man city 2-4

Independent:

Tevez steps into limelight as Chelsea turn to farce

Chelsea 2 Manchester City 4:

Premier League leaders end match with nine men and multitude of defensive howlers to reflect on

By Steve Tongue at Stamford Bridge

"We are top of the League," the home crowd chanted defiantly, for there was nothing else to crow about after this extraordinary game. Red was the colour – two Chelsea players being sent off in the second half – blue was the mood. A first home defeat for 15 months became a humiliation with Juliano Belletti and Michael Ballack dismissed and the second goal not arriving until it was too late to matter. Manchester United will go into the Carling Cup final today only a point behind at the top of the table, having been done a huge, unwitting favour by their noisy neighbours.
If Sir Alex Ferguson and his players were watching on TV, they must have been tempted to switch off once Frank Lampard climaxed Chelsea's initial 42 minutes of domination by scoring the opener. City had rarely crossed the halfway line at that point and barely tested Henrique Hilario in the home goal; which was just as well for Chelsea as it turned out. When they did, he was found seriously wanting and only five minutes after the interval had committed two errors to allow City the lead.
Suddenly the calf injury that Petr Cech sustained against Internazionale in midweek, keeping him out for up to a month, looked as though it could become a defining moment in Chelsea's season. When Inter arrive for the second leg of their Champions' League tie in just over a fortnight's time it will be Chelsea's fourth successive home game, but on yesterday's evidence that will offer no encouragement. Although it had been 38 games since Arsenal won at the Bridge, in November 2008, they were taken apart by just the sort of counter-attacking that other opponents – Inter above all – will want to emulate.
Talking of the Bridge, Wayne's reappearance at his former ground became something of a sideshow, the only relevance to the match being whether John Terry really is being affected by the whole, er, affair. Having headed the winning goal at Burnley the day after the story originally broke, he has given several shaky performances since and was as much at fault for the first goal yesterday as his goalkeeper. That said, neutrals were grateful for the whole Terry-Bridge pantomime of heroes and villains during the first half-an-hour, when so little else of interest was occurring.
There was a real lunchtime tempo, summed up when Florent Malouda, forced to deputise at left-back again, took a free-kick that went for a throw-in on the far side of the pitch. The moment when Bridge declined to shake Terry's hand before the game was much the most dramatic until Joe Cole's shrewd pass and Lampard's equally clever run benefited from Vincent Kompany's foolish attempt at playing offside and Joleon Lescott's faulty positioning. Lampard's low shot went in off the far post.
City, with Emmanuel Adebayor suspended, produced nothing until a huge, undeserved bonus materialised in added time at the end of the first half. Bridge, of all people, sent a long punt downfield, John Obi Mikel misheaded, and Terry was caught on the wrong side of Carlos Tevez. The shot was so weak that Hilario could, as the old timers would say, have thrown his cap on it. Instead, starting from the wrong position, the goalkeeper went down late, got one weak hand on the ball and made no impression on what little pace there was on the ball.
Astonishingly, an unmarked Lescott should have added a second goal almost immediately, heading Craig Bellamy's free-kick beyond the far post as Terry lay on the ground. Five minutes into the second half, City were ahead anyway after the first of three superb counters, all involving Bellamy. For this one he raced away from a static Mikel on to Gareth Barry's pass and shot across Hilario, who was again badly positioned.
Carlo Ancelotti felt Chelsea "lost balance" after the interval. He made three substitutions, only to see his team lose two players and two more goals. In the 76th minute Bellamy sent Barry through to be brought down by the merest touch from Belletti. The Argentinian went off and his compatriot Tevez put the penalty away.
There might still have been a way back, but Ballack, already on one yellow card, received another – which might have been a straight red – for a dreadful two-footed lunge at Tevez.
The game was up, though not over; City broke with five men against three and played it perfectly for Shaun Wright-Phillips to set up Bellamy's tap-in. Lampard's late penalty was a mere gesture. "Football is strange," said City's manager Roberto Mancini. He was not wrong.

Attendance: 41,814
Referee: Mike Dean
Man of the match: Tevez

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Sunday Times

City rally leaves John Terry with no defence
Chelsea 2 Manchester City 4

Duncan Castles at Stamford Bridge

LET’S do as John Terry keeps telling us he wants to do, and concentrate on the football. In his past four appearances, Chelsea’s captain has cost his team three points at Goodison Park, placed them in grave danger at Molineux, handed two gilt-edged scoring chances to Internazionale at the San Siro and seriously compromised their Premier League lead at Stamford Bridge.
Here’s the rub for Terry. Either the fallout from his myriad off-field indiscretions has damaged Chelsea’s spirit or he’s just not up to the basic job of leading a defence. Whichever judgment you make, the man is turning from self-created legend into self-destructing liability. Wayne Bridge detests him, though right now Terry must be Sir Alex Ferguson’s favourite footballer.
No Roman Abramovich team have capitulated like this, exchanging a comfortable first-half lead for a 4-1 deficit and having not one but two experienced internationals sent off for senseless challenges. Chelsea had not lost on home territory for 37 straight games and Manchester City not so much as found the net here in seven visits stretching back to 2000.
Neither did they look likely to score yesterday until Terry’s latest misjudgment. Faced with Bridge’s long, hopeful clearance, Chelsea’s captain hesitated in taking on the header, leaving John Obi Mikel to deflect it back towards him. Again, Terry failed to take charge, fatefully pausing as his diminutive opponent Carlos Tevez brought the ball down and accelerated towards goal. So lacking is Terry in pace these days, his only remaining option was to foul. No slide tackle was made, Tevez reached the area and teased a shot across Hilario. If Chelsea’s back-up goalkeeper had his angles badly wrong, he had certainly been left exposed by the captain.
Having entered the match with a grudge to settle on Bridge’s behalf, City were suddenly energised. Early in the second half, Craig Bellamy angled in another finish after another counterattack in which Terry forlornly trailed attackers. Gareth Barry pick-pocketed Juliano Belletti to win a penalty for the third; another sprint past Terry’s malfunctioning rearguard brought the fourth.
As astonishing as Chelsea’s collapse was their manager’s assessment of the causes. “John Terry didn’t make a mistake today,” insisted Carlo Ancelotti. “Where is the mistake? John Terry was not involved in the mistake [for the first goal]. He didn’t miss the header.”
The coach’s verbal defence was his most stalwart. Had Terry been affected by reporting of his personal life? “No.” Were there any circumstances in which he’d drop him? “No, there is no reason for him to stay out.”
So what went wrong? “I want to think that we lost the balance. We were two against one for the first goal with Tevez. We stayed two against two in the second goal, we lost balance in both situations.”
In truth Chelsea’s problems have developed with the season. Early in the campaign there were issues with set-piece marking and a shallow defensive line. Terry and Petr Cech have frequently been at odds, the goalkeeper accused of not dominating his penalty area, the defender dropping too deep in fear of faster strikers.
In the past week, Internazionale and City have demonstrated different ways to unbutton Chelsea in open play. Jose Mourinho won the Champions League tie by playing two quick forwards and leaving Wesley Sneijder free to manufacture chances behind. Here City triumphed with classic counterattacking, Roberto Mancini lining up five in midfield and asking Tevez to sniff opportunities around the centre-backs.
Frank Lampard claimed the first goal in this meeting of the League’s two most expensively acquired squads, sprinting across City’s central defence to gather Joe Cole’s pass and redirect to the far corner.
Instead of the second came Terry’s error. After Bellamy steamed past Mikel to beat Hilario from a tight angle, City were content to play out time, choosing to propel free kicks towards their own goal rather than Chelsea’s. Ancelotti substituted the wrong defender in Ricardo Carvalho and Barry got behind Belletti to draw both penalty and red card.
Just returned from his daughter’s premature birth in Argentina, Tevez completed his third finish this season against Chelsea. “I love playing against a big club and every time I score,” he said. “Sorry, Chelsea.”
The disarray was underlined as Michael Ballack took a second yellow for cutting down the striker before another counter presented Bellamy with an open goal. Lampard’s stoppage-time penalty was irrelevant. Sorry Chelsea indeed.

Star man: Carlos Tevez (Man City)

Yellow cards: Chelsea: Terry, Ivanovic, Ballack Man City: Zabaleta Red cards: Chelsea: Belletti, Ballack
Referee: M Dean

Attendance: 41,814

Chelsea: Hilario 4, Ivanovic 5, Carvalho 6 (Kalou 69min), Terry 4, Malouda 5, Ballack 5, Mikel 4 (Belletti 60min, 5), Lampard 6, Anelka 5, Drogba 6, J Cole 6 (Sturridge 60min, 5)

Manchester City: Given 7, Richards 7, Kompany 6, Lescott 7, Bridge 7 (Santa Cruz 78min), Zabaleta 6, De Jong 7, Barry 7, Bellamy 8, Tevez 8 (Sylvinho 90min), A Johnson 6 (Wright-Phillips 60min)


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Observer:

Chelsea see red as Manchester City triumph in battle of the Bridge

Chelsea 2 Lampard 42, Lampard (pen) 90 Manchester City 4 Tevez 45, Bellamy 51, Tevez (pen) 76, Bellamy 87

Paul Wilson at Stamford Bridge

John Terry has certainly had better days. Quite apart from his team losing at home for the first time this season and being snubbed in the handshake parade by Wayne Bridge, the Chelsea captain had given Henrique Hilário a personal vote of confidence in his column in the match programme.
"He's done so well that it looks like he could be going to the World Cup with Portugal," Terry said of Chelsea's stand-in goalkeeper. "Obviously everyone here has total belief in him."
Not any more they don't. Manchester City mounted only two serious attacks in the first hour and scored from both of them, courtesy of Hilário's lack of positional sense and authority between the posts. That was the decisive factor in the game, along with the return of Carlos Tevez, even before Chelsea began losing players through their own indiscipline.
While that made City's job easier towards the end, the visitors had put themselves in a winning position against 11 men, not nine. Only the final City goal, when Tevez led a breakout from his own half and Craig Bellamy picked up his second of the afternoon from a Shaun Wright-Phillips cross, was attributable to Chelsea's lack of numbers. Everything else was their own fault, and even after one of the most boring and uneventful opening half hours of the season it was impossible to see it coming.
Of all the preposterous and fanciful predictions that were made before this match, everything from handshake boycotts to Bridge coming on as a substitute after two minutes, none featured Chelsea finishing with nine men and letting their opponents score four.
City just did not appear to have a result like this in them, yet ended up doing Manchester United a massive favour. This result effectively cancels out United's loss of three points at Goodison last week and means Chelsea lead by a single point. If anything, Chelsea were worse at home than United had been at Everton.
You do not need to spell out the fact that you have total belief in your own goalkeeper unless the issue is a concern, and as soon as Hilário demonstrated uncertainty the belief drained out of Chelsea and into their opponents, with Bellamy and Tevez showing a surgical instinct for the jugular.
A dull first 40 minutes was inevitably likened to a Serie A contest, given the nationalities of the two managers, and it was beginning to look as if the Bridge and Terry show might be all the Bridge had to offer until two goals arrived together on the stroke of the interval. First Joe Cole played in Frank Lampard with a measured pass into the area, picking up the midfielder's diagonal run and enabling Lampard to stroke the ball past Shay Given and in off a post without fully looking up.
Having done most of the attacking Chelsea were just about worth their lead, and though Cole must have been expecting to supply Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka with ammunition from his position just behind the front two, Joleon Lescott and Vincent Kompany excelled in looking after Chelsea's front line of attack. City just found, like many others, that it was still necessary to counter the threat of Lampard breaking forward from midfield.
Three minutes later, however, they were back in the game, finding a way through Hilário the first time they put him to the test. Chelsea were attacking as normal time drew to a close, and after Given saved from Cole a hoofed clearance from Bridge was inadvertently helped into Tevez's path by a header from Mikel John Obi. Using that bit of good fortune to his advantage Tevez beat first Terry then Ricardo Carvalho, and though he was hampered by Terry's attempt at recovery when shooting so that his effort limped almost apologetically across the line, he still placed it well enough to beat Hilário's comically despairing dive.
If the Chelsea goalkeeper was at fault for the equaliser, his shortcomings were even more evident when City took the lead early in the second half. Launching a swift counter, Gareth Barry fed the ball to Bellamy on halfway, for the winger to take on and beat Mikel down the left and find the far corner from a narrow angle with a low shot that the goalkeeper allowed to cross him.
At least Hilário could not be blamed for City's third. After Juliano Belletti had attempted to atone for being dispossessed by Barry by climbing all over the midfielder, conceding a penalty and being dismissed as the last defender, the goalkeeper had no chance of keeping out Tevez's fiercely struck spot-kick.
That tilted the game decisively City's way. Michael Ballack's dismissal, for an untidy challenge on Tevez that brought a second yellow, simply made matters worse. Any one of three or four players could have scored the fourth goal, such was the number of options and overlaps open to City, and though Lampard pulled a goal back from the penalty spot after Anelka had been brought down, no one at Chelsea felt the final score was any more respectable.
"We are disappointed but we have to look forward," Carlo Ancelotti said. "Until Petr Cech is back we have to have confidence in Hilário. We have to wait three or four weeks, but we hope Cech will be back sooner."


