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Chelsea snatch place in semi-finals thanks to last-gasp Demba Ba goal Chelsea snatch place in semi-finals thanks to last-gasp Demba Ba goal
(about 1 hour later)
This is not the first time Chelsea have reminded us of their durability, but there is still something remarkable about the way this team just never give up. They give everything, always going to the end, and it resulted here in that glorious moment when José Mourinho could be seen haring down the touchline on one of his epic victory runs. This is not the first time Chelsea have reminded us of their durability, but there is still something remarkable about the way this team just never give up. They put everything into this match, never relinquishing their self-belief – and that competitive courage resulted here in that euphoric moment when everything came together and José Mourinho could be seen haring down the touchline on one of his victory runs extraordinaire.
He did one of those fist-pumping sprints when Porto knocked out Manchester United back in the days before he had announced himself as the Special One. Mourinho has never lost a quarter-final in this competition and that record was perilously under threat before Demba Ba stuck out a foot and scrambled in the decisive goal with three minutes left. He first treated us to one of those fist-pumping sprints when Porto knocked out Manchester United back in the days before he had announced himself as the Special One. Mourinho has never lost a quarter-final in this competition and that record was perilously under threat before Demba Ba, the forgotten man, poked out one of his long legs to scramble in the killer goal three minutes from the end.
Ba was an unlikely hero, but nobody can dispute that Chelsea deserved it. They had taken a 32nd-minute lead through Andre Schürrle and they also hit the crossbar twice in a chaotic second half. PSG were simply worn down and eventually went out on away goals. Chelsea had managed it two seasons ago against Napoli but there is also considerable evidence that the champions of Ligue 1 are a more accomplished side than that one from Stadio San Paolo. Ba was an improbable hero but nobody could dispute that Chelsea deserved to progress for displaying such powers of endurance. This was only the second time in 111 games that PSG had been beaten by two goals, in a sequence stretching back to March 2012. Chelsea had a 3-1 deficit to recover from the first leg in Parc des Princes and their opponents arrived on the back of a club-record 11 match winning run, with only one occasion in their previous 46 games when they had failed to score.
Laurent Blanc's team have lost by two goals only once in two years. They arrived after a club record 11 successive wins and Chelsea, already with the odds stacked high against them, suffered a grievous setback early on when Eden Hazard signalled that he was pulling out. Hazard's injury threatens repercussions going into the next round of Premier League fixtures but the immediate thought here was that it deprived Mourinho of his most penetrative attacker. Yet Chelsea have made a habit of wearing down more refined opponents. André Schürrle's 32nd minute goal changed the entire complexion of the tie and, after that, the manner in which PSG wilted suggests one of Europe's nouveaux riches still have a lot to learn at this level.
Stamford Bridge, in those moments, was a subdued place. PSG had begun the game with a measured form of authority, to the point that it came almost as a jolt when Schürrle, Hazard's replacement, provided the moment that changed the complexion of the game. Quick to the ball, strong in the challenge, it was Chelsea's tempo more than anything else that was so unsettling for their opponents. Mourinho's team did not play with balletic grace but their intensity of play was relentlessly impressive in the last hour of the match. They ran for everything and if they did lose the ball they quickly hunted it back down. They also hit the crossbar twice in a chaotic second half. PSG were simply worn down, just like Napoli were two years ago, and a few others, too.
The goal originated from the kind of long throw-in and flick-on routine that is not often seen at this level. Branislav Ivanovic was the man hurling the ball into the penalty area. David Luiz applied the first touch in front of Thiago Silva and Schürrle was ghosting in from behind to side-foot a shot inside a post. The champions of Ligue 1 undoubtedly missed the injured Zlatan Ibrahimovic but it is not as if Chelsea were particularly blessed on the attacking front either. They started the match with Samuel Eto'o up front, even though he was still troubled by the hamstring injury that kept him out of the game in Paris.
Salvatore Sirigu, the PSG goalkeeper, had already produced a brilliant save minutes earlier after Frank Lampard's free-kick, intended as a cross, took a hefty deflection to redirect it towards goal. Shortly after the goal there was more evidence of PSG's apparent vulnerabilities when defending set-pieces and a chance for Gary Cahill that he skewed wide. Eden Hazard lasted only 18 minutes before he was forced off with a calf injury and, at that stage, there was little sense of the drama that was to follow. Chelsea had huffed and puffed through the opening stages and it is never a good sign when Mourinho's hands are firmly embedded in his tracksuit pockets.
