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Times:
Chelsea find a leader to supply final twist in taleBy Matt Dickinson, Chief Football CorrespondentChelsea 4 Barcelona 2(Chelsea win 5-4 on agg)
HE NOT only knocked them out of the European Cup, he also sent Barcelona away kicking and screaming. On top of defending the trophy that he regards as his to keep, José Mourinho appears intent on belittling the mighty clubs of the Continent on the way.
No club and no rival coach is to be spared the lash of the Portuguese’s tongue, but this most extraordinary manager keeps coaxing performances from his teams to back up his provocative words and gestures. The more he talks, the better his Chelsea team play.
Their success last night was all the greater for the fact that they had to win the tie twice. Having stormed ahead with three goals inside 19 minutes, they conceded two to trail on away goals at the interval. The resolve of players such as Frank Lampard, John Terry and Petr Cech in the second half revealed European champions of the future, if not this season. Their opponents would have made worthy finalists, with Samuel Eto’o and Ronaldinho outstanding, so Chelsea’s triumph must not be underestimated.
Terry scored the decisive goal with a towering header in the 76th minute and, even though there were claims of a foul on the goalkeeper by Ricardo Carvalho, Chelsea deserved their victory. With six goals, countless chances and the astonishing scenes of brawling after the final whistle, it might take a book to tell the full story of this unforgettable night. The latest chapter in the remarkable Mourinho story was the most compelling yet.
“It is time to shut up and get on with what should be a fantastic match,” a Uefa spokesman had said earlier in the day in a message to Mourinho. He proved a master of understatement. You would have to be as old as a Chelsea pensioner to remember a more gripping night at Stamford Bridge.
Delicately balanced at kick-off, the scales tipped dramatically the home team’s way before lurching in Barcelona’s favour. So much had happened by half-time that Ronaldinho and Paulo Ferreira swapped shirts as they walked to the dressing-room. With five goals, shots against the woodwork and a number of stunning saves, it must have felt as though they had already played 90 minutes.
Eidur Gudjohnsen began the early blitz when, after a slip by Xavi, Lampard set Mateja Kezman on a run down the right. His cross found Gudjohnsen at the far post and, with a neat turn inside, the forward made the room for a composed finish.
Quickest to every challenge, Chelsea struck twice more with the sort of lightning raids that many had thought beyond them in the absence of Arjen Robben and Didier Drogba. Lampard scored the second, pouncing after Joe Cole’s deflected shot had been weakly parried by Víctor Valdés, and a brilliantly weighted pass from Cole sent Duff scurrying through for the third. Stamford Bridge was in ecstasy and Mourinho’s decision to start with Kezman and leave out an extra midfield player in Tiago was looking a masterstroke.
Chelsea seemed so bullish that Duff, never the most showy of players, celebrated his goal by running right up to the Barcelona bench, to the visiting team’s fury. Mourinho’s prediction that the tie would be decided in the final seconds was looking untypically pessimistic.
If only his players had been more circumspect. Seemingly in an impregnable position, they lost goals to mistakes from three of their most dependable players. First, Ferreira inexplicably challenged for a header with his arms raised high above his head. Ronaldinho looked unusually nervous before scoring from the spot, but there was a nonchalance in his second goal that will have drawn gasps of admiration even from Chelsea supporters. Certainly Carvalho looked mesmerised as the Brazilian swayed over a stationary ball as if he was on the dance floor before toepoking it through the narrowest of gaps from 20 yards.
In challenging for the same ball moments earlier, Carvalho and Terry could be held responsible, but they could console themselves that this was the work of a sporting genius.
A match played at breathless pace throughout could have gone either way as both teams struck the woodwork, but in Cech, Chelsea had the game’s outstanding performer. He kept his team in it. An inspiration throughout the season, Terry did the rest.
CHELSEA (4-2-3-1): P Cech — P Ferreira (sub: G Johnson, 51min), J Terry, R Carvalho, W Gallas — C Makelele, F Lampard — J Cole, E Gudjohnsen (sub: Tiago, 79), D Duff (sub: R Huth, 86) — M Kezman. Substitutes not used: C Cudicini, A Smertin, Gérémi, S Parker. Booked: Ferreira, Kezman, Johnson.