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Telegraph:

Chelsea 2 Manchester City 4
By Jeremy Wilson at Stamford Bridge

No handshake from Wayne Bridge and no points for Chelsea. All in all, it was a truly a miserable afternoon for John Terry.
This 4-2 defeat against Manchester City was also Chelsea’s first home loss of the season and a result which leaves both Manchester United and Arsenal in reach of the Premier League leaders with only 10 matches remaining.
As expected, Bridge followed up his decision to make himself unavailable for England selection by very publicly refusing to shake the out-stretched hand of Terry, his former Chelsea team-mate.
The ex-England captain, who was sporting a new Mohican-style hair-style, looked thoroughly unconcerned and was certainly not addressing any of the wider issues in a set of programme notes which contained the usual optimism about Chelsea’s chances this season of winning three trophies.
After the drama of the non-handshake, the opening half-an-hour was largely devoid of incident. Chelsea were generally in control, but could only fashion a flurry of half-chances for both Florent Malouda and Didier Drogba from which Shay Given, the Manchester City goalkeeper, went untested.
With Fabio Capello and his assistant Franco Baldini looking on, Bridge was largely able to block out the booing and deliver the sort of solid performance both in defence and attack that has made him Ashley Cole’s England understudy over much of the past decade.
The big chance, though, was for Joe Cole, who started in his preferred position at the tip of the Chelsea diamond and assumed a growing influence as the first-half unfolded. In the 42nd minute, he delivered a delightful defence-splitting pass with the outside of boot from which Frank Lampard put Chelsea ahead.
Manchester City had created nothing and looked in danger of falling further behind before equalising on the stroke of half-time in the most unexpected of circumstances. Bridge had thumped a hopeful ball forward which John Obi-Mikel attempted to head back to Terry, only for Carlos Tevez to intercept.
He then turned inside Ricardo Carvalho and scuffed a shot which carried just enough power to dribble beyond Henrique Hilario and into the Chelsea goal.
It was difficult to imagine Petr Cech conceding from a similar situation and, within minutes of the re-start, Manchester City took the lead following further questionable defending. This time it was Craig Bellamy who collected the ball in space and, with Mikel backing off, his angled shot crept past the out-stretched hand of Hilario.
In terms of the Terry-Bridge sub-plot, the closest thing to a flash-point occurred midway through the second-half when Tevez, who had previously made a very public display of a ‘Team Bridge’ T-shirt, squared up to the Chelsea captain after the two players had tangled in the penalty area.
Chelsea pushed forward in search of an equaliser but looked increasingly vulnerable on the counter-attack. Bellamy missed one excellent chance before Gareth Barry got the wrong side of the Chelsea defence and was brought down by Juliano Belletti.
There was no deliberate attempt to trip Barry, but the former Barcelona defender had clearly got the wrong side of his opponent and left referee Mike Dean with little option but to brandish a red card. From the resulting penalty, Tevez shot beyond Hilario.
Michael Ballack then completely lost his discipline and, having previously been booked for dissent, he went straight through Tevez with a dreadful challenge that provoked an inevitable second yellow card.
As he left the pitch, Carlo Ancelotti completely ignored the Germany midfielder. With Chelsea down to nine-men and horribly exposed, Manchester City scored their fourth following an excellent inter-change of passing between Tevez and
Shaun Wright-Phillips that was finished by Bellamy. Even a late penalty from Lampard could not sour what had been a sweet afternoon for Manchester City and, most notably, Wayne Bridge.

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Mail:

Chelsea 2 Manchester City 4:

John Terry shunned by Wayne Bridge as Carlos Tevez and Craig Bellamy humble nine men

By Rob Draper

The humiliation of John Terry could scarcely have been more complete. Just after Manchester City had swept upfield, making light of a Chelsea team by then reduced to nine men, and Craig Bellamy had tapped in their fourth goal, Terry could be seen stalking back to the centre circle, a defeated man.
He exchanged angry words with Didier Drogba, though it surely owed more to emotional instinct than rational analysis of what had taken place.
For Chelsea have not experienced a home defeat like this for years and by this stage there was little to argue over:
As they turned to return to their half, Tevez then pointed to Bridge, deflecting the glory to him and indicating the motivation behind a remarkable second-half performance.
It was an afternoon that could scarcely have gone worse for Chelsea or Terry. 'It was very disappointing,' said their manager Carlo Ancelotti. 'We made a mistake and usually in football if you do that, you lose the game. We are still top of the league, if only by a point, but it is a point and that is not bad. That is the only good thing from today. Today is not a good day for us.'
And though Ancelotti would not attribute any significance to the hype surrounding this match and the very public clash of Terry and Bridge, something had clearly undermined his team's confidence.
For in the seven years since he bought the club, Roman Abramovich has not seen Chelsea lose at home and concede four goals in the process.
Nor has he witnessed quite as spectacular a meltdown in discipline, with Juliano Belletti and Michael Ballack both sent off as the game ran away from them.
The latter point Ancelotti did acknowledge.
'We could have avoided some behaviour on the pitch and not have two players sent off,' he said.
That said, it you wanted men to fight your corner, Bellamy and Tevez would be your first two picks.
Yesterday, neither took a step backwards, quite literally in Tevez's case when, despite being a full foot smaller, he strode aggressively towards Terry in one confrontation.
Both City players were magnificent, particularly Tevez, who had endured a transatlantic flight from Buenos Aires and the stress of caring for his prematurely born daughter in the days before this game.
For Mancini it was a huge win, his chances of securing the fourth Champions League spot significantly increased. 'This game could change our season,' he claimed.
That said, Chelsea appeared to be strolling towards victory when Frank Lampard confidently finished on 43 minutes.
It was just reward but then came the game's turning point - and inevitably Bridge was at the heart of it.
The clearance he hoofed upfield was in desperation, but John Obi Mikel's attempted clearance played in Tevez and, with Terry failing to clear twice, he was allowed a shot which trickled past Henrique Hilario and into the goal.
It was a collective defensive calamity but Terry has now made five errors, all of which have led to goals, in the past four games. Ancelotti's attempts to defend him were unconvincing.
'What mistake did John Terry make today?' he dead-panned. 'He has made some mistakes in other games but not today.'
The second half became a City romp. Bellamy terrorised Mikel on 53 minutes, sprinting past him before shooting past Hilario, again at fault. Barry contrived the third on 77 minutes, spinning past Belletti, whose foolish attempt to recover the ball conceded a penalty and earned him a red card.
Tevez dispatched the spot-kick and Ballack's attempt to extract revenge on his team's tormentor on 81 minutes merited his second yellow card and ended the resistance.
Shaun Wright-Phillips' pace on 87 minutes further exposed Chelsea, his cross falling for Bellamy, who finished neatly.
And though Lampard converted a penalty awarded against Barry for a foul on Nicolas Anelka in the 90th minute, he did so in front of a half-empty Stamford Bridge.
For by then this fairytale was complete, and the good guy had won.

MATCH FACTS

Chelsea (4-3-3): Hilario; Ivanovic, Carvalho (Kalou 69min), Terry, Malouda; Ballack, Mikel (Belletti 61), Lampard; J Cole (Sturridge 61), Drogba, Anelka. Subs (not used): Turnbull, Ferreira, Kalou, Matic, Alex. Booked: Ivanovic, Terry, Ballack. Sent off: Belletti 75min, Ballack 81min.

Manchester City (4-5-1): Given; Richards, Kompany, Lescott, Bridge (Santa Cruz 77); Johnson (Wright-Phillips 61), Barry, De Jong, Zabaleta, Bellamy; Tevez (Sylvinho 89). Subs (not used): Taylor, Onuoha, Toure, Ibrahim. Booked: Zabaleta.
Referee: M Dean (Wirral).

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NOTW:

CARLOS THE CACKLE HAS THE LAST LAUGH FOR BRIDGE

Chelsea 2 Man City 4

By Andy Dunn

AS protocol demanded, the City players lined up to shake him by the hand. And then one even ruffled his hair.
And meanwhile, 50 yards away from Carlos Tevez, John Terry stood in glassy- eyed isolation, his spirit seemingly broken.
Not by a month's worth of outrage, not by the man in the stands who tore the England armband from his bicep.
But by the indefatigability of Tevez. By the brilliance of Craig Bellamy, whose disdain for Terry could hardly have been more pronounced.
Team Bridge had taken brutal revenge.
Make no mistake, they were motivated by their sympathy for their team-mate.
As Tevez emerged from a celebratory huddle following his second goal of a remarkable afternoon, he collared Bridge, turned him to face the joyous knot of City fans and pointed repeatedly at his friend.
This was for him. Sure. And when the day began, it was all about him. About him, Terry and the whole tawdry saga.
But by the end of these astonishing proceedings, it was about so much more.
About Tevez - jet-lagged but jet-heeled, eyelids still heavy with worry over his poorly baby girl - squaring up to Terry and spinning him in ever-decreasing circles.
About Bellamy exposing a Chelsea defence as the injury-ravaged, insecure mess that it has become.
About Petr Cech... and he wasn't even on the pitch. His absence could be a mortal blow to Chelsea's challenge for success.
This contest was simply a damaging litany of disasters for Chelsea and a triumph to muffle whispers of impending mutiny at Eastlands.
A counter-attacking masterclass against a team that lost all discipline.
Physical discipline. How else can you explain Juliano Belletti allowing himself to be ambushed by Gareth Barry, prompting a penalty and inevitable red card?
Mental discipline. Michael Ballack's act of wanton violence against Tevez - reducing Chelsea to nine men - was staggeringly irresponsible.
But a couple of weeks at his sick daughter's bedside and a long-haul flight that touched down just a day previously had not dampened the exuberance of Tevez... so a hack from a brassed-off Ballack was unlikely to do so.
Tevez was withdrawn late on to take those handshakes and deserved acclaim.
Carlo Ancelotti looked a picture of bemusement. Which maybe explains why he claimed Terry had a flawless game.
In fact, the cursory gestures from City's Bridge loyalists prior to the game provided a fitting symbol of Terry's afternoon.
Of his current form. No great shakes.
His defensive instincts seem to have been dulled by the drama.
After Frank Lampard's pristine finish, Terry was only one member of a quartet culpable for a slightly surreal equaliser but it was the type of situation he normally takes command of.
Instead, he was scrambling around the fringes of a farce created by John Obi Mikel's aberration of a header from a Bridge punt. Terry's positional sense has never been his strong suit but it looks unusually awry right now. That is why he was stranded and booked when curtailing a straightforward Adam Johnson run with a trip.
Sixty yards away, Joleon Lescott looked footsure in comparison and, in the posh seats, Fabio Capello wore a quizzical look.
It was an informative afternoon for the England manager. Bridge, understandably, didn't do quite enough to send Capello to go pleading at the steps of the team bus.
Joe Cole showed vestiges of his best, particularly when threading the pass through for Lampard to find the bottom corner in that unerring manner of his.
Barry dripped maturity, Lescott solidity, Johnson naivety.
But City's English contingent were lifted by the first Tevez goal - one that confirmed fears that rippled around the club when Cech made an urgent rolling gesture to the bench in the San Siro.
Even after shaking himself clear of Terry's attentions, Tevez had only enough balance to nudge rather than shoot.
A dentist's appointment goes quicker yet still it crept to equality.
Hilario fell slowly, Chelsea instantly. From the moment Mike Dean signalled the start of the second half. Even though Barry's pass was predictably curled and cultured, Bellamy should never have been allowed to be left with only Mikel's presence to navigate past.
The outcome was inevitable, the oblique finish accomplished, Hilario's wrist limp.
Not a moment too soon, Mikel made way for Belletti. Dumb and dumber.
The substitute dallied, Barry robbed and Belletti clambered over him like someone trying to mount a scampering Shetland pony.
The penalty, thumped with ill-concealed glee by Tevez, was as automatic as the red card.
Mature, experienced, cerebral footballer he is, Ballack - already cautioned for dissent - stood up to be counted for his weakened team.
Stood up to be counted as the second to leave early. He can consider himself fortunate that Dean did not flourish red alone.
For a moment, it seemed that Tevez might be back on another flatbed seat but the stretcher was eventually shooed away and the irrepressible Argentine played a part in the fourth act of vengeance.
Outnumbered, out on their feet, Terry and what was left of his defence were bypassed by a move that ended with a Bellamy tap-in.
Lampard's second - a penalty after Nicolas Anelka had been tripped by Barry - was an embarrassing irrelevance.
By now, Bridge was in the treatment room. The physical treatment room, that is.
Maybe the occasion had eventually affected him.
Maybe it had taken its toll and his troubled mind had told his body to take a rest.
He was professional yesterday. He certainly did not deserve the jeers that accompanied his early touches.
Those jeers quietened as the contest went on, Chelsea fans knowing there was something of far greater concern unfolding - indeed, unravelling - in front of them.
For City, this was the type of result and performance that could inspire a rousing end to the season.
No wonder Roberto Mancini was as animated as we have seen him since his arrival.
Unlike Ancelotti, who was as terse as we have known him since his own arrival.
His mood will hardly be improved if he watches a flat-screen re-run. He will see a moment that has become chillingly familiar to Chelsea managers. One that should be accompanied by menacing, slow boom-boom music.
It is the camera cutaway to a place high up in the stands. The owner's box.
And sitting there on his own with mild exasperation etched on his face was Roman Abramovich.
Abramovich was said to be unhappy with the off-the-field scandal enveloping his club. Now, he has viewed on-the-field scandal. And he looked none too pleased.
Terry never shot him a glimpse but applauded the stragglers and then walked off in a thunderous mood.
He never got to grip the hand of his former best mate... but now Terry has to shake himself, his team and his club out of a drama that could yet become a crisis.

