as late substitute in Chelsea's 0–0 draw with Norwich City at Carrow Road. Due to missing most of the beginning half of the 2011–12 Premier League season, Essien was unable to gain favour with manager André Villas-Boas. On 21 February 2012, during a Champions League match against Napoli, Villas-Boas left Frank Lampard, Essien and Ashley Cole on the substitutes' bench. Chelsea lost 3–1 and the club's technical director asked for an explanation of the team selection on behalf of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich. On 4 March 2012, following a 1–0 league defeat against West Brom which left Chelsea three points adrift of Arsenal in the battle for fourth place in the Premier League, Villas-Boas' employment was terminated by Chelsea, with assistant manager Roberto Di Matteo being appointed as caretaker manager on an interim basis until the end of the season. Di Matteo immediately showed favour towards veteran Chelsea players like Essien, Lampard and John Terry. Subsequently, Essien started in Chelsea's second leg champions league fixture against Napoli, with Chelsea winning 4–1 – and 5–4 on aggregate – in an entertaining match allowing Chelsea to advance to the quarter-final, where they met Benfica. Essien subsequently remained an unused substitute in Chelsea's Champions League run, culminating in the Blues victory over Bayern Munich in the final, making Chelsea the first London-based club to win the title. Real Madrid (loan) On 31 August 2012, Essien signed a season-long loan deal with Real Madrid, reuniting him with his former manager at Chelsea, José Mourinho. At his introductory press conference with Real Madrid, Mourinho affectionally referred to Essien as "his son" while Essien referred to Mourinho as his "Daddy". On 3 November, Essien scored his first goal for Real Madrid. During the last match of the season – and Essien's last game as a Madrid player – Essien scored his second goal for Madrid, which he dedicated to Mourinho. AC Milan Essien signed for Italian club AC Milan on a one-and-a-half-year contract on 27 January 2014. Panathinaikos On 2 June 2015, Essien signed a two-year contract with Greek club Panathinaikos. The deal made him the club's highest-paid player, with an annual salary of €800,000. He spent the first three months of the season recovering from a leg injury. He was due to make his debut on 21 November 2015 against Panathinaikos' archrivals Olympiacos, but the match was cancelled. He played his first match one week