Jose's vanishing act does the trick

Chelsea 4 Bayern Munich 2

The Chelsea manager's week of spinning and politics ended with Chelsea beating Bayern Munich 4-2 thanks to an inspirational display from Frank Lampard.

Mourinho wasn't in the ground to see Lampard score two stunning goals, choosing to watch the match from a hotel health club after being banned from the touchline by UEFA. But he was there on the lips of every fan and every journalist after what he may well conclude has been a relatively successful campaign of media trickery.

In a week in which British Prime Minister Blair called an election, Mourinho has shown all the guile of the most cunning and devious politician. But not even he could do anything about a last-minute penalty that at least keeps Bayern in the tie and could yet prove his undoing.

Joe Cole gave Chelsea the perfect start after four minutes at Stamford Bridge last night and Lampard then added two second-half efforts after Bayern had equalised through substitute Bastian Schweinsteiger. A late goal from Didier Drogba should have sealed the tie, but an injury-time penalty - scored by Michael Ballack after a foul on him by Ricardo Carvalho - has given the Germans hope.

Lampard insisted: "Two goals is a good lead, we're in a good position and we can score anywhere in Europe. But I'm disappointed with what happened at the end because he went down very theatrically."

Who knows what trickery Mourinho will conjure up if his team do make the last four by holding out in Munich next week? But his off-field tactics were crucial to his team's victory over Barcelona in the last round and probably in this match too.

Against Barca he cleverly deflected any post mortem into his team's first leg defeat by accusing Frank Rijkaard of cohorting with referee Anders Frisk. This time, Mourinho was on the back pages all week in the build-up to the quarter-final and rarely for his team's performance.

Reports of a simmering row with his employers over their handling of the whole UEFA investigation into his Barcelona comments, and their failure to publicly back him, spiralled out of control.

Mourinho, it appears, wanted to appeal against his UEFA punishment of a two-match ban from sitting on the bench in Champions League matches. But Chelsea wanted the whole affair laid to rest.

Mourinho's response was as surprising and dramatic as ever.

First he revealed he wouldn't even attend the game against Bayern, choosing to watch it on television instead.

Then, on the day of the match, Chelsea handed London's Evening Standard newspaper an exclusive - revealing Mourinho was close to signing a new contract.

The details of Chelsea's latest coup mean that, following emergency talks with Roman Abramovich, Mourinho is no longer considering a hasty exit.

He has been offered a three-year extension to his contract, worth almost €8 million a year - which would make him the highest-paid manager in Britain, ahead of England head coach Sven-Goran Eriksson.

Interestingly, after a week of self-enforced silence, Mourinho did at least speak in his programme notes and used the opportunity to work on his message to the Chelsea electorate.

"If I say what is in my soul I will attract more headlines and more trouble," he claimed. "It is strange that in this industry when you say what you feel and believe, you pay for it."

As for the match, it disappointed in the first half but came to life spectacularly after the break as Lampard again proved he has become a world-class performer.

Chelsea went ahead after only four minutes when Cole lined up a shot from 18 yards that took a nasty deflection off defender Lucio and completely wrong-footed goalkeeper Oliver Kahn. The rest of the opening half, however, was bitty and scrappy, and at times had a rather nasty edge to it as referee Rene Temmink booked as many players as he could spell.

Bayern looked compact and determined, though, and in Ze Roberto had perhaps the most dangerous player on show. He sent one free-kick fizzing narrowly over the bar but also wasted a glorious opportunity after 28 minutes when a terrible mistake by Glen Johnson saw him gifted the ball eight yards out, only for the Brazilian to fire wide.

Chelsea went close to extending their lead a minute after half-time when Damien Duff had an effort cleared off the line by Willie Sagnol.

But Bayern equalised from a free-kick conceded by William Gallas when Ze Roberto's superb left-foot shot was only just saved at full stretch by Petr Cech - and substitute Schweinsteiger followed up to score.

Who knows whether Mourinho managed to get any messages through to his players, although TV cameras showed one member of his staff fiddling suspiciously with what conspiracy theorists believe was an earpiece underneath his Chelsea bobble hat. But his team certainly responded when Drogba cleverly knocked down a long ball for Lampard to fire home a pin-point low, left-foot shot from 25 yards in the 59th minute.

Lampard then scored an even more impressive goal 10 minutes later, this time superbly taking down a Gallas cross, swivelling and firing a stunning left-foot half-volley into the opposite corner of the net.

Victory was wrapped up after 80 minutes when a Lampard corner was flicked on by Robert Huth, Gudjohnsen's effort was blocked and Drogba swooped to thump the ball home from close range. But there was a sting in the tail when Carvalho grabbed Ballack's shirt in a last minute scramble and gave away a penalty that could yet turn the tie on its head. After all the politics and all the spin, not even Mourinho could do anything about that.

CHELSEA: Cech, Johnson (Huth 65), Ricardo Carvalho, Terry, Gallas, Cole (Tiago 82), Lampard, Makelele, Duff, Gudjohnsen, Drogba (Forssell 89).

BAYERN MUNICH: Kahn, Sagnol, Lucio, Kovac, Lizarazu, Salihamidzic (Schweinsteiger 45), Frings, Ballack, Hargreaves, Ze Roberto (Scholl 73), Guerrero.

Referee: Rene Temmink (Holland).