inter 1-2

Independent:

Cambiasso strike secures slim advantage for Inter
Internazionale 2 Chelsea 1
By Mark Fleming at San Siro

Europe is still proving to be Chelsea's Achilles' heel. They produced some great football at times against Internazionale last night, enjoying the bulk of the possession and creating by far the greater number of attempts on goal, but they were ultimately undone by the man out of whose shadow they still struggle to emerge.
Jose Mourinho, the man who led Chelsea to more trophies than any other manager in the club's history, was the architect of their downfall on a night when the football far exceeded the pre-match expectation.
Chelsea still find it tough to impose themselves in Europe. On the ground where a week ago Manchester United pulled off a memorable victory over Milan, Chelsea had their moments but in the end face an uphill task if they are to make it through to the quarter-finals. Carlo Ancelotti was brought in as Chelsea manager in the summer to improve on their record of never having won the Champions League despite reaching the semi-finals five times in the past six seasons. Going out in the second round was not part of the plan.
Salomon Kalou's second-half goal gives Chelsea hope they can overturn the deficit when the teams meet again next month at Stamford Bridge. But they are likely to have to do it without their influential goalkeeper Petr Cech, who was carried off after an hour with a calf injury.
Losing the first leg is one thing; but to lose such a player as Cech at such a key moment in the season could be of much greater consequence to the Premier League leaders. Cech has been close to his best form in recent weeks, but as he was taken off after falling awkwardly catching a routine cross Ancelotti feared the worst.
It was a blow that could have cost Chelsea dear, but replacement Henrique Hilario was not really tested in the final 30 minutes of the match. Unfortunately for Chelsea, by that time the damage had already been done.
The careful planning Ancelotti had put into this match was undone in the third minute. Thiago Motta found Samuel Eto'o and the Cameroon international passed to Wesley Sneijder, who threw a dummy to allow the ball on to Diego Milito. The Argentine took a touch and turned inside John Terry with alarming ease before dispatching a low shot inside Cech's near post. Mourinho was the picture of restraint in the home dugout, nodding his head as if somehow this had been just as he had planned it.
The early goal forced Chelsea out of their shell, giving life to a game that before kick-off had all the makings of a tight, tactical contest. Instead it was a flowing contest between two of the finest sides left in the competition. For once, the football lived up to the billing as the match took on a rhythm of thrust and counter-thrust. After all the pre-match talk dominated by the contrasting characters of the two managers, it was refreshing to see the players express themselves with such enthusiastic creativity.
The visitors, decked out all in white, recovered their composure as Internazionale began to dish out the physical stuff, with Michael Ballack receiving a boot in the face from Thiago Motta, who was booked. The German was also fouled by Dejan Stankovic, providing Didier Drogba with a chance from a free-kick. The Ivorian stepped up and hit a dipping shot that thumped against the crossbar of the Internazionale goal and bounced down to safety, a yard in front of the goal.
A feature of Chelsea's play was the willingness of both full-backs to push forward at every opportunity. Florent Malouda proved to be an able stand-in at left-back, bombing forward as often as he could. It also came as little surprise when a run by the energetic Branislav Ivanovic, the unsung hero of the Chelsea team this season, created the equaliser. The Serbian defender carried the ball far further than he should have been allowed, before he teed up Kalou, who placed his shot through a forest of players, which probably explains why Julio Cesar failed to keep it out. Kalou's goal, and his all-round display, justified Ancelotti's decision to pick him ahead of Joe Cole.
Much though Chelsea deserved to be level, parity lasted only four minutes as Internazionale hit back in spectacular fashion. Ricardo Carvalho headed away Sneijder's cross only as far as Esteban Cambiasso, whose initial shot was blocked by John Terry. Internazionale's Argentinian midfielder latched on to the rebound in an instant, and fired an unstoppable shot past Cech. It was to prove Cech's last meaningful action in the game, as he was carried off shortly afterwards.
The Inter fans packed into San Siro saluted the goalkeeper as he departed in obvious pain. Initial reports that Cech had torn his cruciate ligament proved incorrect, but the calf strain could not have come at a worse time for Chelsea who cannot afford any more defensive slips in the return leg.
The Spanish referee Manuel Mejuto Gonzalez did Chelsea no favours, denying them a clear penalty in first-half stoppage time. Kalou bore down on the Internazionale goal, only to have his heels clipped by Walter Samuel. Gonzalez turned down Chelsea's claims for a penalty, although subsequent TV replays showed he had got the decision wrong.
The tie is now perfectly poised for the second leg in three weeks' time, a tempting prize for either side to claim at Stamford Bridge. Mourinho's team has laid the foundation for making the manager's return to his old stamping ground a triumphant one. Yet Ancelotti will have seen enough in Chelsea's vibrant performance to give him the belief that his side can prosper. He just has to pass that belief on to his players, who have to overcome Internazionale and the psychological scars of years of failure in Europe.
Internazionale (4-3-1-2): Julio Cesar; Maicon, Samuel, Lucio, Zanetti; Stankovic (Muntari, 84), Cambiasso, Thiago Motta (Balotelli, 58); Sneijder; Milito, Eto'o (Pandev, 67). Substitutes not used: Toldo (gk), Cordoba, Quaresma, Mariga.
Chelsea (4-3-2-1): Cech (Hilario 61); Ivanovic, Carvalho, Terry, Malouda; Ballack, Mikel, Lampard; Anelka, Kalou (Sturridge, 78); Drogba. Substitutes not used: J Cole, Alex, Belletti, Bruma, Borini.
Referee: M Gonzalez (Spain).

Man for man marking, by Jon Culley
Internazionale
Julio Cesar
Beaten when Drogba's free-kick hit bar. Should have done better when Kalou equalised. 5/10
Maicon
Struggled against Kalou and Malouda defensively but powerful threat going forward. 6
Walter Samuel
Generally solid but lucky not to concede a penalty when he brought down Kalou. 6
Lucio
Inter's best defender, spotting danger early and seldom letting anyone pass him 8
Javier Zanetti
Not tested enough along flank by Anelka or Ivanovic, giving him licence to go forward 6
Dejan Stankovic
Broke down attacks and helped central defenders counter Drogba's threat. 7
Esteban Cambiasso
Impressive work rate in front of back four and shot for second goal was unstoppable. 7
Thiago Motta
Under pressure after early yellow card but did well against Lampard and Ballack. 6
Wesley Sneijder
Innovative and unpredictable, worried Chelsea throughout with his speed. 8
Samuel Eto'o
Supplied pass for opening goal but miskick on 33 minutes wasted a great chance for 2-0. 6
Diego Milito
Took his goal clinically and combined well with Eto'o to keep Chelsea stretched. 7
Substitutes
Mario Balotelli (for Motta, 58) 5; Goran Pandev (for Eto'o, 67); 6 Sulley Muntari (for Stankovic, 84) n/a
Chelsea
Petr Cech
Exposed by Terry's mistake for Milito's goal, no chance against Cambiasso. 6/10
Branislav Ivanovic
Steady at back, offered little going forward until paved way for Kalou's equaliser. 6
Ricardo Carvalho
More secure than Terry in central defence but dragged wide by Malouda's vulnerability. 6
John Terry
At fault letting Milito turn him too easily for opening goal. Lucky over Eto's miskick 4
Florent Malouda
No full-back, he struggled against Maicon, even more against pace of Balotelli. 4
John Obi Mikel
Tried sensibly to put width into Chelsea's , but kept too busy against Sneijder. 5
Michael Ballack
Popped up to test Cesar in first half, but quality of passing was below standard. 4
Frank Lampard
Laboured after missing weekend game but almost scored after 64 minutes. 6
Nicolas Anelka
Struggled to make an impression in attack and a little careless in his defending. 5
Didier Drogba
Hit bar with superb free-kick and his power was always the biggest threat to Inter. 7
Salomon Kalou
Fine, controlled finish for Chelsea's equaliser but did not deliver enough crosses. 6
Substitutes
Hilario (for Cech, 61) 6; Daniel Sturridge (for Kalou, 77) 6.

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The Times

Carlo Ancelotti consigned to night of misery by Inter Milan's killer instinct

Inter Milan 2 Chelsea 1

There were thoughts that Petr Cech's season could be over, but he could still be sidelined for two months with a calf injury
Matt Hughes, Deputy Football Correspondent, Milan
José Mourinho’s vanity is such that he claimed to have two teams illuminating San Siro last night, although it says much about his ability as a coach that both of them are good enough to win the Champions League.
Inter Milan hold a slender advantage after a policy of strict counterattack was vindicated by Esteban Cambiasso’s spectacular winner, but Chelsea remain very much in the tie as a result of Salomon Kalou’s away goal. The Special One’s return to Stamford Bridge next month should live up to his self-styled nickname.
If Mourinho had supervised more matches such as this during his time at Chelsea, he could still be living in West London. Roman Abramovich, the club’s owner, has always craved entertainment and he received enough last night to make him reconsider his new-found love of art galleries.
Chelsea dominated possession in this round-of-16 first leg and had twice as many shots on target, but they were beaten by a craftier and more clinical side, which should come as little surprise given the identity of their coach.
Inter also enjoyed better luck, most notably when Kalou was denied a clear penalty at the end of the first half, with Chelsea’s misfortune encapsulated by the sorry sight of Petr Cech being carried off on a stretcher with a calf injury that makes him doubtful for the second leg on March 16.
The loss of Cech would be a serious blow that Chelsea simply cannot cover, particularly given that his deputed replacements, Hilário and Ross Turnbull, have spent most of this season like contented tourists shopping on the Kings Road, but there were enough positive signs to suggest they can still progress.
Didier Drogba was a menace throughout, Frank Lampard kept arriving in good positions on the edge of the area without finding the required finish and Michael Ballack produced his Germany form to control midfield. Only Nicolas Anelka disappointed and Carlo Ancelotti, the manager, will have to find a way of getting the enigmatic Frenchman into more central positions if his team are to beat such resilient opponents.
Chelsea will also have to defend better in three weeks’ time, because the pace and intelligent movement of Samuel Eto’o and Diego Milito repeatedly exposed them. With the majestic Wesley Sneijder pulling the strings just behind them, Inter created the most clear-cut chances — if Eto’o had not miskicked in front of goal in the 34th minute, the tie could have been all but over — even though the home side struggled to get hold of the ball.
Beforehand, it seemed as if Florent Malouda would be Chelsea’s biggest point of weakness on his first appearance for the club at left back, but the France winger performed admirably and the visiting team were most vulnerable down their right.
Branislav Ivanovic was caught out of position by Eto’o’s pass in the third minute, with Milito taking advantage to cut inside John Terry and open the scoring. Mourinho raised his upper lip on the bench in an expression of pure pleasure, while Ancelotti’s heavy jowls sagged even lower than usual.
Chelsea’s defence has seemed shaky all season, but some of their attacking play has been scintillating and it was this quality that brought them back into the game.
For long periods, Drogba appeared to be on a one-man mission — he struck the underside of the crossbar with a thunderous free kick and brought a fine save from Júlio César in the space of a few seconds.
Chelsea were the better team for much of the match, but were unable to capitalise on their control. Kalou was characteristically wasteful on several occasions in the first half, but the Ivory Coast forward should have been awarded a penalty on the stroke of half-time.
After beating Walter Samuel for pace to collect Ivanovic’s throw-in, he maintained his composure to get a sight of goal, only to be brought down by a desperate lunge from the Argentina defender. Unlike Milito’s earlier appeal when Ricardo Carvalho stuck out a trailing leg at the other end, there was definitely contact and Chelsea had every right to feel aggrieved.
Kalou’s luck changed six minutes into the second half, when he scored an equaliser that surprised even himself. Ivanovic carried the ball from his own half with the kind of rampaging run more often associated with his opposite number, Maicon, before laying it off with a desperate lunge to Kalou, who hit the ball first time past Júlio César.
Kalou’s joy proved short-lived and Inter were celebrating again four minutes later after a wonderful goal from Cambiasso. Sneijder’s cross from the left was headed clear by Carvalho, but only as far as the Argentina midfield player, who beat Cech at the second attempt after his initial shot was blocked.
Chelsea’s problems worsened six minutes later when Cech limped off after landing awkwardly, a setback that caused the visiting team to lose their way. Lampard brought a good save from Júlio César with a volley in the 65th minute and shot wide in stoppage time, but other than that a second equaliser never looked likely.
Mourinho demonstrated his considerable chutzpah by sending on Mario Balotelli as an additional striker to try to stretch Inter’s advantage, but conceding a third goal would have been cruel on Chelsea. The stage is set for an epic encounter in three weeks, an outcome that Mourinho, with his love of melodrama, may have secretly craved.