BARCELONA (4-3-3): V Valdés — J Belletti (sub: L Giuly, 84), C Puyol, Oleguer, G van Bronckhorst (sub: Sylvinho, 46) — Xavi, Gerard, Deco — A Iniesta (sub: M López, 86), S Eto’o, Ronaldinho. Substitutes not used: A Jorquera, F Navarro, D Albertini, Damiá. Booked: Van Bronckhorst, Xavi.
Referee: P Collina (Italy). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Guardian:
Blue touchpaper ignites early blaze
Richard Williams at Stamford BridgeWednesday March 9, 2005The Guardian
Eight minutes gone, 1-0, 2-2 on aggregate, Chelsea going through on the away goal scored for them by Juliano Belletti in the Camp Nou. That'll do for Jose Mourinho, right? Utterly, utterly wrong. For 20 minutes last night Stamford Bridge was ablaze as this season's Premiership masters of the niggardly 1-0 win stormed to an unimaginable three-goal lead, thanks to lethally direct counter-attacking and a slice of luck.
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Confronting the team generally reckoned to be the most potent exponents of pure attacking football in Europe, Mourinho astonished no one by including a surprise on his teamsheet. The presence of Mateja Kezman alongside Eidur Gudjohnsen suggested that the Portuguese coach had the scoring of goals in mind. But he can never have imagined the opening quarter of this match. Chelsea's start was simply beyond Mourinho's wildest dreams. Gudjohnsen's opening goal provided a masterclass in how to hit your opponents on the break. Damien Duff's third came from glorious passes by Kezman and Joe Cole. And if the intervening goal owed everything to the deflection and the goalkeeper's parry that placed the ball in Frank Lampard's path at point-blank range, then it was only a fair reward for the urgency with which Chelsea had attacked the match.
But then Paulo Ferreira was adjudged to have handled the ball by Pierluigi Collina, praised by Mourinho this week as the man he would want to referee every game in which his side is involved, and the complexion of the evening changed completely. Ronaldinho slid the penalty past Petr Cech and then, with the instant cold-eyed opportunism of the master assassin, hit home a wonderful instant shot to restore Barcelona's lead in the tie.
If you are going to concede two goals at home for only the second time this season, then Fifa's world player of the year might well be the man who is going to make you suffer. But even in the eight minutes before Gudjohnsen struck Chelsea's first goal, Barcelona's careful passing had given an indication of what might be to come. When they went 3-0 down they did not fold but kept playing their fluently expressive game, trusting in quality to bring them back as the gold shirts of their little midfield trio, Xavi, Andrés Iniesta and Deco, flickered across the turf.
And so the brief but incandescent rivalry between Mourinho and Frank Rijkaard took another turn. Who could have guessed that the opening period of the match would have turned out to be a contrast between the furious attacking of Mourinho's players and the patient interplay of those sent out by Rijkaard? Stamford Bridge rocked and reeled as the gods turned their faces this way and that.
Barcelona's 9,000 fans had brought balloons in the red and blue colours of the Blaugrana, but they seemed to have been efficiently pricked by Chelsea's opening onslaught. By half-time, however, they were once more floating merrily in the west London night air and their songs were silencing those of the home crowd.
Only the harshest of purists would have suggested that the defensive generosity of both sides was perhaps a reason why these two great metropolitan clubs, each with a history illuminated by a galaxy of stars, have won the European Cup only once between them. If the half-time score from San Siro - 0-0 between Milan and Manchester United - might have seemed more pleasing to the connoisseur of the European Cup, this match offered the sort of intoxicating flavour of those great nights in the early years of the competition, when Real Madrid borrowed Brazil's philosophy of noting their opponents score and then simply scoring a few more.
Last night, however, there seemed to be two Real Madrids on the pitch. Not that Mourinho will have appreciated the entertainment. This was not the way he sets out to win matches, not the way he took Porto to the Uefa Cup and the European Cup in successive seasons. And if he were going to give up the senior trophy, this would not be the way he wanted to do it.
