The end of the 2011/12 season demonstrated one clear fact about that Chelsea vintage: you might be able to knock them down, but they wouldn’t stay down for long.

After a tumultuous first half of the campaign that saw head coach Andre Villas-Boas removed and Blues legend Di Matteo step into the hot seat on an interim basis, the team rallied incredibly to end the season with two trophies.

Of course, our first-ever UEFA Champions League triumph is the most famous of those, but our victory over Liverpool in the FA Cup final two weeks earlier was also hugely significant, as it showed the Blues had lost none of our ability to get over the line on big occasions.

Just like in Munich, Chelsea showed supreme determination at Wembley and the sheer force of will that the likes of Petr Cech, Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard, John Terry and others could bring to the table in high-pressure games, especially when their backs were against the wall.

The emotional triumph over Barcelona a couple of weeks before the FA Cup final had gone some way to repairing the confidence damaged earlier in the season. But the Blues still arrived at Wembley in indifferent form domestically, as shown by a midweek defeat to Newcastle United in the build-up, and were without the centre-back pairing of Gary Cahill and David Luiz due to injury.

However, the team full of experienced warhorses that remained was in its element. High pressure, high stakes, 90 minutes of football, and winner takes all. Nothing else matters except the final result. That is when this Chelsea side were at their best.

Heading to Wembley, both teams were enduring disappointing Premier League campaigns. Yet Chelsea had booked a place in the Champions League final and Liverpool had already shown their knockout pedigree by winning that season’s League Cup.

It didn’t take long for the game to burst into life. Fittingly for a side managed by the man who had once scored the quickest goal ever in a cup final at Wembley, it was the Blues who took the early lead.

Ramires, fresh from his stunning chip against Barcelona at the Nou Camp, burst clear of the Reds defence from Juan Mata’s pass and smashed a shot through goalkeeper Pepe Reina at his near post to make it advantage Chelsea.

Then it was time for that age-old combination of Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba to have their say, the midfielder teeing up the striker to steer into the bottom corner and net in an FA Cup final for a record fourth time – he wasn’t the only Blue making FA Cup history that day, as Ashley Cole picked up his record seventh winner’s medal.

‘When I think of the FA Cup, I have these images of Di Matteo, [Eric] Cantona, [Nicolas] Anelka scoring in the final at the old Wembley,’ reflected Drogba a few years later.

‘I always dreamed of playing at the old Wembley, but I didn’t have the chance because they built the new one. I was lucky then, to create some history at the new stadium.’

We lifted the trophy on all three previous occasions Drogba had lit up this final, but our chances of replicating that suffered a blow when Andy Carroll came off the bench and pulled a goal back for Liverpool, setting up a tense finale.

The Blues had defending to do as we tried to stand strong in the face of sustained pressure, and 10 minutes from the end, another Chelsea legend produced one of the many defining moments in his long career, as Cech somehow clawed a Carroll header off the line and out via the crossbar, maintaining our narrow lead to the final whistle.

‘The key was to get the timing of the save right,’ remembers Cech. ‘I managed to set myself to push up the moment he headed the ball. The reaction was perfect, and just in time.

‘The ball could have gone anywhere, but I got there just in time to push it up before it had crossed the line entirely. I knew I had to get the ball up. That was the only way to get it out, off the bar.

‘Had this gone in, I think we would have lost the game. They had just scored to make it 2-1 and put us under more pressure. If this goes on, there are 10 minutes to play at 2-2; it would have been very difficult. It was a big moment in the game, it’s certainly a save to remember.’

It was just what was needed for this Chelsea team. Not only had a disappointing season been turned around to end with a trophy, but spirits and confidence were both lifted just in time for the Champions League final.

The same determination was on display again in Munich when we made it two trophies. But the foundations for that most famous of victories were laid at Wembley, as belief grew that in crucial moments on the big stage, this Chelsea team knew how to win.

‘I believe winning that FA Cup final was the key for the Champions League preparation,’ Cech concluded. ‘After we won the cup, which a lot of people thought we wouldn’t, we got a new kick of belief.

‘The season had been difficult but after all that, we won a trophy. It showed us everything was possible. Why couldn’t we win in Munich now?’