Inter Milan (4-1-3-2): Júlio César — Maicon, W Samuel, Lúcio, J Zanetti — E Cambiasso — D Stankovic (sub: S Muntari, 84min), W Sneijder, Thiago Motta (sub: M Balotelli, 58) — S Eto’o (sub: G Pandev, 67), D Milito. Substitutes not used: F Toldo, I Córdoba, R Quaresma, M Mariga. Booked: Thiago, Milito.
Chelsea (4-3-3): P Cech (sub: Hilário, 61) — B Ivanovic, R Carvalho, J Terry, F Malouda — M Ballack, J O Mikel, F Lampard — N Anelka, D Drogba, S Kalou (sub: D Sturridge, 78). Substitutes not used: J Cole, Alex, J Belletti, J Bruma, F Borini. Booked: Kalou.
Referee: M E Mejuto González (Spain).
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Telegraph:

Inter Milan 2 Chelsea 1
By Henry Winter

Chelsea felt the painful heat of an old flame last night. Jose Mourinho masterminded a first-leg victory over his former team last night, although Chelsea returned home hoping that Salomon Kalou’s away goal proves the special one.
Kalou’s deserved strike came between goals from Diego Milito and Esteban Cambiasso in a fabulous game full of sweeping moves. All the talk of a cagey first leg, of caution and congestion reigning, disappeared in a blur of black-and-blue movement on the pitch and plumes of smoke on the terraces.
Even before Milito’s third-minute intervention, San Siro was shaking in its deep foundations, following the fans’ mass pogo in the build-up to a first whistle that only the referee and perhaps a couple of players could possibly have heard. The noise never ebbed.
No wonder. Two good teams went for glory, the pacesetters of Serie A and the Premier League laying on a magical spectacle, staging a sporting opera fit for La Scala of Italian football. A crowd of 78,971 relished this football of the old school, of the schoolyard even: you attack, we attack.
Overlapping left-backs set the buccaneering tone. Florent Malouda, reprising a role he first fulfilled for Lyons against Mourinho’s Porto six years ago, kept storming forward. The peerless, ageless Javier Zanetti, ostensibly in defence for Inter, similarly spent much of the match in his opponents’ back-yard.
No quarter was asked, nor given. Didier Drogba became embroiled in a lengthy scrap with Walter Samuel, one of those rugged Argentine defenders who could get a yellow card practising the Tango. Challenges flew in all over, Thiago Motta cautioned for a foot up on Michael Ballack that was almost a yard up.
Despite losing, Chelsea played well. The stats revealed that. Carlo Ancelotti’s players recorded eight shots on target to three by Mourinho’s.
Chelsea forced three corners to the hosts’ none, even enjoying 56 per cent possession. But Inter had a goalkeeper in Julio Cesar, who was athletic defiance personified. For a man who had just crashed his Lamborghini, the Brazilian performed with commendable sangfroid. He made only one mistake.
The fuse for a classic encounter was lit by Inter, stunning Chelsea with the speed and menace of their first surge. It was a lightning strike in every sense, Mourinho’s men racing down the inside-left channel, the ball flowing from Zanetti to Thiago Motta to Samuel Eto’o. When Wesley Sneijder dummied, the ball continued merrily towards Milito, whose eluding of John Terry was masterful. An Argentinian called Diego artfully dodging an England defender in World Cup year? We’ve been here before.
Shifting weight from left foot to right, Milito expertly sent Terry the wrong way, fashioning a yard of space before finding the gap between Petr Cech and the keeper’s right-hand upright. Only one person with Inter connections failed to celebrate. Mourinho sat motionless in the home dug-out, his face as unyielding as a slab of the local granite. Respect for his former players? Possibly. He also bore the look of somebody who felt he had scripted this.
San Siro dissolved in delight, particularly when the cameras panned onto the vexed features of Ancelotti, formerly of AC Milan. Another past steward of Rossoneri fortunes, Fabio Capello, who had jetted in from Johannesburg, cannot have been impressed by the way Terry was caught out.
Terry rallied his team, Frank Lampard began motoring forward, Malouda was ceaseless in his movement upfield while Nicolas Anelka shuttled busily between midfield and the front. Chelsea refused to be daunted by the scoreline or the setting. Drogba unleashed a thunderous free-kick that almost splintered the Inter crossbar. Julio Cesar clutched a Drogba shot and a Ballack drive.
The game kept sweeping from end to end, Milito soon booked for diving. Back came Chelsea, Drogba volleying wide. Back came Inter. This was mesmerising, Lucio, playing the pass of the night, an off-balance, crossfield ball, found Sneijder in space on the left. Inter’s No 10 drilled in a cross that deserved far better than a fluffed response from Eto.
Sadly, a wonderful half finished in controversy. Kalou was clearly brought down by Samuel but Manuel Mejuto Gonzalez ludicrously waved play on. The Spanish referee who oversaw Ancelotti’s worst moment in management, the 2005 Champions League final defeat to Liverpool, had frustrated him again.
“It looked like a penalty,’’ observed Ray Wilkins, Ancelotti’s assistant, rarely a man given to stoking the fires of controversy. Justice was done six minutes into the second period, Chelsea deservedly equalising.
How fitting that it should be Kalou swooping, having been so cruelly denied by Mejuto Gonzalez.
How appropriate that the goal should be created by a rampaging full-back, reflecting the gung-ho approach of both sides. Branislav Ivanovic charged 50 yards, eventually slipping but managing to slide the ball to Kalou as he fell. The Ivory Coast international, vindicating Ancelotti’s decision to omit the off-key Joe Cole, met the ball first time, driving it past Julio Cesar. For once, the Brazilian faltered, although he saw the deflected shot late.
Inter shrugged off the mishap, showing their resilience and class under Mourinho, reclaiming the lead within four minutes. Sneijder, who has become such a force under Mourinho, made the goal, lifting in a cross from the left. Ricardo Carvalho managed to head the danger clear but only to Cambiasso, whose first shot hit Terry. His second was deadly, the ball speeding past Cech.
Chelsea’s keeper then fell awkwardly catching a cross, departing on a stretcher to the sympathetic, sporting applause of the home tifosi. At the final whistle, Inter fans celebrated as if they had reached the last eight. Chelsea will have other ideas at the Bridge. It’s too close to call.

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Guardian:

José Mourinho's Internazionale leave Chelsea bruised but breathing
Internazionale 2 Milito 3, Cambiasso 55 Chelsea 1 Kalou 51
Kevin McCarra at San Siro

There was too much history between José Mourinho and his old club for this last 16 Champions League tie to be settled in the first leg. Chelsea, often on the attack, would have merited a draw on a night where they endured disadvantages and the exasperating loss of their goalkeeper Petr Cech to a peculiar calf injury in the second half.
He hardly appeared even to land awkwardly after collecting a routine cross. Initial reports of cruciate-ligament damage are categorically denied by the club and it will be a relief if he can return soon. Chelsea will not want to place too many hopes in the little-known hands of Henrique Hilário, though the substitute at least kept a clean sheet in about half an hour of action.
That quiet spell came as a surprise. No one is ever permitted to ignore the former Chelsea manager Mourinho and the incumbent, Carlo Ancelotti, has his own renown, yet the delight came at San Siro in a spectacle that destroyed the illusion that coaches always shape the course of events. There were tactical tweaks aplenty from Mourinho, but talent on the pitch had a greater say.
Indeed, this was the sort of uproarious game that has never been anticipated on any coach's whiteboard. Internazionale moved ahead after three minutes. With Ashley Cole and Yuri Zhirkov both injured, Ancelotti had brooded over the candidates for Chelsea's vacancy at left-back and opted for the winger Florent Malouda, who had experience of the post at Lyon.
Perhaps everyone had been too preoccupied with the topic because Inter erupted on the other flank. The visitors seemed utterly unprepared as Diego Milito cut inside, went across John Terry and scored with a low shot that beat Cech too easily at the near post. Self-disgust over such a lapse seemed to galvanise Chelsea. The attacks were sustained, despite Nicolas Anelka being below par, and no one could pretend that Inter had cunningly contained the danger. A 30-yard free-kick from the outstanding Didier Drogba struck the crossbar at a ferocious velocity after 14 minutes. Yet many in Chelsea's ranks would know how signs of encouragement can prove false around Mourinho.
The Portuguese had the ideas and means to unsettle Chelsea. Terry was troubled by Milito. In addition, Inter have more verve this season after reinvesting the funds raised by the sale of Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Barcelona. It allowed for the purchase of Wesley Sneijder, whose stylishness was sustained during the first half in particular.
Inter's advantage ought to have been doubled in the 34th minute. Walter Samuel swept a fine pass to the left and Sneijder's low ball went towards the far post, where Samuel Eto'o missed his kick embarrassingly before Terry cleared. The home side were not so constantly masterful and Chelsea could have had an invitation to level the score at the end of the first half.
The referee Manuel Mejuto González was indifferent to the appeals when it looked clear that Samuel had felled Salomon Kalou inside the penalty area. Chelsea hardly required additional motivation but the incident intensified the emotions. Given the identity of the Inter manager, drama and for that matter melodrama were to be anticipated.
Mourinho had decried Ancelotti as an establishment figure, so burnishing his self-conferred reputation as a radical. The Portuguese's revolutionary purpose is hard to identify. You could mistake him for a person who craves vast wealth and attention. Picturing himself as an outsider is a self-motivational technique. He may be blocking out the fact that he works for one of the grand institutions of the sport, the sole Italian club to be ever-present in Serie A.
Still, it cannot be too hard to be so embedded in the establishment when a game can still be as enthralling as this. The Inter manager could scarcely claim to have dictated the events that filled the opening phase of the second half. In the 51st minute Chelsea equalised after Mikel John Obi had set Branislav Ivanovic free. The full-back's low ball was taken by Kalou and curled into the net, with the goalkeeper Júlio César seeming a little uneasy.
Inter had regained the lead within four minutes. Sneijder delivered from the left and although Esteban Cambiasso's first shot was blocked by Ivanovic the ball broke back to the midfielder, who finished at the second attempt. Whatever is said about the sophistication of Mourinho and Ancelotti, this was not always a night in which a masterplan was being unfurled.
The players had notions of their own and Lampard was on the verge of a goal after build-up play by Drogba and Anelka, but his drive was saved by César. This taxing match had stimulated Chelsea and paved the way for an engrossing return.

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Mail:

Inter Milan 2 Chelsea 1:

Esteban Cambiasso's rocket is a bit Special as Jose Mourinho trumps rival Carlo Ancelotti

