Ba breaks French resistance
Chelsea defied logic and upset the odds once again to come back from a 3-1 first-leg deficit to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League.
And didn’t they leave it late? Demba Ba, on as substitute for Frank Lampard, scored in the 87th minute after Andre Schurrle had given Chelsea hope in the first half, and it was enough to see of the Qatari-backed Parisians and put Chelsea through to the last four of a competition in which they have had so many dramatic comebacks.
“I think everyone probably doubted that we would do it,” said skipper John Terry. “I think we showed great character, great desire and will to fight no matter what, and it paid off.”
Lampard had called for calm heads and patience before the game, but it fell on deaf ears as, roared on by a goal-hungry crowd, Chelsea went at the visitors from the off.
Within 15 minutes John Terry had gone charging towards the Parisian penalty area in a storming run, and Jose Mourinho was just as anxious to move things forward, urging the ball boys to return the balls to play quickly, even throwing balls back to his players at times.
Predictably this anxiety translated into a rash of snatched shots and missed chances, certainly in the opening half-hour anyway.
Samuel Eto’o, restored to attack in place of the misfiring Fernando Torres, had one shot deflected away and was then penalised when he won the ball off goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu, but illegally according to the Portuguese referee. The crowd howled with displeasure.
Lampard got them on their feet again with a low-slung free-kick from the left that flew off a defender’s shoulder and brought a brilliant diving save from Sirigu, who was less stretched soon afterwards catching a deflected shot from Eto’o.
Chelsea appeared to be getting more desperate, the game plan having gone out of the window as early as the 17th minute when Eden Hazard limped off with a tight hamstring. But his replacement, Schurrle, was to prove pivotal in the course of events.
The German wide-man has pace to burn, but he is also a clinical finisher, as Mourinho pointed out after a hat-trick against Fulham last month.
And so he proved his class again in the 32nd minute. Chelsea won a throw close to the right hand side corner flag. Branislav Ivanovic waved his team-mates into the box, with the clear intention he was going to launch the ball long. The full-back was as good as his word, David Luiz flicked the ball on, and Schurrle was waiting by the penalty spot to clip the ball coolly into the net. Stamford Bridge erupted. The comeback was on.
PSG, who had looked the more composed and clinical in the opening stages, were clearly rattled by the pace and intensity of Chelsea’s play. The visitors had moved quickly on the counter, but hadn’t caused Petr Cech too many anxious moments.
The second half started just as frenetically. Barely five minutes had passed before Schurrle and then Oscar struck the crossbar, as Chelsea went chasing the goal that would put them level on aggregate, and ahead on the away goals rule. Schurrle’s effort was a beautifully curled shot from wide on the right, and when the ball rebounded into play, the Blues won a free-kick 20 yards from goal. Oscar fizzed the ball over the wall, only to see it clatter the same spot on the PSG crossbar.
But then Laurent Blanc’s side, aware that one goal would leave Chelsea needing another three to go through, almost scored. Ivanovic conceded a free-kick on the left edge of the penalty area, and when Ezequiel Lavezzi fired the dead-ball towards the far post, Cech had to use his full height and reach to tip the ball away for a corner.
Mourinho decided to gamble with 25 minutes remaining, sending on a striker for a midfielder as Demba Ba replaced Lampard. It was win or bust now for the Blues, and the game became suitably more frantic – and spine-tinglingly exciting.
Ba flicked on for Schurrle but the ball fell to the German’s weaker left foot and Sirigu saved easily. Oscar cut in from the left but the angle was too tight for his shot to beat the ‘keeper. Blanc made a change of his own, replacing Lavezzi with Javier Pastore, whose last-minute goal in Paris last week had given Chelsea such a difficult task.
He set up Edinson Cavani for a great chance, but the Uruguayan volleyed high over the bar. It was a miss that was to prove crucial. Mourinho sent on Torres to form a three-man strike force, and eventually the visitors cracked.
The scoreboard showed only four minutes of normal time remaining when Cesar Azpilicueta fired in a hopeful shot that took a deflection. The ball fell inside the six-yard box where Ba had gotten across his marker, and despite falling backwards, got enough of a touch with his left foot to lift it past Sirigu and into the net.
The home supporters were delirious, Mourinho sprinted to the corner where his players were piled high, joining in on the celebrations.
It was not over yet, though. PSG poured forwards in search of the goal to flip the game on its head again, and in stoppage time Cech made two superb saves to keep out the French.
Mourinho had promised something special, and his side delivered again.
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