napoli 1-3

Independent:
Lavezzi's brilliance beguiles ChelseaNapoli 3 Chelsea 1
SAM WALLACE STADIO SAN PAOLO

As Andre Villas-Boas will know, for all managers, there is a very fine line between tactical genius and a reckless failure and last night was one of those occasions when he will have known from the moment he submitted his team-sheet to the Uefa official that it could go either way.
Leaving Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole and Michael Essien out of the team in a game that could well define Chelsea's season will be regarded by some as the equivalent of handing in an 11-line suicide note. But it can also be seen as the moment that he asserted his authority over the old regime of Chelsea and told them that, however great the need, he will not simply slip back into the old ways as he tries to forge a new future.
Even if this proves to the decision that causes owner Roman Abramovich finally to run out of patience, at least Villas-Boas can console himself that he stuck to his own principles, whatever the cost. His team have left themselves with a mountainous task to overturn a two-goal deficit against this Napoli team in the return leg on 14 March and their manager has not made life any easier for himself.
Afterwards, Villas-Boas as good as admitted that Lampard and Cole both challenged him over his selection decision at the team hotel yesterday. There is a rift here with the Chelsea old guard that seems beyond repair and that is even before you factor in the operation that John Terry undergoes today. Without him the defence looks vulnerable like never before, something that even Villas-Boas was not about to disagree with.
See Naples and die, they say. It is supposed to be read as an invitation to witness the glories of the old port city at least once in a lifetime but when you have witnessed Ezequiel Lavezzi and Edinson Cavani shred a visiting defence it takes on a whole new meaning.
As patchy as Napoli were in defence they have an attack that could do damage to any side in the Champions League and against Chelsea, who have now gone five games without a victory, they were always likely to cause problems. Gary Cahill made just his third appearance for Chelsea and David Luiz once again played with the casual nature of a man who has just stepped off the beach.
Chelsea have now taken the lead in all four of their Champions League away games this season and failed to win any of them. Their defence was in pieces last night even with Cole on the pitch from the 12th minute when Jose Bosingwa pulled up with a hamstring injury and had to come off.
Instead of Lampard and Essien, Villas-Boas picked Raul Meireles and Ramires. His thinking, he later explained, was that he could use two defensive midfielders to screen his back four but he accepted that, having lost, he was on a hiding to nothing. "Whatever explanation I give you, in the end it would be a fantastic explanation if we'd won the game," he said. "Any explanation is now useless given the result of the game, so there's no point."
It was, given the stage of the competition and what was at stake, a game that was remarkably open from the very start and there were times when Chelsea were clinging on from an early stage. They needed Petr Cech to rescue them on a couple of occasions early in the first half.
Within 10 minutes, Cech had made the first of two big saves of the half when he blocked Cavani's shot. His second good stop was from Christian Maggio, played in by the excellent Lavezzi. Chelsea were fortunate that for all their defensive mistakes, the Italians were just as uncertain at times at the back.
One such occasion gave Chelsea their goal. Didier Drogba won possession and found Daniel Sturridge on the right. His relatively harmless cross was sliced by Paolo Cannavaro and, when it dropped, it fell straight to Juan Mata, who was able to beat goalkeeper Morgan De Sanctis from relatively close range.
Napoli's goals came late in the half but they were a signal of the kind of havoc this team can wreak when given space around the area. The first began with Cavani, who beat Meireles, and fed a short ball to Lavezzi. Cahill was simply not close enough to him and he shaped his shot away from Cech and into the far corner.
Before the second Napoli goal, Ramires wasted a great chance for Chelsea's second. Then Cannavaro surged forward with the ball in the 44th minute and from out on the right side Gökhan Inler hit a cross to the back post. Chelsea's defence had permitted Cavani to run through it and he met the ball at the back post just ahead of Branislav Ivanovic with what appeared to be his shoulder to beat Cech.
There was more possession for Chelsea in the opening stages of the second half and had Salvatore Aronica not got a foot in on Drogba when he slipped behind the Napoli defence just before the hour then they might have sneaked another goal. The problem for Villas-Boas was that every time Napoli got the ball forward they looked as if they might score.
That was largely because of the devastating attacking unit of Lavezzi, Cavani and Marek Hamsik but also the utter lack of confidence in the Chelsea defence. Luiz was found badly wanting for the third goal. From Hugo Campagnaro's clearance he allowed Cavani to get past him and cut the ball back to Lavezzi who swept it in from close range.
Villas-Boas sent on Lampard and Essien and while Chelsea had some moments they never created the intensive pressure that was a hallmark of the club's recent best teams. Cole kicked Maggio's shot off the line late on in the game after Lampard had given the ball away.
The tie is not yet over, Villas-Boas proclaimed after the game and, in an ideal world, he would believe that. But Chelsea have such fundamental problems to solve by the time Napoli come to Stamford Bridge that sounded last night like a hope more than a promise.
Man of the match Lavezzi.
Match rating 7/10.
Referee C V Carballo (Spain).