By Matt Lawton Chief Football Correspondent reports from Milan

Jose Mourinho must have felt like a winner last night. He won the popularity contest in front of a partisan crowd as well as the rather more serious business of this Champions League encounter.
He would also have taken enormous encouragement from the sight of Lucio delivering such a commanding performance against Didier Drogba and from the way his forwards exposed frailties in John Terry that are so rarely seen.
And he would have taken pride in just about shading the tactical battle with his bitter adversary on the opposing bench.
Mourinho displayed a deeper understanding of Chelsea than Carlo Ancelotti seemed to possess of an Inter side that, in fairness to the Italian, has undergone a major overhaul since he left the red half of Milan for Stamford Bridge last May.
Had Samuel Eto’o not squandered a wonderful opportunity midway through the opening half, Chelsea could now be in serious trouble.
But Ancelotti will relish the opportunity to get the self-anointed Special One back to his place; relish the chance to remind Mourinho that, for all the success his side enjoyed in this enthralling first leg, Chelsea can use the away goal they scored to their advantage and progress to the last eight.
There remains a psychological battle for the leaders of the Barclays Premier League to win.
They have suffered so much misfortune in this competition they are sure to fret over the potential significance of the penalty they were denied shortly before half-time. It was a clear foul by Walter Samuel on Salomon Kalou, one that could have earned a red card, and Chelsea can only hope it will not be filed away for another season with the ‘ghost’ goals and missed penalties of their painful past.
Instead, they have to remind themselves of the dominance they enjoyed. The 18 shots they unleashed to Inter’s eight. The three corners they earned with no reply. The 56 per cent of possession that pointed to their superior strength in midfield.
Inter were powerful, physical and brilliantly organised by Mourinho. But although Chelsea will renew hostilities at Stamford Bridge next month in a precarious position, it remains one from which they can succeed.
They will curse themselves as much as their luck.
It was Terry who invited Diego Milito to open the scoring and Petr Cech who was then beaten at his near post. There was another degree of hesitation in defence that allowed Esteban Cambiasso to follow his fellow Argentine in scoring less than four minutes after Kalou had levelled.
The fact that Cech then disappeared with what looked like a nasty injury added to Chelsea’s problems.
Mourinho would have enjoyed the reception Ancelotti received. A deafening chorus of boos for the former AC Milan boss echoed around this magnificent sporting cathedral, just as it did when Fabio Capello appeared on the giant screens.
But more satisfying than that would have been the sight of Lucio obeying orders. It took him a mere 43 seconds to leave his mark on Drogba with a crunching challenge that gave a hint of the physical battering to come.
When Mourinho said Drogba would break his legs for Chelsea, he didn’t say he would offer him some help.
A more devastating blow would soon follow, though, a goal after less than three minutes and one, much to the disappointment of Chelsea, that Inter scored with impressive ease.
What started with a surging run from Javier Zanetti continued with two neatly executed passes from Thiago Motta and Eto’o before Milito cut inside a pedestrian Terry and unleashed a right-foot shot that embarrassed Cech.
Aware that 177 minutes of this tie remained, Mourinho remained calm and in his seat. But the momentum as well as the advantage remained with the Italians, and Milito’s South American skills continued to trouble the Chelsea defence.
From Drogba, however, there was always a potential threat, with a 15th minute free-kick that crashed against the angle of right-hand post and crossbar serving notice of his intention to deliver a counter blow.
Drogba almost scored again seconds later, only for Julio Cesar to make the save on the second occasion. He would go close with a volley, too.Chelsea were playing with intelligence. The deployment of Frank Lampard in a slightly more advanced role on the left was certainly keeping Maicon busy and so protecting Florent Malouda, who in the absence of the injured Ashley Cole and Yuri Zhirkov had to play at left back.
Juliano Belletti was clearly not considered ready having trained only twice since returning from a month on the sidelines with a knee problem.
But the best opportunity before the break fell to Eto’o, who really should have scored when a move that started with a wonderful pass from Maicon ended with a cross from Wesley Sneijder that was delivered to the former Barcelona striker’s feet.
It seemed certain Eto’o would score, but he somehow got the ball trapped under his studs and enabled Chelsea to clear the danger.
For all the possession Chelsea were enjoying, this was classic Mourinho. Inter had been well prepared for the challenge Chelsea posed, allowing the Italians to overcome their obvious deficiencies.
That said, the first half still could have ended with Chelsea back on level terms rather than in protest at what Terry and his team-mates considered a gross injustice.
They surrounded Manuel Gonzalez in response to his refusal to award a penalty for what they considered to be a foul by Samuel on Kalou.
Television replays suggested they were right, even if Kalou undermined his case with the theatrical way in which he crashed to the ground.
Chelsea’s sense of injustice was eased six minutes after the break when a darting run by Branislav Ivanovic suddenly presented Kalou with the chance to beat Julio Cesar with a right-foot shot from 20 yards.
But when Chelsea’s failure to close down Cambiasso resulted in a second for Inter, a quite brilliant long-range shot, the advantage was once again with Mourinho’s men.
Whether it is an advantage they can protect, however, remains to be seen. Lampard went desperately close to equalising when he met a ball from Nicolas Anelka with a shot that brought the best out of Julio Cesar and many more such opportunities will come at Stamford Bridge.
But Mourinho is smart and if he organises his side as well as he did on this occasion, Chelsea could yet be reflecting on another opportunity that has been cruelly snatched from their grasp. One wonders how their nerves continue to take it.

MATCH FACTS

INTER MILAN (4-3-1-2): Julio Cesar 7; Maicon 7, Samuel 7, Lucio 6, Zanetti 6; Stankovic 6 (Muntari 84), Cambiasso 8, Thiago Motta 6 (Balotelli 58, 6); Sneijder 7; Eto’o 5 (Pandev 67, 6), Milito 7Booked: Thiago Motta, Milito

CHELSEA (4-3-3): Cech 6 (Hilario 61, 6); Ivanovic 5, Terry 6, Carvalho 6, Malouda 6; Ballack 6, Mikel 6, Lampard 6; Anelka 5, Drogba 7, Kalou 7

Booked: KalouMan of the match: Esteban Cambiasso.
Referee: Manuel Mejuto Gonzalez (Sp).

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Sun:

Inter Milan 2 Chelsea 1

WHAT a match! It didn't start, it exploded into action.

And it never faltered from start to finish.
It was billed the glamour clash of the last 16 and it lived up to the hype.
Even better - there's more of the same to come at Stamford Bridge next month.
Okay, Jose Mourinho's return to Chelsea was always going to be a special event but now it's going to be spectacular.
Esteban Cambiasso may have decided the first leg with a stunning strike but this was just the starter, the warm-up.
It's the return leg in London on March 16 that will be the real deal.
The night when Mourinho dumps his former club out of the Champions League - the competition that Blues' billionaire owner Roman Abramovich wants to win more than any other. Well that's what the Special One will believe.
But his former Chelsea boys and new boss Carlo Ancelotti will have other ideas - equally convinced they will be the ones marching into the quarter finals.
For now, though, it's Mourinho's Internazionale with the narrowest of advantages - but with Chelsea claiming a valuable away goal.
The night belonged to Inter, though, and Mourinho.
The ex-Blues boss certainly had Inter pumped up from the off and the home side charged into a third-minute lead.
Chelsea were still coming to terms with the thunderous noise inside the mighty San Siro stadium when Thiago Motta slid a neat ball into the feet of Samuel Eto'o.
The Cameroon star helped it on to strike partner Diego Milito, who checked back onto his right foot to fire Inter ahead.
Mourinho was as good as his word and refused to celebrate - standing impassive in the dug-out. But his team and fans went wild.
Chelsea were shaken but a 15th-minute block by Dejan Stankovic on Michael Ballack finally gave them an opportunity to respond.
And top scorer Didier Drogba hammered a brilliant free-kick against Julio Cesar's crossbar from fully 25 yards.
It was a key moment that went against the Blues but minutes later it was Inter howling for a penalty when Milito turned Ricardo Carvalho in the box.
The Portuguese unwisely flung out a leg behind him in a bid to prevent the break and that was an opportunity too inviting to resist.
Inter's striker saw the leg and promptly dived to the deck in a shameful attempt to con a penalty out of Spanish referee Manuel Gonzalez. Instead he earned himself a yellow.
But just after the half hour Inter carved the Blues open again.
Eto'o was allowed time and space just 12 yards out only to produce an embarrassing air-shot - to screams and whistles of derision from a dismayed San Siro crowd.
Chelsea responded as Kalou looped a header over and was then denied a blatant penalty when he was clattered from behind by Walter Samuel just before the interval.
But the Blues got back on level terms six minutes after the re-start.
A brilliant break from halfway by Branislav Ivanovic had Inter backing off.
He cut inside but seemed to have let the ball run away from him at the crucial moment.
But Ivanovic lunged to steer the ball back to Kalou, who calmly side-footed a low, curling right foot that Cesar should have done better with.
But Inter stormed back into the lead just four minutes later, Cambiasso the hero with a superb strike.
Wesley Sneijder's cross was headed clear by Carvalho and dropped for the lurking midfielder.
His first effort crashed against John Terry but the rebound flew straight back to Cambiasso, who powered a terrific volley into the far corner. It was a huge blow for Chelsea, compounded by the loss of Petr Cech soon afterwards, carried off with a calf injury.
Still the Londoners strived to wipe out the deficit, though.
Nicolas Anelka's cutback from the left looked ideal for Frank Lampard to convert but the midfielder did not connect cleanly - Chelsea's last chance of the night going begging.
Luckily they have got another chance back at the Bridge in three weeks time - and they will fancy themselves to go through.
Mind you, so will a certain somebody called Mourinho.

wolves 2-0

Sunday Times

Didier Drogba dominates as Chelsea go four points clear with a 2-0 victory over Wolves

Wolves 0 Chelsea 2

Paul Rowan

Didier Drogba, for long now the go-to player at Chelsea when the going gets tough, came up trumps again to allow his side to end a difficult week on a high and four points clear of Manchester United at the top of the Premier League.
Drogba had two chances in the game and struck the net twice, a goal in each half killing off the challenge of a Wolves side who had two chances themselves but found Petr Cech equal to both.
Carlo Ancelotti, the Chelsea coach who is pretty sanguine about the off-field controversies that have been besetting his players, will have been delighted with the response after the club’s top brass warned the players about their future conduct.
That was after the indiscretions of two of their England players, John Terry and Ashley Cole. Terry was back from his compassionate leave in Dubai, but Chelsea’s second in command, Frank Lampard, was missing with a virus, forcing Ancelotti to reshuffle his midfield. Florent Malouda came into a central position and Joe Cole was given his first start in four Premier League matches on the left.
Wolves had troubles of their own in midweek, getting a suspended fine from the Premier League for fielding a weakened team at Old Trafford, but if they thought they could exploit Chelsea’s difficulties of late, which appear to have contributed to their indifferent away form, then they were sorely disappointed. Wolves started brightly enough, with Kevin Doyle, Kevin Foley and Matt Jarvis all having half-chances as they pressed forward, but one poor cross from the left contributed to their undoing on 40 minutes.
Cech collected the ball comfortably and bowled it out to John Obi Mikel, who fed Michael Ballack. In a trice, Ballack had played a one-two with the left-back, Yuri Zhirkov, whose perfect low cross into the six-yard box was poked in by the sliding Drogba.
Terry, who was subjected to mild abuse from some Wolves fans, had a few nervy moments in the second half which might have allowed the home side back into the game. On 56 minutes he allowed a deep cross from Jarvis to loop over his head and Adlene Guedioura met the ball at the far post with a firm volley, producing an excellent save from Cech.
Far worse was his botched attempt at a clearance that presented Foley with a chance from close range, but Cech was off his line to smother the shot. Karl Henry appeared to slip as he attempted to slide the ball into an empty net and Terry was able to recover to clear.
Chelsea’s second was again started by Cech and this time the goalkeeper will have an assist to his name. The Wolves defence allowed his long clearance to bounce and Drogba then outmuscled Christophe Berra, pushing the bouncing ball forward and wide of Marcus Hahnemann in the Wolves goal before completing the move with a low shot into the net. Wolves coach Mick McCarthy said: “I’m annoyed. Somebody said, ‘Well done’ and I said, ‘B******ks’. We got beat and we shouldn’t have. We had the game by the scruff of the neck when they got their second goal. It was just a bad piece of defending.”
Ancelotti was able to report afterwards that Lampard, Alex and Ricardo Carvalho will all be available for the midweek Champions League game in Milan against Jose Mourinho’s Inter, at the end of a very pleasing day for the league favourites that started with Manchester United’s defeat at Everton. “We didn’t play particularly well but we showed good spirit and battled for every ball,” said Ancelotti. “The team showed great concentration. We prepared well and it was a very important game after the defeat of Manchester United.”

Wolves: Hahnemann 6, Zubar 6, Craddock 6, Berra 5, Ward 6, Foley 6 (Halford 77min), Henry 6, Jones 7 (Ebanks-Blake 77min), Guedioura 6, Jarvis 6 (Mujangi 77min) Doyle 7

Chelsea: Cech 8, Ferreira 6, Ivanovic 7, Terry 5, Zhirkov 7 (Bruma 56min, 6), Mikel 6, Anelka 6, Ballack 6, Malouda 6, J Cole 6, Drogba 8

Four Play

Chelsea continued their domination of Wolves yesterday. The 2-0 win was their fourth success in the four games the clubs have played in the Premier League. The London side have hit Wolves for 15 goals, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink leading the way with four of them, with just two conceded. Yesterday’s victory was the first time Chelsea had scored fewer than four goals in a Premier League game against the Midlands club. The Molineux side do, however, have the better record in all league matches between the sides, having won 37 to Chelsea’s 36.