Although the scoring rate slowed down as the second half went on, there was no lessening of remarkable incident, each team responding to the other's initiative with an effort of their own. When Lampard's drive was deflected for a corner, and Victor Valdes plunged on to Gudjohnsen's header, the play went straight down the other end for Belletti to sting Cech's palms and for the goalkeeper to get down and tip away an effort from the resulting flag-kick.
Given the rancorous preludes to both legs and the bad feeling after the match in the Camp Nou, the conduct of this match came as a relief. Under Collina's stern gaze both teams played hard and kept their complaints to a minimum. Not that they had much time to catch the referee's eye, thanks to the sheer pace of the play. Not until the 68th minute did Collina need to brandish a yellow card, when Xavi went down under a minimal challenge and lay on the grass complaining. Ricardo Carvalho's stunning and completely fair tackle on Samuel Eto'o, executed as the Cameroon forward seemed to have escaped him as he raced into the area, was more emblematic of the style of an extraordinary encounter.

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Independent:
Terry puts Chelsea in dreamland as Barcelona fall in epic struggleChelsea 4 - Barcelona 2Chelsea win 5-4 on aggregateBy Sam Wallace09 March 2005
They summoned a performance from the gods to beat Barcelona and, in doing so, Chelsea also had to beat a player whose football seems at times to exist in another dimension. Ronaldinho contributed some sublime moments to this contest but the news that even the greatest player in the world does not possess enough talent to shake the destiny of Jose Mourinho's side might yet be all the evidence Chelsea need that they can win this Champions' League.
It was a towering epic of a match, a game that shifted from elation to despair and then back again for Chelsea as rapidly as these two teams committed themselves to the plundering of one another's penalty areas. Ronaldinho's second goal will long be remembered, but in the end even his peerless command of a football was eclipsed by the usual Chelsea suspects. Frank Lampard, Petr Cech and, above all, John Terry, whose header on 76 minutes decided this captivating tie.
As usual where Mourinho is concerned they ended with the exchange of insults and punches in the tunnel, although the Portuguese coach could at least be excused involvement. He was on the pitch celebrating when his scout Andre Villas Boas provoked a riot with Frank Rijkaard, and the incensed Barcelona players were bundled down the tunnel like a misbehaving rock band being escorted offstage. But that was a footnote to a game of staggering scope and quality.
It began with 11 minutes from Chelsea in which they did not so much tweak open Barcelona's defence as smash it off its hinges. Three goals and a rampaging show of brash confidence from a team that was switched from 4-5-1 to 4-4-2. Still without Arjen Robben, and with Didier Drogba suspended, Mourinho opted to replace one striker with two. And Mateja Kezman and Eidur Gudjohnsen expressed his new attacking philosophy in breathtaking terms.
The Barcelona defence was already looking suspiciously square when Lampard gobbled up possession from Xavi on eight minutes and speared a ball down the right for Kezman to chase. The striker beat Giovanni van Bronckhorst and squared for Gudjohnsen. He stepped round Juliano Belletti and scored.
Lampard had already volleyed a header from Terry wide when he added the second on 17 minutes. Joe Cole glided down the right and cut in past Van Bronckhorst and, when his deflected shot was pushed out by Victor Valdes, Lampard was there to tuck the ball home.
Two minutes later the Barcelona defence allowed Cole to poke a pass through the line to Damien Duff, who ran free and zipped the ball under Valdes. From there it looked like the mauling had left Barcelona irredeemably wounded but it was impossible to ignore the threat of Ronaldinho.
He headed wide on 23 minutes, Samuel Eto'o had a shot brushed over by Cech and then, on 26 minutes, Paulo Ferreira misjudged a Belletti cross that struck his hand. The referee Pierluigi Collina gave the penalty and, although Cech got close, Ronaldinho's shot found its target. And with a wrenching certainty, the game's traffic was turned in the other direction.