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Guardian:

Swashbuckling Napoli expose Chelsea's lack of maturity
Daniel Taylor at the Stadio San Paolo

These are the moments when André Villas-Boas, for all his outward confidence, could be forgiven for wondering how much longer a man with Roman Abramovich's lack of tolerance is prepared to stand by him when the evidence of Chelsea's deterioration is so overwhelming.His team were not as dishevelled as Arsenal had been against Milan at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza last week but at times they were not far off. They began badly, took the lead with a lucky goal, then demonstrated the poor defending and decision-making that have so undermined them in the Villas-Boas era. It was desperate stuff and on the balance of play they can count themselves fortunate the damage inflicted by Ezequiel Lavezzi and Edinson Cavani was not even worse.A 2-0 win on 14 March would be enough for Chelsea to qualify but Napoli's brilliant forwards, aided and abetted by Marek Hamsik, demonstrated a penetrative edge that should encourage them to think they can score at Stamford Bridge. Once again Chelsea's defence were all over the place.They played with a staggering lack of organisation and, unless there is a dramatic improvement, they will almost certainly be eliminated. If that happens, English football will not have a side in the quarter-finals for the first time since 1996. Only three teams have overcome a two-goal first-leg deficit in the Champions League.Villas-Boas insisted he had not picked the wrong team and talked of his confidence they would be better next time. "We have to focus on re-organising the defence," he said. Yet it is beginning to sound like a looped tape. A team at this level cannot defend this generously and expect to get away with it. David Luiz is simply too error-prone. Gary Cahill found his first Champions League night a torrid experience. Raul Meireles was booked, substituted and will be ineligible for the return leg. It needed a brilliant goal-line clearance from Ashley Cole to prevent Christian Maggio from making the ordeal even more harrowing. When Napoli tot up their chances they are entitled to feel they could have built an unassailable lead.Walter Mazzarri's players always seemed that little bit quicker to the ball. Chelsea defensive line was rarely straight. Most of all they lacked the knowhow of a top European side. A better team would surely have made more of the good fortune when Paolo Cannavaro went to intercept Daniel Sturridge's low cross and managed only to slice the ball into Mata's path for the Spaniard to score the first goal. Instead Chelsea capitulated.Mata's cool finish was the one moment of the night when this chaotic, throbbing stadium was thrust into silence. Yet Chelsea did not have the wit to keep the ball. These were moments, undoubtedly, when they badly missed John Terry's experience. What Chelsea really needed was some leadership but Frank Lampard started on the bench and Cole was also a substitute, despite declaring himself fit. Between them these three players have made more than 1,300 appearances for the club.The warning signs had been in place even before Cannavaro's mistake.Lavezzi, Cavani and Hamsik were elusive opponents, a constant menace in the way they interchanged positions and played the ball quickly and penetratively. Petr Cech had already made three splendid saves before Lavezzi advanced into a shooting position, with Meireles not closing him down, and tried his luck from 25 yards. His shot had enough pace and curl to beat Cech and from that point the game was turned upside down. The volume increased again and, with the final attack of the half, Cannavaro crossed from the right into a penalty area heavily populated with Napoli players. Cavani had managed to get in front of Branislav Ivanovic at the far post and the decisive touch came off his shoulder.Chelsea will reflect on the moment, at 1-0, when David Luiz sent an unchallenged header over the crossbar from Mata's corner but they would be wrong to think the final score was an inaccurate reflection of the play. Cavani missed a decent chance to extend the lead early in the second half, quickly followed by Lavezzi wasting an even better opportunity.The sixth-placed side in Serie A were playing with great purpose but the galling thing for Chelsea was that they contributed so heavily to their own downfall. What should have been a routine clearance from David Luiz after 65 minutes came back off Cavani and, when Cech raced out to try to clear the danger, the goalkeeper was caught in no-man's-land. Cavani squared his pass for Lavezzi to fire into an exposed net and afterwards nobody really took Villas-Boas too seriously when he tried to argue his team had concocted the same number of scoring chances.

