The story started with a goal and not just any goal. A goal of “one billion euros” as the British press then describes it. On May 11, 2003, during the last day of the Premier League, Jesper Gronkjaer scored and allowed Chelsea, then on the verge of bankruptcy, to beat Liverpool (2-1) and qualify in extremis for the coming campaign of the Premier League. Champions League. A goal without which Roman Abramovich, who was also targeting Manchester United and Tottenham, would probably never have set his sights on Chelsea.
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Roman Abramovich during the takeover of Chelsea in 2003
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Not only did he change the fate of the London club, but he helped change the face of world football. He is the first, eight years before QSI’s arrival at PSG, to embody the takeover of foreign capital over historic clubs and its mode of operation, namely injecting hundreds of millions of euros into transfers to constituting a Dream Team and thus conquering Europe, was to be emulated in the decades that followed. Abramovich’s Chlesea opens a new era and will be the first to explode transfer fees and salaries while its owner will spend lavishly.
Chelsea FC, you’ve got no history
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From 2003, four of the ten most expensive players of the summer signed with the Blues (Crespo, Duff, Veron, Makélélé). He who was only a capricious billionaire offering himself a very expensive toy is dubbed as the savior of the London club in distress after having injected 90 million euros during the first off-season. Didier Drogba in 2004 (38.5 million euros), Michael Essien in 2005 (38 million euros) then Andrei Shevchenko in 2006 (44 million euros) broke investment records summer after summer. The Russian oil and aluminum magnate will spend two billion euros until his first success in C1 in 2013.
Thomas Tuchel and Roman Abramovich.
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These uninhibited methods, coupled with the club’s aggressive strategy of internationalization – which does not date from the arrival in power of the new owner – will make the London club the black sheep of the Premier League, the most hated club in the Kingdom. He will be criticized for being an artificial club, which meant that the Blues were reminded, on each trip, of the lightness of their record before the arrival of Russian funds. “Chelsea FC, you’ve got no history”, the Liverpool supporters liked to sing. The divisive personality of José Mourinho, architect of Chelsea’s first great period, will contribute to growing resentment among opponents as the London club will never stop growing.
Mourinho, the Premier League and the European coronation
Fifty years after their first and until then only league title, Chelsea, thanks to a double from Frank Lampard against Bolton, won the Premier League again in 2005. José Mourinho’s men outclassed the competition thanks to an iron defense (15 goals conceded) which does not improve its image. From March 2004 to October 2008, the Blues would remain undefeated at home for 86 league matches in a row.
If Europe refused Chelsea and its Russian owner for nine long years, the coronation seemed inevitable and on May 19, 2012, in Munich and against Bayern, which symbolizes the old world better than anyone, Chelsea settled on the roof of Europe and became the first London club to win the Champions League. The consecration is total and signals the end of the lawsuits in legitimacy.
Roman Abramovich and Chelsea win the Champions League
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Especially since the Premier League is therefore opening up to foreign capital. After 19 years of reign and a new Champions League last May, Roman Abramovich therefore leaves, constrained and forced, the controls of a club which he bought for 160 million euros and could resell for three billion euros. euros. A rich history that forever changed the face of English and world football.
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