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Observer:

Didier Drogba double against Wolves extends Chelsea's lead at the top

Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 Chelsea 2 Drogba 40, Drogba 67

Joe Lovejoy at Molineux

A win is a win, and nobody in the ­Chelsea camp was inclined to quibble over a result which extended their lead at the top of the Premier League to four points, but their performance was barely adequate and they will need to do a lot better when they renew old acquaintance with José Mourinho at San Siro on Wednesday.
Two more goals from Didier Drogba, taking his total for another season of ­pillage and plunder to 25, proved ­decisive, but relegation-threatened Wolves created more chances and would have had a point but for a couple of ­top-notch saves by Peter Cech.
John Terry was back from "compassionate leave" and it seems Ashley Cole may be needing some of the same. If all the tabloid titillation is to be believed, this was a case of the Wolves versus the rutting stags. Blue is the colour in more ways than one these days, and Terry and the injured Cole were both abused throughout with toilet "humour" that was fourth form at best. It is not only certain players who need to grow up.
Personal problems aside, this was a scoreline that might easily have been predicted. Promoted under Dave Jones seven years ago, Wolves enjoyed just one ­season in elite company before sinking back whence they came, and history could well be repeating itself for Mick McCarthy and his goal-shy strugglers.
Despite their moniker, the present Molineux pack are a toothless bunch, having scored just 10 goals in their 14 home games – seven of which have been lost. They drew encouragement from a 1-0 victory over Tottenham last time out, but that was their first win in seven league matches.
Their main difficulty is not hard to identify: they have conceded twice as many goals as they have scored. Kevin Doyle, the £6.5m record summer ­signing from Reading, is currently their most prolific finisher with a modest six goals in 23 league appearances.
Much was expected of Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, who scorched through the Championship with 25 goals last season, but the England Under-21 striker has been a ­significant disappointment, ­scoring only once in 17 appearances at the higher level. Drogba, with 19 goals in 22 league games, has scored only two fewer than the Wolves squad in total.
It's easy to be sniffy about it, but route one football does have its rewards. Chelsea were not exactly impressive against Wolves, but Didier Drogba's double settled the game in their favour. His second goal will not live long in the memory - a long punt from Chelsea's goalkeeper, Petr Cech, that bypassed the Wolves defence and allowed Drogba to settle the encounter after 67 minutes Chelsea may be top of the table by a healthy margin after Manchester ­United's defeat by Everton, but it has not been all hunky-dory at the Bridge of late – on or off the field.
Continued allegations of sexual impropriety by prominent players brought a warning from the owner, Roman Abramovich, and solicitors' letters to certain newspapers on Friday, while on the pitch they had dropped points in five of their previous six away matches.
In all, they have lost four away games, one of which was to Wigan – a result that should have given Wolves grounds for optimism. Ditto the absence of Frank Lampard, with a virus. Lampard was replaced by Joe Cole, making only his 10th start of the season in the league, and whose consequent rustiness is seriously undermining his prospects of selection for the World Cup.
Terry, too, must be a concern for Fabio Capello in this form. Stripped of the England captaincy for reasons that need no repetition here, he is playing as if distracted by the opprobrium that has been heaped upon him, and one attempted clearance, when he missed the ball entirely, would have ended in acute embarrassment but for Cech's face-saving intervention.
Wolves began brightly and "had the game by the scruff of the neck", as Mick McCarthy put it, for nearly the whole of a first half in which Doyle tested Cech from the edge of the D, and again from much closer in. The turning point came in the 40th minute, when the first demonstration of the class Chelsea had hidden under the Molineux bushel saw Yuri Zhirkov and Michael Ballack work a neat one-two to set up Drogba for his first, sliding in at the far post.
Wolves recovered so well that they might have been in front within 25 ­minutes. Instead, Cech distinguished himself with a reaction save to keep out Adlène Guedioura's close-range ­volley, then leapt to the rescue again when ­Terry's "air shot" let in Kevin Foley.
McCarthy was confident of a comeback draw at this stage, but midway through the second half Christophe Berra failed to cut out a long clearance from Cech and Drogba was allowed to run on and take the ball wide of Marcus ­Hahnemann before scoring left-footed, from 12 yards.
McCarthy was "really annoyed" by Berra's defensive lapse. "A poor piece of defending let them in and demoralised all of us so much that we might as well have come off there and then."


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Independent:

Room at the top but McCarthy rues Wolves' missed chances

Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 Chelsea 2

By Steve Tongue at Molineux

For a brief period in each half it looked as if Chelsea might stumble as badly as Manchester United had done earlier in the day on Merseyside. Wolves nudged and then pushed them, huffing and puffing all the while, but the leaders remained on their feet and once Didier Drogba scored his second goal midway through the second half they were able to stroll.
Celebrations at the finish to mark a four-point lead at the top of the table could even have been described as a London knees-up, except that no fewer than five players were missing with knee injuries, as well as Frank Lampard – a rare absentee – and Ashley Cole. So it was a demonstration of depth of squad, something that Wolves cannot hope to match in their first season back in the big league.
Chelsea were even able to rest Ricardo Carvalho, who should return against Internazionale on Wednesday, and bring back a man we must now refer to as a former England captain; John Terry's return after some quality time with the family in a Dubai swimming pool was greeted with much predictable ribaldry from the home crowd, to which he responded with a generally solid performance, twice clearing off the line.
Wolves supporters have to make their own entertainment, for their team are the League's lowest scorers at home. Kevin Doyle worked hard as a lone striker, but sitting opposite the Steve Bull Stand prompted thoughts of what Mick McCarthy would give for a scorer of Bull's quality – if he had the funds. The extra midfield personnel deployed behind Doyle did surprisingly well for over an hour against the seasoned internationals they were up against before class, as it tends to, began to tell.
McCarthy's satisfaction at the performance was diluted by his annoyance at the way that second goal was conceded to a goalkeeper's punt down the middle of the pitch. "We should have got something out of the game," he said. "Chelsea are the champions-elect and we've matched them. We let them off the hook. We were on top and gave them a goal to a really bad, bad piece of defending. It was dire and it demoralised us all so much."
It was true that while Petr Cech could reasonably claim the individual honours ahead of Drogba, Marcus Hahnemann in Wolves' goal had little to do other than pick the ball from his net twice; until half-time his team's efforts were far more threatening than the leaders'. Doyle's doughty run from the touchline to the far side of the penalty area before shooting at Cech typified their endeavour. He then set up Kevin Foley for a shot into the side-netting and saw Cech push his effort for a corner when Foley returned the compliment. Matt Jarvis had a low shot held and David Jones's free-kick did not quite swing sufficiently.
Amid all this, Michael Ballack's volley over the bar was the one uncomfortable moment, so it was all the more cruel that Chelsea should take the lead five minutes before half-time. In a move that flowed all the way from the back, Yuri Zhirkov was involved twice, swapping passes with Ballack and then crossing low to the far post, where Drogba forced himself ahead of Stephen Ward to jab in his 24th goal.
A 25th would follow, though not until after the home side's most convincing spell of the game, in which Adlene Guedioura, on loan from Charleroi, was denied by Cech's fine save and Terry redeemed himself following a miskick by hacking clear, after Cech did well again to beat out Foley's shot. Soon afterwards, more cruelty as Cech became goalmaker. His huge kick downfield caught out Christophe Berra and Drogba was able to run away from him and dribble round to decide the match.
Chelsea's manager, Carlo Ancelotti, confirmed that Lampard, Carvalho and Zhirkov should all be fit for the San Siro. "It will be a fantastic evening in Milan," he promised.

Attendance: 28,978
Referee: Kevin Friend
Man of the match: Cech
Match rating: 6/10

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Mail:

Wolves 0 Chelsea 2:

Deadly Didier Drogba hits double to give boss Carlo Ancelotti a timely lift
By Ian Ridley

Chelsea's players were reminded of what might delicately be called their off-field responsibilities in a midweek meeting commanded by owner Roman Abramovich.
After recent labours away from home, it looked as if they had been reminded equally forcefully of their roles on the pitch by Carlo Ancelotti.
Petr Cech at one end and Didier Drogba at the other were listening, even if skipper John Terry is still cocking a bit of a deaf 'un with his patchy form.
Goalkeeper Cech made some outstanding saves at crucial times, even rescuing his captain, while Drogba's two goals were equally opportune.
Chelsea visited Molineux having won just one of their previous six away games and for almost half the match, as they stuttered and struggled, it was easy to see why those games had yielded just six points - far from the form of champions.
But the excellent Drogba, with his 24th and 25th goals of the season, saved them from embarrassment as they profited from Manchester United's defeat at Everton to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League to four points.
Drogba's brace against an honest but wasteful Wolves was fitting reward for a potent display of leading the line and keeps the Ivory Coast man joint top-scorer in the English game with Wayne Rooney on 25 goals, although the United striker has 21 in the league, compared to Drogba's 19.
'This was an important week,' said Ancelotti, who must have seen victory as a morale-booster ahead of Wednesday's Champions League game in Italy against Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan.
'We wanted to improve our away performances and we stayed in focus. We battled for every ball and we deserved to win.
'We knew that Manchester United had lost and it was an important factor. We have improved our position but we have to pay attention because there are still a lot of games and nothing is decided.'
It was Wolves' fourth consecutive defeat to Chelsea but they were not the soft touch of the previous three meetings that had seen them concede 14 goals. Neither were Chelsea the free-flowing force of those encounters.
Chelsea missed the drive of Frank Lampard, absent with a virus, which meant another start for Joe Cole. He flitted between the left and the attacking point of a midfield diamond, but Chelsea frequently lacked creativity.
Terry continued the error-prone ways he showed in the Everton defeat before his jaunt to Dubai to repair his marriage. Perhaps the taunts from home fans hurt and affect him.
While Wolves were settled, manager Mick McCarthy retaining the side that beat Tottenham last time out, Terry was unsettled by Kevin Doyle buzzing alone up front to great effect. He forced Cech into a save with a shot from the edge of the area and then brought out a good stop from the keeper with another drive.
Chelsea finally assembled a decent passing move five minutes before half time. Yuri Zhirkov, making the left-back position his own in the absence of Ashley Cole, played a neat one-two with Michael Ballack before sending a low cross across the face of goal to give Drogba the simple task of sliding the ball home at the far post.
It was typical of Chelsea, of the Premier League's more talented teams. They had played only moderately but struck in one incisive moment.
Wolves are in the image of the stubborn McCarthy, however, and they might have had an equaliser soon after the restart. Matt Jarvis's deep cross dropped to Adlene Guedioura but he volleyed straight at Cech.
Chelsea were soon indebted to the Czech again. Terry missed a kick horribly and Kevin Foley stole in front of Paulo Ferreira to get in a shot that Cech beat out, but Guedioura was unable to turn in the rebound.
Chelsea promptly added a second, this time via route one to bypass the bobbly surface. From Cech's long punt, Drogba held off Christophe Berra and rounded Marcus Hahnemann before tucking the ball home.
'I'm really annoyed,' said McCarthy. 'We had the game by the scruff of the neck. Cech made two great saves and they were trying to take the sting out of the game. Then we gave them a goal with bad defending.'
He made a triple substitution but the game was gone, Chelsea content to see it out. For a side with so many issues and not playing especially well, they are holding it together remarkably.


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NOTW:

CECH'S GENIUS CAPS IT ALL FOR CARLO

Wolves 0 Chelsea 2

By Andy Dunn

THEY went to celebrate with the man in a skull cap, not the man who had just put clear blue water between his team and their challengers.
They went to the man who needed gloves for work, not the man who wore a pair just to keep warm. They went to Petr Cech - not Didier Drogba.
Because they knew. Not just that his arrowed clearance had set up Drogba's 25th goal of the season.
Not just that his save from Kevin Foley minutes earlier had been like a blow to Wolves' windpipe.
They knew Cech was back. Back to his world-class best.
And Carlo Ancelotti's men know what that means as they arc around the final bend and straighten up for home.
Cech will argue that he has never been away. But that's what a bang on the head can do. Plays games with the memory.
This was the Cech who made a sure-footed entrance to the Premier League almost six years ago. A man who would be the prototype if you were constructing a keeper from scratch.
The importance of the role is blindingly obvious. To all bar Arsene Wenger.
And Cech is re-establishing himself as the best among the elite.
With Ashley Cole resting his broken ankle and John Terry cutting a bemused figure, Cech could be the guy with Chelsea's title fortunes in his hands. And right now, they are safe.
Cech's handling was confident, his distribution prompt and intelligent. He made two outstanding stops to preserve a lead earned - inevitably - by Drogba.
And to spare embarrassment for a man who doesn't blush easily.
Not wanting to draw attention to himself, a sun- kissed Terry appears to be nurturing a Mohican haircut.
Say what you like about the deposed England captain but he does defiance better than most.
With Kevin Doyle operating as a lone wolf, this was never going to be an overly-rigorous transition from poolside to Premier League for Terry. But there was still a string of worrying signals for Chelsea and for England.
Terry is a player who defends on his toes - yesterday, he was caught too often on his heels.
Such as when Matt Jarvis looped over a cross that was met by Adlene Guedioura. Cech repelled as thunderous a volley as you are likely to see.
There is no doubt that the remainder of the season - and the summer in South Africa - will be a stringent test of character. And hopefully, he will get the airshots out of the way now.
A scissor-kick that never looked like making a connection should have given Wolves parity in the second half but Cech was sprinter-quick to deny Foley and Terry had managed to scramble back to collect a lame Guedioura follow-up.
The taunting of Terry at Molineux was more pantomime than vicious - and a barometer for the state of the game.
When supporters start amusing themselves within half an hour, you know proceedings are pretty dull.
For a good half an hour, Chelsea's creative juices were wrung out by Wolves' work ethic.
But the sheer effort of creating pressure appeared to take its toll on their composure.
With their first move worthy of note, Chelsea eased ahead. Yury Zhirkov has already hinted at being an extremely capable replacement for Ashley Cole and provided the inspiration.
But it was the cushioned pass from Michael Ballack that was the key to Drogba's 24th goal of the season.
It was a pass that almost insisted Zhirkov serve up a certainty for Drogba. And he did.
Some might say it was harsh. It wasn't. It was just maximum reward for one moment of class. And it proved to be a rare moment, indeed.
The fluency of mid-season has vanished. This will be a title won by willpower.
A pimply pitch did not help but that was still no explanation for Joe Cole's singular lack of influence.
He appeared to be handed his favourite position, just behind the front two, but one sumptuous ball to Nicolas Anelka apart, he wandered as though in a fog of confusion.
Cole will need rapid improvement to re-enter Fabio Capello's thoughts.
Terry will always be at the forefront of Capello's mind but his uncertainty was an avenue back into the game for Wolves.
They rightly received warm applause for their endeavours but had Doyle enjoyed the benefit of a strike partner, they might have been capable of causing an upset.
That was still on the agenda until Cech followed up his two wonderful blocks by drop-kicking over the head of a distracted Christophe Berra, sending Drogba in for a confrontation with Marcus Hahnemann.
Drogba won it emphatically to close to within two of Wolves' TOTAL league goals.
Just as pleasing for boss Ancelotti must have been that his match-winner hardly needed to put in the most tiring shift ahead of Wednesday's date with Jose Mourinho.
On the downside, Zhirkov's calf tightened up but Ancelotti reckons he will be fit to face Inter.
Chelsea will need him. Until Terry rediscovers his pre-scandal pre-eminence, this team will be vulnerable.
Fortunately for them, the man with the skull cap is back to being head and shoulders above the rest.