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Telegraph:
Napoli 3 Chelsea 1
By Henry Winter, Football Correspondent, in Naples

Andre Villas-Boas’ beloved project went perilously close to going up completely in smoke on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius on Tuesday night. His faith in midfielders like Raul Meireles proved calamitous, leaving an ordinary defence exposed to the counter-attacking verve of Napoli’s Ezequiel Lavezzi and Edinson Cavani.
Villas-Boas’ idea that Meireles offered more defensive security than Frank Lampard in a 4-2-3-1 system would have carried some legitimacy if the Portuguese had actually impressed in recent games. He had not.
By the time Meireles was withdrawn and the stable-door finally closed, the Italian stallion in the elegant light-blue livery had long bolted, almost to the starting gates of the quarter-finals. Meireles’ caution for fouling the terrific Gokhan Inler precludes his involvement in the second leg, a potential blessing for Chelsea.
Lampard and Michael Essien arrived with 20 minutes remaining but the damage was done, the fire was burning out of control, the flames licking at Villas-Boas’ credibility. He really took a gamble on Tuesday night, fielding a starting XI that seemed another riposte to the English old guard. Ashley Cole came on when Jose Bosingwa, an unlikely left-back anyway, pulled his left hamstring after 12 minutes.
This was a chastening evening for Villas-Boas, Chelsea and for those who espouse the primacy of the Premier League. Judging by Arsenal’s humiliation at AC Milan and Chelsea’s skewering here, rumours of Serie A’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. Napoli showed a speed of purpose, an exuberance in possession and precision of finish lacking in Chelsea’s movements.
It is not over, of course. Chelsea will still believe that they can recover on March 14 at Stamford Bridge but they must beware going gung-ho with Lavezzi and Cavani lurking. Lavezzi never stopped running, never stopped seeking to accelerate into the generous gaps in Chelsea’s defence.
Cavani was magnificent, leading the line adroitly, dropping off, creating, and also scoring. Such was the Uruguayan’s excellence that plaudits flowed from his peers. “Cavani is the type of player I’d pay to go and see game comes easy to him, natural,’’ Rio Ferdinand tweeted. “He will cost someone a lot of money soon.’’ The third member of Napoli’s attacking triumvirate, Marek Hamsik, also impressed at times. As well as such talent, history is also against Chelsea. The annals of the Champions League reveal that only three teams have ever overturned a two-goal deficit.
The odds are against Villas-Boas’s side, especially with a back-line painfully missing the leadership and organisational skills of John Terry, who undergoes an exploratory operation on his knee today and is expected to be out for up to six weeks. Branislav Ivanovic, usually reliable, struggled. Gary Cahill never looked international class. David Luiz continues to resemble a midfielder on nervy work experience in defence. If only they had demonstrated the defiance of their fans, who kept the blue flag flying high and just about visible through the plumes from the flares of the local tifosi. This was another crazy night at Stadio San Paolo.
