Andre Villas-Boas did not enjoy the best of times at the helm of Chelsea. By trying to freshen up the age of the squad after taking over in the summer of 2011, the now Tottenham Hotspur manager managed to alienate several of the senior members of the Blues squad and was under pressure from the start for his decisions to pay dividends.
On this day in 2011, Chelsea were very much in need of a win in the Champions League to reach the next round. They were level on eight points with Valencia - their opponents on the night - and a point behind Group E leaders Bayer Leverkusen. With the German side playing the group's whipping boys Genk, it appeared that only second place was up for grabs.
In their previous two games in the group, Chelsea had blown the lead they had at the top after a 1-1 draw in Belgium and 2-1 defeat in Germany. With Valencia having beaten Genk 7-0 on matchday five, this was turning into a decisive game in AVB's spell at the club. When he announced that Frank Lampard had been dropped to the bench for the game, the pressure only increased.
© Getty Images
Had Chelsea gone in goalless or even behind in the game, there would certainly have been calls from the fans for the manager to bring on their hero Lampard, but as it turned out another of the Blues' experienced heads had the telling impact on the night. Didier Drogba, himself wanting a two-year deal instead of the one year he had been offered, stepped up to the plate.
There were starts for Oriol Romeu in midfield and Daniel Sturridge alongside Drogba, while Florent Malouda and expensive January signing Fernando Torres were left on the bench alongside Lampard. Sturridge on the right was a threat, and Romeu looked comfortable alongside Raul Meireles and Ramires.
It took just three minutes for Drogba to open the scoring on an important Champions League night. Juan Mata played an important role for the opener against his old club as he timed his pass well to Drogba, who slotted in neatly with his weaker foot past Diego Alves.
© Getty Images
The atmosphere eased but Valencia could easily have been level twice in the opening 20 minutes. Jordi Alba hit the outside of the post before Petr Cech had to be at his best to keep out a strike from range by David Albelda; the Czech goalkeeper got fingertips on the ball to stop it crossing the line.
Drogba was then hugely involved for the second goal, as he ran with pace and power through the Valencia defence before looking up to find Ramires. The Brazilian should not have got to the ball ahead of Victor Ruiz, but he was allowed to before poking the ball into the net. The game was over in the 76th minute, picking up another pass from Mata to put Chelsea into the second round as group winners.
The margins are often fine in the Champions League and the Blues eventually went on to win the whole thing, with last-gasp goals against Barcelona in the semi-finals and Bayern Munich in the final helping them on their way.
AVB did eventually get his marching orders in between Chelsea's first and second leg with Napoli. They lost 3-1 in Italy before somehow getting through 5-4 after extra time at Stamford Bridge. After that, the 2012 trophy seemed destined for Stamford Bridge.
