LONDON // No real forwards? No matter. By the end Chelsea had three strikers on the pitch and one of them, Demba Ba, forced the ball over the line from six yards to give Chelsea the 2-0 win they needed to go through to a Uefa Champions league semi-final on away goals.
Jose Mourinho embarked on a joyous run down the touchline – not quite as giddy as his famous touchline sprint at Old Trafford when he was Porto manager in 2004, but giddy enough – and ended up clutching Fernando Torres's head whispering in his ear. Celebration? Further instructions? It did not matter: Chelsea were through and an oddly limp Paris Saint-Germain, who had never looked entirely convincing, were out.
Mourinho had promised to enjoy the challenge of trying to overcome a 3-1 first-leg deficit, and he probably did. The goals came from two substitutes – the first admittedly forced by injury rather than tactical – and there could be little doubt that Mourinho was responsible for the gradual cranking up of pressure that ultimately broke PSG.
Samuel Eto’o, recovered from his hamstring injury, started, and that kept Andre Schurrle out of the action, but only until the 18th minute when he was called on to replace Eden Hazard, a player who has reportedly drawn covetous glances from PSG.
More significantly, his departure cost Chelsea their most consistently creative player this season.
It was Schurrle, though, given a rare opportunity in his favoured left-sided role after being so ineffective – at least from an attacking point of view – in a “false 9” role in the first leg, who gave Chelsea hope after an opening half hour in which there had been a lot of huff and puff from the Londoners but little in the way of penetration.
It was a strangely disjointed display from PSG, as though they were not quite sure how to approach the game. Individuals broke forward, but others lagged behind, concerned, presumably, not to risk leaving space behind them. The result, though, was a performance that was not convincingly defensive, yet at the same time never really put the Chelsea goal under threat.
The first hint that something was building for Chelsea came after 27 minutes as Oscar was fouled on the left. Frank Lampard’s delivery flicked the top of the wall and, just as the ball seemed to be looping in at the near post, Salvatore Sirigu appeared to fist the ball away. That could have inspired PSG and deflated Chelsea, but it had the opposite effect, as though PSG suddenly realised they were vulnerable.
The goal, when it came, could hardly have been simpler: a Branislav Ivanovic long throw flicked on by David Luiz for Schurrle, who sidefooted in from close range.
As the noise increased, PSG’s composure deserted them and, in a spell of febrile intensity, Gary Cahill should have added a second. The England defender got a touch on another Lampard free kick from the left, the ball hit Edinson Cavani’s back and bounced back to him, but he snatched at his attempted finish and mis-hit his kick completely.
The pattern for the second half soon emerged: PSG sitting deep, looking to hang on, Chelsea probing with greater urgency. Seven minutes into the second period, Willian crossed low from the right and Schurrle struck the bar. A minute later, they hit it again, Oscar’s free kick curling over the wall but not quite dipping enough.
Laurent Blanc had spoken before the game of the need for his side to play to his philosophy, that PSG were not a side simply to soak up pressure, but that is precisely what happened.
Cavani, after a glorious first touch to get the ball under control, fired narrowly over with 12 minutes remaining, a miss that proved decisive. With four minutes to go, Cesar Azpilicueta drove a low shot from the angle of the box, it was deflected to the back post and Ba, sliding in, forced the ball past Sirigu to spark ecstasy among the Chelsea contingent.
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