Napoli’s famed attacking trident was soon spotted, its cutting edge glinting menacingly in the floodlights. Lavezzi was first to show, darting down the left, showing the type of precision that was eventually to put Chelsea’s defence to the sword.
Cavani was soon racing in behind Cahill and denied by a fine save from Petr Cech. Hamsik then targeted Bosingwa, whose hamstring gave up.
Cole duly arrived. Better late than never. In front of Cole, Florent Malouda briefly rolled back the years, embarking on a run deep into enemy territory before Paolo Cannavaro cleared. Napoli’s defence was never convincing and Daniel Sturridge and Juan Mata managed to insinuate their way into space at times.
Mata was playing in the hole behind Didier Drogba with Ramires and Meireles anchoring. Chelsea dared to dream after 27 minutes.
Sturridge, found by Drogba on the right, had sent in a fairly meek cross which hit a bobble, deceiving Paolo Cannavaro, who skied his clearance. Mata pounced, controlling the ball and guiding it firmly past Morgan De Sanctis.
Napoli were stunned, Chelsea jubilant. Yet not all of Villas-Boas’ players celebrated with Mata. His defenders, particularly Luiz and Cahill, seized the opportunity to host a quick summit conference in how to deal with Napoli’s attackers.
Chelsea were impressing for now, attacking hungrily. Drogba, showing good awareness of Sturridge’s run, somehow coaxed the ball out of a cul-de-sac and released the England international. Sturridge sped downfield, unfortunately eschewing Mata gliding towards the far post.
Sturridge hurtled into the box but Napoli blocked off his route to goal.
Chelsea still had a corner, still had an opportunity to exploit Napoli’s slightly shaky defence. Mata swept the ball in, De Sanctis flapped, Luiz lost Cannavaro but the Brazilian headed over. Huge chance. Huge miss. Huge moment in this tie.
From possibly 2-0 up, Chelsea were soon 1-1. Not for the last time, Chelsea were too slow to react decisively to unfolding danger. When Lavezzi collected possession 20 yards out, Meireles was embarrassed by the Argentine’s twitch of hips and sleight of foot. Suddenly the goal opened up and Lavezzi fired past Cech.
Still Chelsea gave their fans hope. Ramires went on one of those buccaneering runs of his but shot wildly over. A 1-1 half-time scoreline would still have been acceptable for the visitors but Chelsea’s concentration dissolved on the cusp of the interval. Deep into the three minutes of injury time, Chelsea’s defensive frailties were again brutally exposed.
Napoli simply accelerated through the gears, running over Chelsea. Hamsik stroked the ball back to Inler, who lifted the ball across towards the far post and there was Cavani, stealing in ahead of the sluggish Ivanovic, playing the poacher with his shoulder.
Chelsea actually started the second half the stronger, pushing Napoli deep, before Lavezzi capitalised on hapless defending by Luiz and another shot arrowed past Cech. Napoli should have made it 4-1 but Christian Maggio’s shot was cleared off the line by Cole. Drogba and Lampard almost threw Chelsea a late life-line but the project looked beyond saving.


