Five months after being sacked by Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel lifted the Champions League as he got the better of Pep Guardiola once more to keep Manchester City waiting for European glory.
A 1-0 victory in Porto rounded off a rollercoaster year for the German, who was handed the chance to revive Chelsea’s fortunes less than a month after losing his job in Paris.
Chelsea were ninth in the Premier League table at the time with owner Roman Abramovich seeing little return on his £220 million ($312 million) outlay on new players under Frank Lampard.
In fact, Tuchel had never met the Russian billionaire in person until they crossed paths on the pitch at the Estadio do Dragao as the wild celebrations went on around them.
“Maybe I have a new contract now with that win,” said Tuchel, who was only handed an 18-month deal when he signed on at Stamford Bridge.
“I spoke to Roman just now and it was the best moment for the first meeting, or maybe the worst moment. Maybe it can only get worse now!”
Here are some reactions to Chelsea’s remarkable triumph: