Chelsea owner Abramovich gave all players a ‘double bubble’ £50,000 bonus after beating Arsenal in 2004 Champions League quarter-final
ROMAN ABRAMOVICH paid Chelsea players £50,000 in cash after a Champions League win.
The Premier League club have continually denied owner Abramovich had come up with money on the spot after their European win over Arsenal in 2004.
But one of the stars involved in the 2-1 win at Highbury has finally explained what really happened when Adrian Mutu made the outrageous demand after Chelsea sealed a semi-final clash with Monaco.
Wayne Bridge, who got the late winner at Arsenal to seal a 3-2 aggregate win, told the Liquid Football podcast: “I don’t score many and in the changing room afterwards the atmosphere was unbelievable.
“Roman Abramovich came, everyone was jumping up and down. Adrian Mutu said “double bonus” and Roman just nodded and goes ‘there you go’.
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“Double bubble bonus — yeah. Believe me our bonuses were big enough already, we didn’t need it — but he did do it. Unbelievable, he did it.”
That was the last Euro bonus of the season as Chelsea were beaten by Monaco after Claudio Ranieri made a series of baffling substitutions in a 3-1 defeat at Monaco.
Uefa do not regulate performance bonuses and clubs can adjust their payment schedules as they navigate through the Champions League.