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Mail:

Napoli 3 Chelsea 1: Villas-Boas gets it wrong and Cavani doubles his misery
By MATT LAWTON

When this breathless European encounter ended, the Napoli supporters might have been addressing Andre Villas-Boas with the anthem they sing to mark victory at the Stadio San Paolo.
Il Soldato Innamorato tells the tragic story of a soldier writing his last letter home and there was a sense here that Chelsea’s manager may have done something rather similar within the context of his career.
The team sheet he submitted read to some like a professional suicide note and while that might sound a touch melodramatic the first 11 names that appeared below ‘Chelsea FC’ could yet amount to a Portuguese P45.
As a Champions League tie this is far from over. Napoli have a commanding lead but not an insurmountable one given the fact that Juan Mata scored a precious away goal before the combined excellence of Ezequiel Lavezzi and Edinson Cavani produced a three-goal response for the stylish Italians.
The question now, however, is whether Villas-Boas will be around to see its conclusion three weeks from now. Amid the chaos that enveloped Chelsea, both before and during this utterly absorbing contest, it felt like his time might be up.
There was the abject nature of Chelsea’s defending and the absence of a plan designed to stop Napoli doing to them what they did to Manchester City. As Petr Cech said, if the intention was to prevent them hitting Chelsea on the counter they failed fairly miserably.
But the problems for Villas-Boas extended beyond the perimeter of the football pitch and into the heart of the dressing room, an apparent split in the ranks seeing a young manager and some of his more senior players divided.
The day started badly with the news that John Terry would not be restoring some much-needed organisation and solidity to Chelsea’s fragile defence, his knee problem demanding that he goes for surgery today. Without Terry the team suffered, David Luiz and Gary Cahill proving themselves one of the more inept central defensive pairings we have seen in this competition.
But life for Villas-Boas is understood to have become even more uncomfortable when he decided to omit Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole from the starting line-up as well. Particularly when Lampard, it is said, responded to the news by communicating his disappointment directly to his manager.
Now, Villas-Boas is entitled to do as much if he feels those players are no longer with him and some would call it a courageous stance.
But when it means you start with Jose Bosingwa at left back and a central midfield partnership of Ramires and Raul Meireles you need those players to prove you made the right call.
Even Villas-Boas must have suspected he could be writing his own resignation letter when he submitted the team sheet. But he no doubt felt that if he was going to go down fighting, he would at least do so with players he felt were on his side.
In the end, they just weren’t up to the job inside this pulsating concrete bowl. Branislav Ivanovic was every bit as awful as Cahill and Luiz and although Bosingwa went off injured after only a few minutes, an unfit Cole also struggled.
Would Lampard have done any better than Meireles and Ramires? I’m not so sure when a once great player, at 33, is not quite the force he was. But Michael Essien would have been useful given the need for extra security in front of the back four, as would John Mikel Obi, and the decision to leave them on the bench felt like the bigger mistake. It was too ambitious a team he sent out against Napoli. Too clever by half.
From the moment this last-16 clash began Chelsea looked vulnerable, Cech making fine saves to deny first Cavani and then Christian Maggio.
The cavalier approach of a side that is more Spanish than Italian in its style does give Chelsea hope. They leave themselves vulnerable to the counter-attack and last night the marvellous Mata made them pay with his 27th-minute opener.
When Paolo Cannavaro failed to clear a Daniel Sturridge cross, inadvertently diverting the ball into the path of Mata, the visitors were suddenly ahead thanks to the simplest of side-footed finishes from the Spaniard.
Luiz went close to doubling Chelsea’s lead when he met a Mata corner with a header that flew over the crossbar. It was one of a number of examples of Chelsea’s profligacy.
But within 11 minutes of Mata’s goal Lavezzi had levelled, the Argentine gliding past Meireles all too easily before unleashing a shot that squeezed between Cech and his left-hand post. That Meireles then got himself booked, and so ruled himself out of the second leg, would not have endeared him to his manager either.
But matters would only get worse for Chelsea, with another example of truly abject defending costing them again just before the break.
Assistance required: Didier Drogba has some help from Chelsea's medical team on a night which went from bad to worse for the Blues
Cavani’s was a dreadful goal to concede, from the failure to close down Gokhan Inler before he crossed to the total loss of concentration Ivanovic was guilty of in allowing Cavani to shoulder the ball home at the far post.
At 2-1, Villas-Boas might have argued his side were still in this tie. But when that Chelsea defence contrived to concede a second goal from Lavezzi in the 64th minute, the crisis deepened considerably.
Luiz was an embarrassment, first failing to respond to the threat posed by Hugo Campagnaro’s ball forward and then allowing Cavani to speed past him as a consequence. Cech reacted by rushing off his line but was quickly left stranded by a delivery from Cavani that Lavezzi converted with ease.
Had it not been for a goal-line clearance from Cole, Maggio would have scored a fourth for Napoli.
But that will offer little comfort to Villas-Boas. He simply waits now on the whim of Abramovich.


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Mirror:
Napoli 3-1 Chelsea: Lavezzi and Cavani give Villas-Boas the Blues
By Martin Lipton

