On 19 May 2012, at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Bayern played a Champions League final in their own stadium against Chelsea. On 19 May 2027 it will be 15 years since the night the Londoners wrote the most improbable chapter in their history. The Bavarians called it the "Finale dahoam", the final at home, and everything suggested they would be celebrating.

It was the first time since 1984 that a team had played a final in its own stadium. UEFA used the name "Fußball Arena München", because it does not display sponsors that are not its partners. There were 62,500 spectators and the referee was Portugal's Pedro Proença.

Two wounded teams

Jupp Heynckes's Bayern knocked out Basel, Marseille and Real Madrid, the last of them on penalties in Madrid. They crushed Basel 7-0 in the second leg after losing 1-0 in Switzerland. In the league, though, they had finished behind Dortmund, who also thrashed them 5-2 in the cup final.

Chelsea had changed coach mid-season. Roberto Di Matteo replaced André Villas-Boas shortly before the second leg against Napoli, with the team 3-1 down from Italy, and turned it round with a 4-1 win after extra time.

They then got past Benfica and holders Barcelona, 3-2 on aggregate. At home they had also won the FA Cup, beating Liverpool 2-1.

Suspensions and absences

The final had many gaps. Chelsea were without captain John Terry, sent off in Barcelona, and Ivanović, Meireles and Ramires through yellow cards.

So young left-back Ryan Bertrand started on the left wing. Bayern had suspensions of their own and were without Alaba, Badstuber and Luiz Gustavo.

Ivanović later admitted he had no idea one more booking would rule him out of the final. FIFPro asked UEFA to change the rule, without success.

UEFA allowed Terry to lift the trophy if Chelsea won, despite his ban. On Bayern's side, Lahm, Schweinsteiger, Robben and Müller had also started the lost 2010 final against Inter.

A siege and a corner

Bayern pressed for a long time, but Petr Čech and the Chelsea defence held. In the 83rd minute Thomas Müller headed in, the ball bouncing over Čech and into the net off the crossbar.

Five minutes later Chelsea won their first corner of the match. Didier Drogba rose above everyone and beat Neuer with a powerful header for 1-1.

In extra time Drogba fouled Ribéry for a penalty. Arjen Robben struck it low, but Čech saved.

Di Matteo had already sent on Malouda and Fernando Torres to push Chelsea forward. Ribéry could not continue and Ivica Olić came on in his place.

The penalties

In the shoot-out Bayern seemed to have it when Manuel Neuer saved from Mata and even scored one himself. But Čech stopped Olić and Schweinsteiger hit the post.

The last kick fell to Drogba. With a calm finish he made it 4-3 and made Chelsea champions of Europe. UEFA named him man of the match, while the fans voted for Čech.

Blue against red

Chelsea wore their blue 2011-12 kit with white socks, with Samsung as sponsor. Bayern played in their home red with Deutsche Telekom on the chest.

Both shirts were made by adidas, which has kitted out Bayern since 1974 and was then Chelsea's supplier as well.

Why it went down in history

Chelsea won their first Champions League and became the first London club to do so. They had finished sixth in the Premier League, and the trophy gave them a place in the next competition at the expense of fourth-placed Tottenham.

Chelsea could not carry on in the same way: they lost the Super Cup 4-1 to Atlético and the Club World Cup final to Corinthians.

For Bayern it was a traumatic night. The answer came a year later, with the treble and the trophy at Wembley.

See our Champions League club jerseys at sportarena.gr.

Photo: Lahm takes the first penalty against Čech in the 2012 final – Markus Unger, Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY 2.0.