‘Oh, Dennis Wise!’ and other European goals worth singing about
From the official Chelsea FC website:
Chelsea fans love to sing about Dennis Wise’s famous goal in the San Siro. Ahead of our visit to the home of AC Milan tonight, we pick out a few other European wonder goals that deserve to be celebrated in song.
With one touch to kill the ball dead, followed by a swing of his left boot to send the ball through the legs of Christian Abbiati, Chelsea’s famous No.11 knew he’d done something special. In our maiden season among Europe’s elite in the Champions League, he’d scored a crucial equaliser in one of the iconic grounds in world football and moved the Blues a step closer to qualification for the next round.
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What Wisey probably didn’t realise at the time was that almost a quarter of a century on from that magical moment, Chelsea supporters would still be singing about it. And, no doubt, there will be few renditions this evening when the current batch of Blues take on the Rossoneri in a crucial game that will go a long way to settling both sides’ fate in this year’s competition.
Ahead of that match, we look back at some of the best goals scored by Chelsea players in European matches over the years, ones that are well worth shouting about. It was nearly impossible to settle on only 10, so instead we’ve plumped for nine absolute stunners…
John Dempsey vs Real Madrid, 1971
‘Nine times out of 10 that shot would go over the bar, but I saw it again recently and thought to myself, “Oh my God, it nearly broke the net!”’
Dempsey was a hard-as-nails centre-back who, as his team-mate Paddy Mulligan so elegantly put it, ‘usually found that hitting the sweet spot was a few inches above a centre-forward’s ankle’. Instead, in arguably the biggest game of his career as the Blues met Real Madrid in a Cup Winners’ Cup final replay, Dempsey became the unlikeliest hero in true Roy of the Rovers fashion.
Charlie Cooke swung over a corner that the big man met with his head, only for the ball to hit a defender and fall back into his path; sweet as you like, Dempsey thundered a volley home. It was the goal of a lifetime and it helped us win our first continental prizes
It was 24 years before the Blues were back in Europe, but a little Scottish centre-forward marked the occasion with a goal that was just as eye-catching as Dempsey’s, albeit for very different reasons.
We were taking on the Austrian Cup winners at the Ernst Happel Stadium and those many Blues fans who made the trip were rewarded with a quite remarkable goal. The home side had a corner that was cleared to Spencer on the edge of his own box, with virtually the whole pitch to run into and not an opposition player, other than the goalkeeper, between him and the goal.
So, what did Spenny do? He ran. And he ran. And he ran some more. And, at the end of it, he still had the composure to dummy the keeper and clip the ball into an empty net.
Frank Lampard vs Bayern Munich, 2005
Although Lampard would go on to have better collective moments against Bayern Munich, on an individual basis his goal against Germany’s top club in 2005 will take some beating.
At the time, Lamps was at the peak of his powers, almost halfway through a year in which he’d finish runner-up for both the Ballon d’Or and FIFA World Player of the Year awards – and this goal showed why he was up there with the very best.
The all-round quality and audacity of this effort in an exhilarating quarter-final against Bayern simply isn’t spoken about enough. The sight of our legendary No.8 drifting into space inside the box was a common one, but what came next was a once-in-a-lifetime goal. He took a pass from Claude Makelele on his chest, rotated to get himself into position and then thundered a sweet half-volley past Oliver Kahn, all in one smooth motion.
Frank Lampard vs Barcelona, 2006
Not content with scoring one European wonder goal, Lampard was at it again the following year – albeit this is an effort that divided opinion at the time, and probably still does today.
We’ll get it out there quickly: was it a shot, or was it a cross? The angle from which he struck the ball perhaps suggests the latter if you were watching this in isolation, yet the previous goal on this list is proof that Lampard had an eye for the spectacular, so we’re giving him the benefit of the doubt. And scoring from such positions was something the players regularly attempted in training.
In a pulsating 2-2 draw, with the Blues trailing at the time at Camp Nou against a side we were meeting for a third straight season, Lampard kept a cross in play on the left side of the penalty area, near the byline, before swivelling and sending an audacious chip over the head of Victor Valdes from an almost impossible angle.
