“We came here to play football and it was not a football game, it was a fight.”
So said José Mourinho after he brought Chelsea north on 2nd February 2005 for an eighth straight win as they romped to the title during his first season in England.
It was the truest test of a team’s title-winning mettle and a credit to how Mark Hughes was making Rovers tough to beat in the quest to avoid relegation in 2004/05. The Chelsea players celebrated the battle like they had won the league and threw their shirts into the crowd.
Arjen Robben grabbed the early winner but five minutes later Aaron ‘The Axe’ Mokoena, erm, axed him from the game with two broken metatarsals.
Petr Cech made it to a record 781 minutes without conceding a goal after Paul Dickov saw his penalty saved – before Dickov lunged in on the keeper in anger. Chelsea held on.
“I was a little bit upset that the opposing manager was not gracious enough to shake my hand,” said famed specialist handshake-etiquette coach Mark Hughes.
Then Mourinho delivered one of his legendary monologues: “They felt they couldn't beat us playing football so they tried to beat us in a different way – direct football, being nasty and hard and trying to intimidate players.”
“Look at the blond boy in midfield, Robbie Savage, who commits 20 fouls and never gets a booking.”
“They tried everything. During this afternoon it rained only in this stadium – our kitman saw it. There must be a microclimate here. The pitch was like a swimming pool.”
Rovers: Friedel, Neill, Todd, Nelsen, Matteo, Emerton, Thompson (Reid 81), Mokoena, Savage, Pedersen, Dickov. Subs Not Used: Amoruso, Tugay, Enckelman, Johnson.
Chelsea: Cech, Paulo Ferreira, Gallas, Terry, Bridge, Tiago, Makelele, Lampard, Duff, Gudjohnsen (Kezman 82), Robben (Cole 11), Cole (Jarosik 79).Subs Not Used: Johnson, Cudicini.
The above snippet is taken from Issue 107 of 4,000 Holes, which provides a light-hearted review of the noughties – ORDER VIA THIS LINK.