---------------------------------------------------

Telegraph:

Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 Chelsea 2
By Sandy Macaskill at Molineux

Two attempts on target, two goals from Didier Drogba, it was a case of minimum input for maximum reward at Molineux, and one which afforded Chelsea some breathing space at the top of the table, now four points clear of Manchester United. They could not have been anymore businesslike.
But of course, after Tiger Woods’ 'mea culpa' on Friday turned everyone into amateur psychologists, the real interest here was not whether Chelsea would increase their lead over United, but on what effect a week spent endeavouring to repair his marriage in Dubai has had on John Terry.
Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti tells players to 'protect club's image' So what to take from his gaffe in the second half?
Attempting a volleyed clearance in his own box, the centre-back muffed it in fine style, leaving Kevin Foley clean through. Wolverhampton Wanderers were unfortunate that Petr Cech provided a super save, and by the time Adlene Guedioura had latched onto the rebound Terry was back, his mind reordered, to clear off the line. But it was chink in the armour, nevertheless, and one which gave the Molineux crowd an excuse renew their vocal expression of schadenfreude.
Not that there had been much else to occupy their time. Someone had clearly filled the football with helium for the first half, for nearly all of the shots – Michael Ballack’s and Stephen Ward’s the most notable for their potential to cause damage but their inability to do so – sailed innocently over the respective cross-bars.
Kevin Doyle gave the home crowd an opportunity to leave off Terry, for a while, with two shots which tested Cech, particularly a fizzing drive to the near post, but the goalkeeper swatted it aside, just as he did a first time volley from Guedioura five minutes into the second half. So much for the Czech being a fading force.
It was only a matter of time before Chelsea struck, it appearing almost effortless when they did. Yuri Zhirkov slid the sort of simple ball across the goal-line that Drogba, arriving at the far post, could not fail to convert, and the second was even more economical. Cech found Drogba with long kick from his own box, and the striker took a touch and rounded Marcus Hahnemann. Job done.

cardiff 4-1

Sunday Times

Didier Drogba kick-starts Chelsea to victory
Chelsea 4 Cardiff 1
Jonathan Northcroft

OF ONE Cole, too much is exposed. Of another, not enough is being seen. Nude footage of Ashley Cole was sent to the phone of a glamour model and he is unable to explain how it got there but another mystery at Chelsea is: what is happening with Joe Cole?
Since he returned from a knee injury in September, Cole’s form has been bland and rivals for the attacking slot in Carlo Ancelotti’s midfield diamond — Florent Malouda and Deco — have experienced renaissances. Here, given only his 16th start of the season, Cole was deemed such a liability he was replaced at half-time.
Among Cole’s low points was the moment when he came at Peter Whittingham, performing step-overs with an overeagerness that made him resemble a comedian doing an absurd Cristiano Ronaldo pastiche. Whittingham, almost wearily, relieved Cole of the ball. It was 1-1 at half-time and without Cole, Chelsea won the second half 3-0. Cole’s travails are not only ill-timed from an England point of view but for his own sake: his contract expires in June and talks on a new deal have stalled. AC Milan are said to be interested but their rivals, Internazionale, will be sanguine if, in this form, Cole is given any game time at the San Siro on Wednesday week.
Ray Wilkins, Ancelotti’s assistant, confirmed Cole’s substitution was “a tactical thing”. He tried to put a gloss on it. “When you’ve had as long a layoff as Joe did it takes time to get into tip-top form. Joe will get there. I’m not worried and not surprised,” Wilkins said.
Yesterday was less of a struggle for Cole’s colleagues. Cardiff were competitive, feisty in the tackle, disciplined in their shape, and not afraid to commit themselves. “I wanted to come here and have a go,” said Dave Jones, their manager. His captain, Jay Bothroyd, led his line staunchly despite — like midfielder Gavin Rae — requiring an injection to play. His other striker, Michael Chopra, scored a trademark close-range goal to equalise a strike after just 116 seconds from the indomitable Didier Drogba. But overall, the cup holders were capable of a different level of performance to their challengers from the Championship and Ancelotti’s diamond was dominant. Michael Ballack scored at the start of the second period, Salomon Kalou at the end and in the middle came a goal from Daniel Sturridge, the youngster’s fourth in three FA Cup games.
Initially it seemed the tie might be decided on the basis of which team’s defensive failings would be exposed most. Chelsea’s vulnerability to the crossed ball was evident when, after 34 minutes, Chris Burke centred and Chopra stole away from Alex to glance a header past Hilario. Alex had already had to clear off the line from Rae and a free kick, delivered by what Wilkins called Whittingham’s “Premiership left foot” saw Anthony Gerrard shake off markers to threaten with a header. From the corner, Chelsea were in disarray again and Chopra almost scored.
Cardiff’s bad defending proved costlier, however. “I don’t know why we try to play offside, haven’t got a clue,” Jones moaned, making it clear his back four’s lame attempts to catch out Drogba were not his idea. The first time Cardiff were caught, Drogba ran on to Jon Obi Mikel’s pass and volleyed past David Marshall. The second occasion led to Ballack’s goal from Drogba’s pass.
Drogba was also involved when Sturridge scored, sucking in two defenders and muscling the ball back in Sturridge’s direction when his partner played a give-and-go before nutmegging Marshall. Kalou’s goal was a fine header from 12 yards.
Wilkins said John Terry would return to training early this week, having flown to Dubai to patch up his marriage. In the programme Terry thanked Chelsea fans for supporting him “after everything that had happened over the previous weeks” and apologised for being at fault for both Everton’s goals in Chelsea’s defeat. “I’m big enough to admit responsibility,” Terry wrote. He is central to Chelsea and England: Cole has drifted towards the margins.

Chelsea: Hilario 6, Ferreira 7, Alex 6, Carvalho 6, Zhirkov 6, Ballack 7, Mikel 7, Lampard, J Cole 5 (Kalou h-t, 6), Drogba 8, Sturridge 7

Cardiff: Marshall 6, McNaughton 6, Gerrard 7, Gyepes 7, Kennedy 5, Burke 6 (McCormack 78min), Rae 5 (Blake 74min), Wildig 5 (Taiwo 90min), Whittingham 5, Chopra 6, Bothroyd 6

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Telegraph:
Chelsea 4 Cardiff City 1
Gerry Cox at Stamford Bridge

If proof were needed of the gulf in circumstances between these two sides, you only had to look at the banners and the fans in the stands during this FA Cup fifth-round clash.
While the noisy Cardiff City contingent that occupied the Shed End draped a flag proclaiming "Pontycymer Bluebirds", the silent suits in the million-pound boxes adjoining Roman Abramovich's had their own emblem - "Bermuda Blues".
But the 'Haves' did not have it all their own way against the 'Have-Nots', whatever the scoreline might suggest. Although it looked ultimately like a comfortable victory for Chelsea against a club who were almost bankrupted last week, Cardiff showed no paucity of grit or effort and for the best part of an hour threatened to upset the cup-holders.
Runners-up two years ago, almost wound up a week ago, Cardiff were up against it from the start, with key players out injured or playing with pain-killing injections. And when they fell a goal behind in the second minute, it looked like humiliation might ensue. But it did not, as Cardiff equalised through Michael Chopra and were unlucky not to go in ahead at half-time, which spoke volumes about the spirit in the side.
But it would be folly to think that Dave Jones' men have nothing but determination in their locker. The played some neat football and the deliveries brought about by the sweet left foot of Peter Whittingham ensured that Chelsea's back line, missing John Terry and Ashley Cole, were unsettled more than once as they attempted to extend a seven-year unbeaten run at home in this competition.
Michael Ballack's goal soon after half-time put Chelsea back in front, but it was not until the final quarter of the game that they eventually looked comfortable, with Daniel Sturridge scoring his fourth goal in the competition this season and Saloman Kalou adding a late fourth.
"Cardiff worked their socks off and made it hard for us," said Ray Wilkins, Carlo Ancelotti's assistant. "For an hour they gave us a tough old game, but we upped the tempo after and came through. But Dave's a good guy and you could see his players were playing for him."
Jones was not too downhearted. "It was a great achievement from my lads, who were absolutely magnificent. It was hard on them because the scoreline looks like a drubbing, but for over an hour we gave a good account of ourselves.
"In the end it was that little bit of quality - well, quite a lot of quality - from Chelsea that made the difference. Hopefully we will learn from it. You certainly don't come to a place like this, play like that and be downhearted."
Yet it would have been surprising if Cardiff had accepted their fate and caved in once Drogba scored his 23rd goal of the season, running on to John Obi Mikel's through pass in the second minute and slotting the ball past goalkeeper David Marshall.
But Cardff took the game to Chelsea. Defender Anthony Gerrard had a powerful header tipped away spectacularly by Hilario, replacing Petr Cech in goal, and from the resulting corner, Chopra should have done better than to put his header over the bar from close range.
Whittingham had a long shot deflected away before Chopra equalised for Cardiff, getting a diving header at the near post to convert Chris Burke's cross from the left in the 33rd minute.
At this stage, Chelsea were stuggling to find the target, with Ballack, Frank Lampard and Sturridge all shooting wide.
But five minutes into the second half, Drogba sent Ballack clear of the offside trap and the German placed the ball calmly past Marshall.
Still Cardiff refused to lie down, although they were pegged back in their own half and relying on quick breaks with balls to Chopra and Jay Bothroyd, who was clearly less than fully fit.
Sturridge finally added a third in the 69th minute after exchanging passes with Drogba and slipping the ball between Marshall's legs from close range.
And when Kalou headed high into the far corner from Paulo Ferreira's cross five minutes from the end it was all over. Cardiff were beaten - but not down.


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Observer:

Didier Drogba's brilliance helps Chelsea cruise past Cardiff City
Chelsea 4 : Drogba 2, Ballack 51, Sturridge 69, Kalou 86
Cardiff City 1 : Chopra 34

Amy Lawrence at Stamford Bridge

Not so long ago, Didier Drogba was the cartoon villain of Stamford Bridge. For anyone not of a Chelsea persuasion, the Ivory Coast striker's penchant for ­theatrics, for a strop, made him difficult to warm to. Now, certainly in the context of some of his less wholesome team-mates, he is nothing but admirable.
On the pitch, Drogba continues to deliver performances that defenders simply cannot contain. He was imperious here; scoring one, assisting two, and causing Cardiff an incurable headache.
He gave Chelsea the perfect start. It took 113 seconds, as Drogba advanced beyond a startled Cardiff defence to latch on to John Obi Mikel's ball over the top and, without breaking stride, lashed a volley beyond David Marshall. His 23rd goal of the season equalled Wayne Rooney's total in all competitions. Some race that is turning out to be.
The Cardiff manager, Dave Jones, did not have to be a tactical genius to ­recognise a way back was always ­possible via Chelsea's weak spot – the high ball. Anthony Gerrard and Michael ­Chopra had chances with headers before the contest tilted on its axis in the 33rd minute. Chris Burke jinked inside Yuri Zhirkov and delivered an arcing cross into the heart of the penalty area. Alex was caught daydreaming, for he stopped inexplicably, allowing Chopra the freedom to glance the equaliser past Hilario.
Frankly, the Brazilian defender may as well have been in Dubai for all the ­influence he had on the goal. It was no less than Cardiff deserved for a gutsy recovery from a dispiriting start.
Chelsea were able to call upon two internationals – Alex and Zhirkov – to cover for the absences of John Terry and Ashley Cole, but the two understudies were caught for the equaliser. It is not proving to be the happiest spell for ­England players from these parts. Another on Fabio Capello's radar, Joe Cole, has a struggle of his own as he endeavours to work his way back into form and favour. He was withdrawn at half-time after an ineffective display.
On Terry's part, he took a few moments before jetting off to thank the fans for their support in his programme notes, before holding his hands up about his part in the defeat at Everton, ­writing: "On a personal note, both ­Everton goals were my fault. I'm big enough to take ­responsibility for that." Taking ­responsibility for one's actions would not appear to be his specialist subject. Those queasy tabloid photographs of him canoodling by the swimming pool are not everyone's idea of contrition, but the result ensured he got away with it.
Jones was proud of his team's performance for an hour but conceded it was too much once Chelsea found their stride. "We got undone by the quality that came through for them," he said.
Chelsea recovered their lead five minutes into the second half. Salomon Kalou made an impression with a lay-off to Drogba, who hooked a superb pass through the Cardiff defence. Michael Ballack flicked past Marshall with steady composure.
The Drogba threat set up the third. As three Cardiff players were drawn towards the Chelsea hitman, the ball ­ricocheted to Daniel Sturridge, who was on hand to poke in his fourth FA Cup goal of the season. Then Kalou gave the scoreline some gloss with a fabulous header from Paulo Ferreira's whipped cross.
Drogba went on a mazy run late on and got his legs tangled. He tumbled to the floor, but there was not the slightest hint of an appeal or complaint. He really is the man of virtue for Chelsea.