Ronaldinho's second goal on 28 minutes started on the edge of the area and, by the time he had the ball under control, the Brazilian was static with Ricardo Carvalho just feet from him. For a couple of heartbeats, Ronaldinho's foot flexed and twitched behind the ball. Then, in an instant, he dispatched past Cech what can only be described, in English schoolyard parlance, as a toe punt. But what a toe punt.
The shot did not just take Chelsea's goalkeeper by surprise, it wrong-footed an entire stadium. No backlift and no warning, and Cech never even moved. With the score 4-4 on aggregate, and Barcelona leading on away goals, all the momentum from Chelsea's blistering start had been exhausted. On 45 minutes Cole struck the post and Gudjohnsen was unable to finish the rebound.
It was in danger of becoming one man's exhibition and, almost in recognition of that fact, Ferreira secured a small memento when he took the bizarre decision to change shirts with Ronaldinho as the teams left the pitch at half-time. The Portuguese right-back was substituted soon after but there was no hiding the fact that Chelsea were some distance from recreating their early dominance.
They probed away at Barcelona and the scavenging of possession by Lampard kept them moving forward. Then, on 76 minutes, they went back to what they know best. Terry rose to head Cole's corner down past Valdes and the captain's eighth goal of the season stood despite Barcelona's protests. Mourinho left the pitch blowing kisses to the away fans, who returned by showering him with bottles. It was a gladiatorial exit after an evening of living dangerously.
Chelsea (4-1-4-1): Cech; Ferreira (Johnson, 50), Carvalho, Terry, Gallas; Cole, Makelele, Lampard, Duff (Huth, 85); Gudjohnsen (Tiago, 78), Kezman. Substitutes not used: Cudicini (gk), Smertin, Parker.
Barcelona (4-1-2-3): Valdes; Belletti (Giuly, 83), Puyol, Oleguer, Van Bronckhorst (Silvinho, h-t); Gerard; Deco, Xavi; Ronaldinho, Eto'o, Iniesta (Lopez, 85). Substitutes not used: Jorquera, Navarro, Albertini, Damia.
Referee: P Collina (Italy).
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Telegraph:
Terry supplies a sensational finishBy Henry Winter (Filed: 09/03/2005)
Match details

Chelsea (3) 4 Barcelona (1) 2Chelsea win 5-4 on agg
In pictures: Champions League action
In a bewitching game at Stamford Bridge last night, Chelsea thrillingly refused to pay homage to Catalonia. Just when it looked as if Barcelona were going through to the Champions Legaue quarter-finals on the away-goals rule, John Terry plundered the most precious goal of his career.
High and mighty: John Terry heads in Chelsea's winning goal against Barcelona
Exploiting Barcelona's long-standing fear of Chelsea's strength at set-pieces, Terry rose superbly to meet Damien Duff's 76th-minute corner with a header that will go down in Blues legend. All the early good work and goals from Eidur Gudjohnsen, the magnificent Frank Lampard and Duff appeared to have gone to waste when Ronaldinho struck twice but Terry, a wonderful leader, had the last word.
In elegant scenes at the end, Jose Mourinho was pelted with bottles for blowing kisses at the Barcelona fans. Ronaldinho and visiting players also scuffled with Chelsea stewards who were trying to usher them down the tunnel. The trouble appeared to have been initiated by a Chelsea scout, Andre Villas. Frank Rijkaard remonstrated with him and chaos ensued. It was a sad way to conclude a spectacular game and one which will need a UEFA investigation.
This was sensational football, European conflict at its most mesmerising. Through strength of touch, word and personality, the World Player of the Year dragged Bracelona back into contention after the three-goal whirlwind that was Chelsea's remarkable welcome for their guests.
Talk about a half of two halves. Billed as the Spanish entertainers versus the English containers, the pre-match script and newspaper jibes of Johan Cruyff had been ripped to pieces as easily as Mourinho's stirred-up men tore Rijkaard's defence apart. Mourinhio's tactical switch, deploying Mateja Kezman as a lone striker with Gudjohnsen squeezing the space around Xavi, worked brilliantly early on.
