Boulevard of Broken Dreams....

Chelsea's European dreams were shattered, again!

               There they stood, dejected and bruised, facing the taunts from 60,000-strong unforgiving opposition crowd,long after the victors had already left the field.Some of the finest players of this generation,as Green Day had so aptly put it, standing on the "Boulevard of Broken Dreams".
                Chelsea were thrown out of the Europe's elite competition in the late stages again, this time, the Theatre of Dreams proved to be the graveyard for their European ambitions.The analysis has already begun in full flow already,there will be a lot of finger-pointing by the experts,on tactical decisions,on players' qualities too perhaps, but few realise the impact it might have had on some of the biggest players of the current era.
                  Didier Drogba, unarguably one of the finest footballing talents produced by Africa may never lift the Champions League trophy. One of the greatest goal-scoring mid-fielders the world has ever seen, Frank Lampard may finish his career, still craving the tag of a European Champion.Florent Malouda, the brilliant French winger, whose heroics in 2006 World Cup made Chelsea splash14 million pounds on him, may have to end up without Europe's most coveted Silverware.The predatory talent of Nicolas Anelka,who wandered around the world with Arsenal, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Fenerbahce, finally to settle at Chelsea still has that elusive piece of Silverware missing from his medals.These are not just like any other players, but some of the best of this era.They surely deserved better,if Michael Carrick and John O'shea can win the Champions league,then Frank Lampard surely deserves to be the winner too. If Juliano Beletti and Luis Garcia can have the Champions League winning medals, then Didier Drogba sure as hell deserves one.

Will Chelsea ever find such a moment,to win the title that has become their "Holy Grail"??

                   But then,fate operates in it's own funny way.Chelsea have suffered some terrible misfortunes in the competition,but that can no more be put up as an excuse.For the second year running, the Blues were knocked out, not because of Refereeing decisions, but because of tactical inefficiencies.(Yes,there was this penalty not given,and hint of offside in the 1st goal in 2nd leg,but that's too less to call Injustice these days,according to Chelsea's current standards in UEFA,isn't it?) Last year, Jose Mourinho completely outfoxed Ancelotti in sheer tactical battles,to eliminate his old Club.This year, Chelsea found ways to self-destruct.Now call me a loser or a cry-baby or whatever you like,but I'm never going to accept that this Manchester United team was a Potentially better team than Chelsea.But, at some positions Chelsea were terrible,and United made them pay for it.I have never been convinced by Jose Bosingwa's performances in Chelsea colours.Yes,he makes those terrific runs from the right,but 99 percent of his crosses fail to find what is needed: A Blue Shirt in the opposition Penalty box.And better not talk about his defensive skills! It was solely his fault that United took a priceless away lead into the 2nd leg and that came to haunt Chelsea, badly.
                 Lot has been talked about already about the decision to start Fernando Torres, keeping Drogba on the bench for the crunch game at Old Trafford.The move completely backfired on Chelsea.Now, there are talks of revamp of the ageing side,it's been long due I feel. That's why so many of Chelsea's ageing stars may never have the chance to fight for the ultimate prize in European Football again.Roman Abramovich, or for that sake, owners of many big clubs over the world may have sympathy, but they're unlikely to have a place for these waning stars in their team.

Chelsea's two frontmen, along with Frank Lampard have failed to light up the stage this year

                   Finally, the debates will run on for some time, whether Chelsea made the mistake of not trusting their best forward in pressure situations, whether the denied penalty had any impact on the outcome, whether Manchester United were simply overwhelming for the reigning English Champions,. The reality however is, Manchester United are in the semi-finals and deservedly so.It just keeps niggling in the mind sometimes though, had Didier Drogba played the whole game, instead of the 45-minute cameo he was allowed, Chelsea could've had a much better chance to get closer to their "Holy Grail". Instead, what they got was another European Nightmare!