With Hakim Ziyech netting Chelsea’s 500th goal in European competition in our 1-0 win at Malmo on Tuesday, we take a look at how the Blues reached our previous milestone strikes in the various continental tournaments.
#50 v Real Madrid, May 1971
After making our European debut in the Fairs Cup in 1958, the Blues reached a half-century of goals 13 years later when Peter Osgood produced the decisive strike in the Cup Winners’ Cup final replay against Real Madrid.
The King of Stamford Bridge was denied the winner by a late Real equaliser in a 1-1 draw in our first meeting in Athens but in the replay two days later, he produced another great strike when he received a pass from Tommy Baldwin on the edge of the box and sent a right-footed effort into the bottom corner to make it 2-0 after 39 minutes.
The Spanish side pulled one back late on but the Blues hung on to win 2-1 as we lifted European silverware for the first time.
#100 v Real Betis, March 1998
With Chelsea missing out on European competition from 1971 to 1994, it would take 27 more years before we reached the century mark with a glorious strike by Gianfranco Zola in our Cup Winners’ Cup quarter-final against Real Betis.
Leading 2-1 after the first leg in Spain, the Blues suffered some worries when Finidi George levelled the aggregate score early on but goals by Frank Sinclair and Roberto Di Matteo put us back in charge before Zola struck in the final minute, latching on to Gianluca Vialli’s lay-off and thumping a powerful left-footed drive into the bottom corner to seal a 5-2 aggregate triumph.
The Italian genius went on to score four goals in that tournament including the winner in the final against Stuttgart as we won the Cup Winners’ Cup once again.
#200 v Anderlecht, November 2005
While he didn’t score too many goals as a Chelsea player, Ricardo Carvalho could be a danger man when he went up front for corners as Anderlecht found to their cost when he netted our 200th European goal in the Champions League group stage in 2005/06.
When Joe Cole swung the ball in from the right towards the near post, the Portuguese defender peeled off towards the far post and was in a perfect position to meet Hernan Crespo’s flick-on with a crisp right-footed half-volley for our second goal in a 2-0 win over the Belgian side
#300 v Valencia, December 2011
With Chelsea in a must-win situation against Valencia in our final Champions League group game in 2011/12, Ramires conjured up a goal to ease the nerves of the home supporters at the Bridge.
After conceding an early goal, the visitors were in the ascendency when the Brazilian chased what seemed a lost cause in the Valencia box following a misplaced through ball by Didier Drogba. Victor Ruiz appeared to be ushering the ball safely back to his goalkeeper but Ramires went around the defender to gather the ball before tapping it past Diego Alves to put us two goals up.
The Blues went on to win 3-0 as we topped the group before producing a stunning run in the knockout rounds to be crowned champions of Europe for the first time.
#400 v Porto, December 2015
There was a sense of déjà vu when Chelsea netted our 400th goal four years later after we found ourselves in another crucial group stage finale in the Champions League, this time against Porto.
Needing to avoid defeat against the Portuguese side to advance to the last 16, the Blues got a huge helping hand when Ivan Marcano netted an own goal after 12 minutes.
Diego Costa eluded the centre-back’s sliding challenge to go one-on-one with Iker Casillas but while the Chelsea striker’s attempt was stopped by the goalkeeper, the ball ricocheted off Marcano and crossed the goal-line before it could be hacked clear by Maicon as the Blues won 2-0.