Within eight minutes, Chelsea were ahead, the outstanding Lampard dispossessing Xavi in midfield and sending Kezman scampering down the right. His cross was tamed with an assured first touch by Gudjohnsen, who manoeuvred himself cleverly around Juliano Belletti and scored with a firm right-footer.
The Blues were in the mood, hounding Barcelona in midfield and breaking upfield swiftly. Suddenly, Ferreira was releasing the lively Joe Cole down the right, the England international deceiving the overwhelmed Giovanni van Bronckhorst before firing goalwards. The ball deviated off Oleguer, bringing a wonderful reaction save from Victor Valdes. Lampard, oozing class all night, was quickest to the loose ball which he planted confidently into Valdes' net.
And there was more, thrillingly so for the raucous Bridge faithful. Kezman laid the ball off to Cole in the centre-circle and the No 10's response was worthy of his shirt number, the ball dexterously transferred forward for Duff to run onto. The Irishman's touch was magnificent, the ball propelled crisply underneath Valdes. Inspired.
Duff's wild celebration carried him into the Barcelona technical area, forcing Rijkaard to retreat, a fitting snapshot of the match to date. Yet there is such class in the Catalan ranks. Barcelona forced themselves back into the game, primarily through the technical majesty and will to win of Ronaldinho.
Yet the lead-in to the Brazilian's 27th-minute penalty was laced with controversy. Chelsea were incensed that Pierluigi Collina had immediately decreed that Ferreira had handled Belletti's cross. Collina was convinced and, although Petr Cech guessed right in both senses, Ronaldinho's low spot-kick still found the mark.
The Brazilian had not finished for the half. Showing the kind of skills that youngsters in Sao Paulo and Rio learn in their futsal classes, Ronaldinho controlled a pass from Deco 20 yards out and began to tease Ricardo Carvalho, moving his hips and shoulders to confuse the Chelsea centre-half. Suddenly, that dangerous right foot came down, hammering into the ball and placing it past a stunned Cech.
The aggregate scoreline read 4-4 but Chelsea trailed on away goals. Then, nirvana. Duff curled over a corner and Terry's header arrowed past Valdes. Barcelona were livid, arguing vainfully that their keeper had been impeded by Carvalho.
Match details
Chelsea (4-4-1-1): Cech; Ferreira (Johnson, 50), Carvalho, Terry, Gallas; J Cole, Makelele, Lampard, Duff (Huth, 86); Gudjohnsen (Tiago, 78), Kezman. Subs: Cudicini (g), Smertin, Geremi, Parker. Booked: Ferreira, Kezman. Barcelona (4-3-3): Valdes; Belletti (Giuly, 84), Puyol, Oleguer, Van Bronckhorst (Silvinho, h-t); Xavi, Gerard, Deco; A Iniesta (Maxi Lopez), Eto'o, Ronaldinho. Subs: Jorquera (g), Navarro, Albertini, Damia. Booked: Van Bronckhorst, Xavi. Referee: P Collina (Italy).
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Sun:
Chelsea 4 Barcelona 2 (Chelsea win 5-4 on agg)
JOHN TERRY was Chelsea's Champions League hero in a six-goal thriller at Stamford Bridge.
The Blues skipper headed a 76th-minute goal to hand the Londoners a 5-4 aggregate win over Barcelona and a place in the quarter-finals.
Jose Mourinho's men surged into an unbelievable three-goal lead after just 20 minutes thanks to strikes from Eidur Gudjohnsen, Frank Lampard and Damien Duff.
Ronaldinho's double, the first from the penalty spot, gave Barca the advantage on away goals.
Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech had to produce a string of outstanding saves to keep his side in the match.
And with time running out for Chelsea, Terry popped up from a corner to head home, although Ricardo Carvalho looked to have impeded Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes on the goal-line.
Mourinho flung himself into an ecstatic sea of players at the final whistle, while assistant Andre Villas was involved in an ugly spat with Barca coach Frank Rikjaard.
So much for being boring. Having been accused of negative tactics in the Nou Camp, Mourinho had bravely fielded Mateja Kezman just ahead of Gudjohnsen after two goals in his past two games.
