“It’s not just sad to be watching a replay of the Champion’s League Final at 2 am mum, it is weird!”

So I was told by my 18 year old daughter last night as I shed yet another tear watching Didier Drogba ‘fulfil his destiny’ with the penalty which left the more than cocky Manuel Neuer looking like a school boy attempting his first important save.

Why was I watching the Final again? Well am embarrassed to admit that since 19^th May 2012 I have rewatched the final at least five times....  This number may have been greater had my sky box not blown up and been replaced and so I lost my original recording.  And ‘no’ to all of you who are thinking surely she could watch the DVD – I have not been sad enough to purchase the official video – I just waited for the inevitable replay on Chelsea TV and recorded it again on my new Sky box!

The other reason for watching may have been as a result of the West Ham v Man United third round FA cup tie I watched yesterday afternoon.  I usually watch Man U games mainly with the feint hope that they may lose (apologies to Man U fans out there).  There is no real reason for my dislike of Man U... but in recent years as my obsession with Chelsea has grown I have also cultivated an irrational but heartfelt dislike for Man U and some of its key players.... Perhaps I shouldn’t be naming them but I think they should see this as a compliment because my gripe with them is possibly their ability to make a team which often looks average (if you are really objective) into an almost unbeatable force with the confidence to never accept the score line until the dying minutes of the game.... and yes Van Perfect has recently joined my list of those players – although I have to admit he is more than a lucky opportunist who finds himself in the right place to score – he more than often is the instigator of his own chances.  Had he been wearing a blue shirt my gut reaction to him would possibly be the polar opposite to what it is now!

Sorry, let me get on with my justification of why I had to be weird and watch Chelsea’s greatest moment in history yet again last night....

I was more invested in the FA cup tie than watching another Man U game as a result of Joe Cole returning to his first club West Ham as one of the early January transfers.  Joe Cole had been one of my favourite Chelsea players (not just because I had a girl crush on his wife Carly!) and I was distraught when he left Chelsea... (Well maybe distraught is too strong a word and I should save that for when Lampard leaves, or even when talking about Didier Drogba leaving!) Needless to say I was sad to see him go and even sadder to see his talent wasted on the bench at Liverpool (though they did manage to loan him to Lille where he started 25 times and helped the club qualify for Champions League).

Joe Cole did not disappoint on his second debut for his much loved West Ham (I discovered while being geeky that he had made his first debut for the Hammers in the same round of the same competition almost fourteen years to the day when he was told by Frank Lampard Senior to put away the mop and prepare for an FA Cup third round tie.  In his own words: ‘I can remember I was cleaning the changing room floors when Big Frank came in and said to me “you got a suit son? You’re in the squad tomorrow”.)

Cole assisted the two almost identical goals scored by the strong head of Collins as well as taking a few knocks to the face, one leaving him with a bloody nose (which made his return even more authentic!!)  He played with the joy and enthusiasm of someone returning home from exile ...it was an emotional watch and only ruined by Van Persie’s 90+ something minute goal (again) to deny the Hammers a well deserved win and Cole the perfect return.

At this point I must add that I disagreed with the commentator’s choice of ‘Man of the Match’ which they awarded to James Collins.  My man of the match (I would like to say was Joe Cole but must be honest!!) was the young Dan Potts who had been recalled from his loan... He more than impressed me with making calm and mature tackles when it mattered, keeping the likes of Hernandez and Raphael at bay.

Can't end the blog without mentioning Demba Ba's double goal scoring debut for Chelsea.  Could his arrival mark the beginning of the end for a flailing Torres?