Even if you’re in the camp that thinks he didn’t mean it, there’s no denying it looks spectacular…
Alex vs Liverpool, 2009
Speaking of spectacular, there can be absolutely no doubt about Alex’s intentions when he stepped up to take a free-kick after half-time in another Champions League classic, this time a 4-4 thriller.
Firstly, looks were deceiving with the Brazilian – physically, he may have resembled the Incredible Hulk, but off the pitch he was softly spoken and always smiling. However, if you placed a free-kick anywhere within 35 yards of goal, something switched…
Liverpool found that out to their cost in an epic quarter-final clash, when he thumped in a swerving effort that had co-commentators reaching for the ‘that one stayed hit’ cliche almost the moment it hit the back of the net.
‘I know, as a defender I shouldn’t be happy because we let in four goals, but it was a great night, and after this, everyone in Brazil would talk about this goal,’ he said later.
Michael Essien vs Barcelona, 2009
He might not have been prolific, but Essien had a handy knack of belting one in from distance at crucial times.
Two-and-a-half years before this he’d sent a swerving, outside-of-the-boot stunner in off the post against Arsenal to win Goal of the Season – now he was walloping in a left-footed volley against an incredible Barcelona team to give us the lead in a Champions League semi-final.
It was another Goal of the Season-winning strike but, alas, not enough to send us into the final. We don’t think any of us need to go through the reasons for that again, so let’s just reminisce about the quality of this strike. That it was with his weaker left foot, and it went in off the bar, just adds to the aesthetic appeal.
Ramires vs Barcelona, 2012
What’s this? Another Goal of the Season winner from a Champions League semi-final against Barcelona!
We could watch this sumptuous chip from Ramires over and over again – the arch on the ball as he gets his boot underneath it to send it sailing over the head of Victor Valdes is just so pleasing on the eye.
‘I saw Valdes coming and I knew I had one thing I could do to score a goal – to put the ball over him,’ recalls Ramires, who recently announced his retirement. ‘I could only hear our fans and in that moment I thought we could do it.’
His little jig of delight certainly indicated as much. And, of course, he was right – we did it! A second Champions League final in our history was reached, and we know what happened next…
Oscar vs Juventus, 2012
Few players have become an instant Chelsea favourite quite like this Brazilian midfielder, who announced himself to the Stamford Bridge faithful in some style after joining us from Internacional in 2012.
Oscar made a brilliant first start for the club against Juventus, which also happened to be his Champions League debut, as he netted two goals. The second was a moment of genius which won our Goal of the Season award – you’ve probably noticed a pattern emerging here – as he evaded two Juventus players with a neat turn which left them groping at thin air, before sending a spectacular curling finish beyond Gigi Buffon.
It was a turn and strike reminiscent of Gianfranco Zola’s wonder goal against Wimbledon in 1997, just cranked up to 11.
Olivier Giroud vs Atletico Madrid, 2021
Giroud knows a thing or two about spectacular goals. Prior to joining Chelsea, he was a winner of FIFA’s Puskas award for his scorpion-kick effort for Arsenal, and even prior to this he’d scored his fair share of beauties for the Blues.
What we didn’t know at the time of this last-16 tie against Atletico Madrid, which was on a knife-edge, was that this would be the last of his 39 goals for us. But what a way to close your account for a club, just a few months before winning the Champions League to really sign off in style.
Sometimes, words just don’t do a goal justice, and we’d say that’s the case for this stunning overhead kick against the dogged defence of one of Spain’s toughest sides. Just look at the picture and enjoy it.
Before we go, there’s a few more goals we need to pay tribute to. Left-back Danny Granville channelling his inner Paul Gascoigne against Slovan Bratislava was pretty special, as was Gianfranco Zola’s rising finish just seconds after coming off the bench in the final of the Cup Winners’ Cup in that 1997/98 season.
Lampard could have got on the list again for a belter against Lazio, while Didier Drogba’s unfortunate that his turn and strike against Barcelona and even his bullet header in the 2012 Champions League final didn’t quite make it.
Eden Hazard also scored a couple of underrated European goals for the Blues, namely a thumping left-footed strike against Sparta Prague and a goal filled with individual brilliance against Maribor. Bit hard to sing about the sixth in a 6-0 win over a European minnow, mind.
Then there’s any number of brilliant Willian free-kicks that could have snuck in, but we’re happy with our list and football is, after all, a game of opinions…
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