It was a galling moment, as Cahill is usually so accurate in the penalty area, but the encouraging aspect at that time was that Chelsea's opponents suddenly started to look rattled. Edinson Cavani tried to stop David Luiz taking a quick free-kick and was booked for his troubles, meaning he went through the remainder of the night knowing he would be suspended from the first leg of the semi-final. Ezequiel Lavezzi was no longer looking so menacing. The volume inside the stadium had turned up and Chelsea, after a slow start, were driving forwards with real purpose. He gambled at the end, largely because he had no choice. Ba was the first Chelsea striker to come off the bench to join Eto'o and, as Mourinho said afterwards, maybe being selected ahead of Fernando Torres gave the former Newcastle player the belief that "he did not have No3 striker on his back."
For the opening half an hour they had huffed and puffed through midfield without really getting anywhere. Lavezzi, the outstanding player at Parc des Princes last week, looked lively again and there was no real indication in those moments that Chelsea's opponents missed the influence of the injured Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Torres followed him on to the pitch a bit later, and Chelsea's urgent need for a goal made it inevitable they would leave gaps in their own defence. Fortunately for them, Edinson Cavani is not the same rampager who used to terrorise defences for Napoli. His chances were squandered, and then the moment arrived that will add this game to the list of great European nights at Stamford Bridge.
Their response to the goal, however, encouraged Chelsea, and there were times when the French champions missed their most celebrated player, if only because of his ability to hold up the ball in attack. Cavani, in particular, looked several notches short of the player who used to terrorise defences for Napoli. His team were wilting under the pressure, and if there is one thing we know about Chelsea it is that they have endurance. César Azpilicueta had advanced from his left-back spot. His shot was hopeful more than anything, but the ball took two slight deflections. The last ricochet fell kindly for Ba and he had anticipated getting the run of the ball, flying in for the poacher's goal. Mourinho was off, charging down the touchline, but still working out his strategy. Even amid the euphoria, he could be seen passing instructions to his players. Torres was told to man-mark Maxwell while Ba was ordered back into defence. It was classic Mourinho, always thinking.
Seven minutes into the second half, Schürrle ran on to Willian's cutback and thudded a curling shot against the crossbar. Moura, trying to clear the danger, gave away a free-kick and this time it was Oscar, from 25 yards, who was left cursing his misfortune. It was a handsome shot, curling and dipping towards the top corner, but the woodwork spared PSG again. If the finest moment of Ba's Chelsea career had not arrived, then Mourinho would otherwise have been left to reflect on the chance Gary Cahill passed up shortly after the opening goal, plus a wild 90 second spell early in the second half when Schürrle thudded a shot against the crossbar and Oscar did the same from a free-kick 25 yards out.
Briefly the visitors rallied, but there were only sporadic moments when they truly threatened Petr Cech's goal. Chelsea's goalkeeper turned away a free-kick from Lavezzi but Mourinho's players were not allowing them space. Quick to the ball, strong in the challenge, it was their tempo more than anything that was so unsettling for their opponents. Chelsea did not play with real grace but their intensity of play was so impressive. They ran for everything and if they did lose the ball, they quickly hunted it down. Instead there was still time, with four minutes added on, for some nerve-shredding moments at the other end. Yet Chelsea defended throughout with great togetherness and vigour, and Petr Cech, who was fallible in the first leg, played with much of his old assurance.
They also had to make do with the fact that Samuel Eto'o was not fully fit after the hamstring injury that kept him out of the first leg. Fernando Torres, having returned to the side against Stoke City on Saturday, was left out again and when Mourinho did put on a second striker it was Demba Ba. PSG, in stark contrast, had looked fallible when put under pressure to high balls in defence. Schürrle's goal was a case in point, emanating from the kind of long throw-in and flick-on routine that is not often seen at this level. Branislav Ivanovic was the man hurling the ball into the penalty area, then David Luiz applied the first touch in front of Thiago Silva and Schürrle ghosted in from behind to side-foot his shot inside the post.
Torres followed later but it was Ba who supplied the moment that will pin this game down among Chelsea's list of great two-legged comebacks. César Azpilicueta's shot took two deflections through a congested penalty area and suddenly there was Ba, the forgotten man, poking out a leg to take Mourinho and his players into the last four. Ivanovic would later collect a yellow card that rules him out of the first leg of the semi-final, but Mourinho was correct with his assessment of the last four. Any team that draw Chelsea, he said, will know they are encountering a team with "a special spirit".