Amid an aggressive start by the home side, Kezman made an immediate impact, surging down the right flank after Lampard had won possession before producing an inviting cross for his strike partner.
THANK YOU TERRY MUCH ... Terry heads home the clincher
Gudjohnsen’s first touch took him past Gerard, before then lunging forwards to power his shot past Valdes with just eight minutes gone.
That was, in itself, enough to take Chelsea through but their tails were up and Lampard shot over the bar on the turn from just eight yards out.
No matter. At this stage, Chelsea were rampantly pouring forward and when Cole’s shot was deflected, Valdes could only parry the ball and Lampard was onto it in a flash to finish.
"Boring, boring Chelsea" rang out ironically around Stamford Bridge, but the home side were not finished there.
Next it was Cole producing the midfield inspiration, driving a through-ball for Duff to scamper onto and roll underneath the body of the stranded Valdes.
That should have been game over. The time to regroup, refocus and recharge the batteries.
Instead, Chelsea continued to attack and quickly paid the price.
Not even two warning signals, when Cech denied Samuel Eto’o at full stretch and Ronaldinho directed a header just inches wide were enough.

For when Paulo Ferreira, with his back to the ball, unnecessarily handled, Ronaldinho converted the ensuing penalty and the tie was transformed.
Now Barcelona only needed one goal to go through and even though Cech again performed acrobatics to deny Deco, Ronaldinho duly obliged.
JOLLY GUD SHOW ... Gudjohnsen opens the scoringPicture: REUTERS
Not that there seemed much danger when the Brazilian was confronted by an imposing wall of defenders on the edge of the penalty area.
But with a minimal back-lift, he still conjured a moment of pure inspiration as he crafted a shot that curled into the far corner, leaving Cech motionless.
Eto’o also skimmed a shot over the bar from Ronaldinho’s inspired through-ball, but Chelsea rallied and Cole struck the post, with Duff just failing to convert the rebound as he stretched.
And that was all in the first half.
Ferreira was withdrawn soon after the restart after suffering a torrid time at Ronaldinho’s hands, with Glen Johnson the next to be run ragged by the Brazilian.
However, Chelsea are made of sterner stuff these days and although they lacked shape, Terry and Lampard led the revival as the match continued to fizzle with excitement.
Lampard twice came close, but Cech just scrambled Juliano Belletti’s long-range effort around the post and then produced an incredible save from Carles Puyol.
Valdes, meanwhile, was also equal to a thunderbolt from Cole, while Lampard and Gudjohnsen both threatened.
However, Chelsea left themselves open to the counter-attack and when Cech tipped Andres Iniesta’s shot onto the post, Eto’o should have punished Johnson’s hesitation.
STANDARD LAMP ... Frank Lampard taps in
That was the escape they needed. For when Terry headed home Duff’s corner, Barcelona’s pleas for a foul on Valdes were ignored.
Mourinho immediately introduced Tiago for Gudjohnsen and defender Robert Huth soon followed in a five-man amid a frantic final spell as Deco flashed an injury-time free-kick just wide.
Villas waved kisses at Rikjaard at the whistle, while Ronaldinho and Eto'o had to be restrained as they walked down the tunnel.
DREAM TEAM STAR MAN
PETR CECH (Chelsea). String of superb saves to keep Chelsea in it.
SUN RATINGS
CHELSEA: Cech 9, Ferreira 5 (Johnson 6), Terry 8, Carvalho 7, Gallas 6, Makelele 6, Cole 9, Lampard 7, Duff 6 (Huth 5), Kezman 6, Gudjohnsen 7 (Tiago 5). Subs not used: Cuducini, Smertin, Geremi, Parker. Booked: Ferreira, Johnson, Kezman.
BARCELONA: Valdes 6, Belletti 7 (Giuly 5), Puyol 6, Oleguer 7, Van Bronckhorst 5 (Sylvinho 6), Xavi 7, Gerard 6, Deco 8, Iniesta 7 (Maxi 5), Eto’o 7, Ronaldinho 9. Booked: Van Bronckhorst, Xavi.