New Delhi: Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho had tossed his Premiership winner's medal into the Stamford Bridge crowd at the end of last season. This year, Manchester United denied him an encore. So, the Blues decided to win the FA Cup, as a gift to the maverick genius.
Billed as the 'Dream Final' in the world's richest league, the plot was given the perfect start as the new 90,000-seater Wembley stadium was officially declared open by royalty.
"As President of the Football Association, it gives me enormous pleasure to welcome the FA Cup back to its rightful home - the Wembley," announced Prince William, as the renewed Wembley opened its gates to top flight football.
Chelsea dominated from the word go; first Didier Drogba, and then Frank Lampard tried their luck, but weren't lucky enough.
The reparte came after the breather. Rooney foxed Makelele and got past Essien and Ferreira to blast in, but Petr Cech parried it well, and blocked the rebound blast from Ryan Giggs as well.
In extra-time, Giggs slid in for a low Rooney cross and crashed into Cech, who had the ball. No goal was given though.
Four minutes from time, Drogba, in a quick 1-2 with Lampard broke through and put it past Van der Saar to deny Sir Alex Ferguson a double, bringing some consolation for the club's billionaire boss too.
There was some consolation too for Jose Mourinho. He's now got the only domestic trophy that was missing from his cabinet.
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