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Independent:

Cole humiliated as Drogba routs Cardiff

Chelsea 4 Cardiff City 1:Half-time substitution hits midfielder's World Cup prospects but Ivorian's power carries Chelsea into quarter-finals
By Mark Fleming at Stamford Bridge

Being substituted at half-time is always a humbling experience for any player. But when you are an established England international, and your star-studded team is struggling against opposition from the division below, then the embarrassment is all the more acute.
Carlo Ancelotti, the Chelsea manager, showed little mercy to Joe Cole when he replaced him with Salomon Kalou here yesterday. It was a bold decision but one that was fully supported by the evidence of the first 45 minutes, as Cole was awful. Although it came as a surprise, it was not a shock. His old manager Jose Mourinho would probably have hooked him after 20 minutes. Not the kind of thing to impress England coach Fabio Capello with the World Cup less than four months away.
Cole joined Ashley Cole and John Terry in a trio of England players missing, for varying reasons. Terry was in Dubai busy saying sorry to wife Toni for his infidelities. And he left behind him a message in the match day programme that contained two further apologies, for messing up for both goals in the midweek defeat at Everton, and for failing to acknowledge the Chelsea supporters at Goodison Park on Wednesday.
Terry wrote: "Both Everton goals were my fault. I'm big enough to take responsibility for that. Also, speaking to the lads afterwards, I know no one went over to our fans so, on behalf of everyone there, I apologise."
The message from his manager was very much, "Wish you were here." With Terry missing, along with Ashley Cole who will be absent for three months with a broken ankle, the Chelsea rearguard looked confused and hesitant in the first half. Terry was poor against Everton but his return to the club this week will certainly be a welcome one for Ancelotti.
In the absence of the captain, Didier Drogba rose to take up the role of team leader, even though it was Frank Lampard who wore the armband. Chelsea went ahead in only the second minute of the game, when John Obi Mikel played in Drogba and the Ivorian finished emphatically for his 23rd goal of the season. However, Cardiff rallied with bags of character and no little skill, and thoroughly deserved their equaliser.
Their goal, in the 34th minute, was the one occasion the Championship side were able to capitalise on the frailties at the heart of the Chelsea defence. The Cardiff winger Chris Burke delivered an impeccable ball between the Chelsea centre-backs and Michael Chopra made the most of the space afforded him by scoring with a stooping header. The 5,800 visiting fans massed in to the Shed Stand made the most of the moment.
Ancelotti responded during the break by replacing Cole with Kalou, and the impact was immediate. Chelsea's assistant manager, Ray Wilkins, afterwards described the decision as "tactical". "Joe was not injured," Wilkins said. "We have a squad full of quality and the manager will change this as he sees fit. When you have had a long lay-off with injury like Joe has it can be a shock to the system and it can take time to get back to top form."
The substitution, coupled with a few strong words from Ancelotti, turned the match in the FA Cup holders' favour. Drogba caused the Cardiff defence to have a collective panic attack every time he touched the ball, and not without reason. In the second half he stamped his authority on the game. It was his superb ball that set up Chelsea's second goal, for the excellent Michael Ballack who scored with typical assurance.
Drogba also made space for Daniel Sturridge to add a third goal on 69 minutes as Chelsea began to take a grip on the game, and Kalou rounded things off with a wonderful header into the top corner from a deep cross by Paulo Ferreira.
Dave Jones, the Cardiff manager, bemoaned the injustice of the scoreline. "It looks like it was a bit of a drubbing but it was far from that," he said. "We decided to come here and have a go, and we have worked our socks off. I thought it gave us a lot of credit when he [Ancelotti] brought on his big guns."

Attendance: 40,827
Referee: Andre Marriner
Man of the match: Drogba
Match rating: 7/10

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Mail:

Chelsea 4 Cardiff 1: Tough on City as Drogba tweaks the dragon's tail
By Ian Ridley

Exit the captain, enter a leader. John Terry decamped to Dubai to patch up his personal life and Frank Lampard led out Chelsea, but it was a towering performance from Didier Drogba that directed the FA Cup holders' march towards the arch of Wembley again.
Drogba, back from the Africa Cup of Nations with a double against Arsenal last weekend, scored his 23rd goal of the season to draw level with Wayne Rooney as the leading scorers in the English game.
As well as scoring and assisting in goals, he exuded an exemplary attitude and approach as the Blues ultimately overcame the Bluebirds for a seventh consecutive home win.
Injury-hit Cardiff had their moments, notably in equalising the Ivorian's goal through Michael Chopra before half-time, but the Premier League leaders' quality prevailed in the second half with goals by Michael Ballack, Daniel Sturridge - maintaining his record of scoring in every round - and Salomon Kalou.
'Cardiff worked their socks off and gave us a lot of problems in the first half,' said Chelsea assistant manager Ray Wilkins, standing in for Carlo Ancelotti, who may not have wanted to endure questions about replacing the misfiring Joe Cole at half-time.
'But we upped the tempo in the second half and in the end it was comfortable. I thought the professionalism of Didier and Michael shone through and I would add Frank to that. They took it by the throat.' He dismissed talk of Cole's poor form, a worry for England manager Fabio Capello to add to the injury to Chelsea left-back Ashley Cole.
'After such a long lay-off, it's going to be a shock to Joe's system and it takes time to reach tip-top form,' said Wilkins. 'But he's working hard and we don't see any problems.'
Cardiff manager Dave Jones, who led his side to the final two years ago, was philosophical, his priority now promotion from the Championship with the next instalment at home to West Brom on Tuesday.
'It was hard on my team,' he said. 'The scoreline looks like a drubbing but we gave a good account of ourselves. We wanted to come here and have a go rather than shut up shop.'
His side got off to the worst possible start, conceding a goal in just one minute 50 seconds. For Chelsea, it was too easy. John Obi Mikel curled a ball forward into the inside right channel when Drogba's run went unchecked, with the Cardiff defence static. He simply strode on and buried the ball past David Marshall. The dragon's tail had been tweaked.
What would be the response? Surprisingly good. While Chelsea's supporters settled down for an afternoon of exhibition football and a goal glut, Cardiff had other ideas.
Chelsea looked especially vulnerable in the air early on. With Terry in the side at Everton in midweek they had looked dodgy. Without him they looked dodgier still.
Gabor Gyepes got in a header that was kicked away. Peter Whittingham's free-kick was met by Anthony Gerrard and Henrique Hilario had to make a flying save.
Then came the equaliser, Chelsea again found wanting in the air. Chris Burke sent in a cross from the left and Chopra escaped the labouring Alex and Ricardo Carvalho to glance home a header. It all left Lampard shaking his head at half-time. Having readjusted, with Cole - for all Wilkins' words, clearly not an Ancelotti favourite - replaced by Kalou for the second half, Chelsea quickly regained the lead. Drogba fed a ball inside Mark Kennedy and Ballack ran on to fire past Marshall.
Soon, Chelsea had all but sealed the game. Sturridge played a ball in to Drogba, the ball breaking off a defender back to Sturridge, who shot low through Marshall.
Kevin McNaughton curled a shot just wide as Cardiff made one last rally but Chelsea gilded their lily when Kalou was left alone on the penalty spot for a firm header home from Paulo Ferreira's cross.

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NOTW:
ANCELOTTI GIVES JOE THE COLE SHOULDER
Chelsea 4 Cardiff 1
Neil Ashton

THEY could easily come up with a cover story, hoodwinking the hordes and claiming injury after hooking Joe Cole at half-time.
"No, no - it was purely tactical," declared Chelsea's assistant manager Ray Wilkins, code in anybody's book for carrying the can.
Little wonder the little diamond left Stamford Bridge in a huff, a face like thunder after Chelsea flooded forward and cuffed Cardiff aside.
It was 1-1 when Carlo Ancelotti traded Cole for Salomon Kalou, a clean break after a disappointing spell out on the left of Chelsea's three-pronged strike-force.
He is the player Ancelotti simply cannot fathom, a free spirit but one he cannot find a place for in his first-choice team.
Time is running out for the midfielder, unsettled under Chelsea's Italian manager and fearing for his spot in Fabio Capello's World Cup party.
Little wonder after the post-match assessment of Ancelotti's assistant, left in little doubt that his career at Chelsea really is in danger.
There is anxiety over a new contract off the field and also the fear he will be the fall-guy whenever he is selected to start.
Four years ago, he scored the goal of the tournament against Sweden at the 2006 World Cup and yet his hopes of appearing in South Africa fade with every substitution.
He has been replaced nine times since he made his comeback against QPR in the Carling Cup last September, applauding supporters as he made his way towards the tunnel.
He didn't even get the chance against Cardiff, brutally brushed to one side by Ancelotti the moment they arrived in the changing rooms at half-time.
Cole did not re-emerge and yet a new-look Chelsea did, the first name in the perspex bowl for today's quarter-final draw.
They are on the charge again, eyeing up another trip to Wembley with another convincing victory.
The draws have been kind, with Watford, Preston North End and Cardiff the functional opponents standing in the way of progress.
Chelsea have a grip on this competition, the first winners at the new Wembley Stadium when Didier Drogba's goal in extra-time clinched victory over Manchester United in 2007.
The Chelsea striker is in ominous mood, almost rhythmic as he latched on to John Obi Mikel's through ball to score in the second minute.
He laid on two more after the break for Michael Ballack and Daniel Sturridge, underlining his importance to this team with an action-packed performance.
He has bagged 23 goals already this term and his clipped effort against Cardiff gave him the full set of Premier League (17), Champions League (3), Carling Cup (2) and FA Cup (1).
There will be many more to come as the Blues chase the game's top honours, feeding off his infectious enthusiasm.
Dare it be said he is a changed man, fully focused and in the frame to succeed Ryan Giggs as the PFA Player of the Year.
The personal awards can wait a little longer, with glory instead of gratification the motivation for the Chelsea striker.
"It says everything about their professionalism, the likes of Didier Drogba, Michael Ballack and I'd put Frank Lampard in there too, that they turn in these performances," added Wilkins.
"They don't mind who the opponents are, they just want to win every game they play in. That's their mindset."
There is no other way for Chelsea's players, expected to record a run of victories that will power them towards glory in three competitions.
The FA Cup has opened up for them, favourites to win the competition after the unexpected exits of Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal.
Despite being pegged back when Michael Chopra's header beat Hilario at the near post, it simply acted as a minor stumbling block.
For Cardiff's supporters, all 5,800 of them stationed in The Shed, it gave them to chance to dream.
They were at the centre of the biggest security operation in football for 15 years, closely monitored by police as they travelled in numbers to the capital.
Helicopters buzzed Fulham Broadway and yet most behaved impeccably, drowning out Chelsea's supporters with roars of approval for their gritty, Welsh dragons.
Two years ago, they were in the final themselves, beaten by Kanu's goal for Portsmouth.
This time it was about pride and a pay-day, using the cash from their run to help pay their crippling £30million debts.
Ancelotti is in credit after this, changing the game with a telling substitution that turned the tie back in Chelsea's favour.
Within six minutes of the restart, they were ahead, with Ballack reading Drogba's pass and guiding a left-foot strike beyond David Marshall.
Cardiff could not respond, despite the excellent performances of right-back Kevin McNaughton and 17-year-old Aaron Wildig.
They represent the future of the debt-ridden club, sacrificial lambs in the summer when the creditors come calling.
Both impressed and yet they were over-run, unable to contain the world-renowned names all over the field.
Drogba set up Chelsea's third for the willing legs of Sturridge, continuing his record of scoring in every round.
He deserved his strike, a left-foot effort beyond Marshall that marked an energetic performance in only his fifth start since his move from Manchester City.
There was still time for another, with Kalou rounding off the best move of the match to convert Paulo Ferreira's cross.
By then Cole was already showered and changed, on the periphery as Chelsea power their way into the season's final phase.
After seven years at the club he feels he has nothing to prove, scoring 38 times in 268 appearances for the Blues under a succession of managers.
He may be right and yet Ancelotti's darkest secret is finally out of the bag.
After 16 starts under the Italian and nine substitute appearances, he simply doesn't fancy him.