hand by inches and bounced in off the foot of the post.

The Ivorian deserved his 37th goal of the season. In the latter stages of the first period, he had seen a free-kick clatter the crossbar off James’ ­fingertips and another close-range effort strike the foot of the post.

At that moment Portsmouth must have believed they were going to produce one of the greatest upsets of them all.

In an emotional show of ­defiance before the tie, their fans in the East Stand turned one half of Wembley into a sea of waving flags. It harked back to the golden days of the FA Cup, the glittering silver ­vision that has always offered hope to the underdog.

This was top versus bottom; rich versus poor; champions against vanquished.

Lampard almost silenced the Pompey chimes inside four minutes with a snap shot on the run that curled wide.

And when he got ­another sight of goal – and a chance to score in successive finals – the outside of James’ post ­intervened.

But Chelsea also had a let-off when Dindane stabbed ­instinctively at Boateng’s ­volley inside Chelsea’s six-yard box only to see Cech ­produce an incredible save.

The Blues went from the sublime to the ridiculous ­moments later when Florent Malouda somehow fired a shot against the underside of the bar. Then Terry rose ­between Ricardo Rocha and Boateng to meet Malouda’s lofted free-kick only to see his header bounce off the bar.

Drogba twice struck the same overworked goal frame as the break approached. It seemed nothing would get past James.

But when Boateng fired over on the restart, and then ­blundered from the penalty spot, Drogba struck ­decisively. Salomon Kalou and ­substitute Joe Cole should have made it comfortable.

And Pompey would have made Chelsea pay had Terry not ­inadvertently diverted ­substitute Nadir Belhadj’s cross away from Dindane with the goal gaping.

Even Lampard was wasteful, shooting wide from the ­penalty spot in the 88th minute after being hauled down by Michael Brown.