A mess. A shapeless, hapless, hopeless mess.
Still alive, maybe - both manager and his team, although the Russian jury will be out on Andre Villas-Boas.
But only just, only because of a goalline clearance by one of the men Villas-Boas opted to leave out in what was either an act of defiance or, indeed, the "managerial suicide" it was described as by Jamie Redknapp.
And on a night that bore many of the hallmarks of Claudio Ranieri's job-losing nightmare in Monaco, it was hard to believe Chelsea will dig themselves out of it at Stamford Bridge on March 14, climb over a mountain that looms as large as nearby Vesuvius.
To do so will take one of the great European escape acts. In 21 seasons of the Champions League, only three teams have turned round a two-goal deficit, only one - ironically Barcelona against Chelsea in 2000 - after losing 3-1.
Pulling it off, against a Napoli side that was tearing huge holes in Chelsea's supposed rearguard for most of a tempestuous, tortured evening that left Villas-Boas and his players on the rack, will require qualities these Blues do not appear to have.
Faith in the manager. Belief in his system. Trust in themselves.
All of which were lacking last night, even when Chelsea were gifted the sort of goal you should never have the chance to score in the last 16 of the Champions League, Juan Mata capitalising on the horrendous error by home skipper Paolo Cannavaro.
Yes, Chelsea did have their chances, none more so than when David Luiz rose in front of home keeper Morgan Di Sanctis to meet Mata's corner, only to head over the bar with the goal unguarded.
But with the travelling fans dumbstruck by Villas-Boas' decision to omit both Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard - scorer of 21 Champions League goals, remember - from a side that had lost skipper John Terry for two months when he woke in agony from his knee yesterday morning, the chaos was all-consuming.
Switching from his normal system to playing a midfield two may have given Mata freedom but that pair, Ramires and the utterly dreadful Raul Meireles, were completely over-run.
And with Edinson Cavani, Marek Hamsik, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Christian Maggio granted the liberty to expose all of Chelsea's frailties at will - Gary Cahill's Champions League debut was dreadful - there was an inevitability over what followed that Luiz miss.
To be fair to Petr Cech, he alone kept his side in the game in the early stages, making saves to foil Lavezzi, Cavani and Maggio - the last in behind early arrival Cole - before Mata struck, picking his spot when Cannavaro made a total mess of Daniel Sturridge's optimistic ball in.
Had Luiz then converted it might have been different but within two minutes the Brazilian was among the Chelsea players who stood off after Cavani found his strike-partner Lavezzi, for the Argentine to side-step Meireles and bend beyond Cech.
Once again, for the fourth time in four away games in Europe, Chelsea had failed to hold onto a lead and before the break they were caught out by another basic error.
This time Gokhan Inler was allowed to float the ball in behind Cahill and Branislav Ivanovic, unable to do anything as Cavani stole in to fill the space and nod home.
Chelsea were, unquestionably, better at the start of the second period, Florent Malouda, Mata, Didier Drogba and Cahill all having opportunities.
But in a game in which defending was an optional extra, the other end remained more of an open door than a solid wall.
Lavezzi, set up by Cavani, squandered one sitter but when Luiz allowed the Uruguayan to walk through his alleged challenge and tee up the Argentine again, he made no mistake.
On came both Lampard and Michael Essien - in itself, surely, an admission of the price of pride - but while Chelsea pressed, they remained a shambles at the back.
Had Cole not denied Maggio after Hamsik had teased the ball through to him 10 yards out, it would surely have been all over.
And while Drogba then might have changed things again from Cole's stoppage time cross it is hard to believe it is much more than a temporary stay of execution.
Chelsea are a in meltdown, with a manager who has lost control and a team that is close to mutiny. It has gone beyond a crisis.

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Sun:
Napoli 3 Chelsea 1
By SHAUN CUSTIS

VESUVIUS, which overlooks Naples, seems an easier mountain to climb than the one facing Chelsea now.
Yes, the Blues have an away goal, and a 2-0 victory at Stamford Bridge in the second leg on March 14 would put them through to the Champions League quarter-finals.
But Napoli are in command and, such is their attacking prowess, they are perfectly capable of scoring in London.
And with key members of the Chelsea squad in such open revolt against boss Andre Villas-Boas, it is difficult to see them summoning up the team spirit required to turn this tie around.
Villas-Boas gambled by leaving out experienced campaigners Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole and Michael Essien for daring to criticise his tactics.
But they are big-game players he could not afford to be without — and his desire to teach them a lesson backfired. Frankly, his team selection looked like a death wish.
While the young boss claims to have the total support of owner Roman Abramovich, who backs his three-year project, the look on the face of chairman Bruce Buck at the final whistle suggested others in the hierarchy do not have the same faith.
Chelsea are imploding before our very eyes. Villas-Boas is causing mayhem and many of the players are not with him. When the going gets tough, they are not prepared to go the extra mile for the manager.
In all their four away games in Europe this season, Chelsea have gone ahead and failed to win.
Some of their defending in the lively Stadio San Paolo last night was plain comical.
New-boy Gary Cahill had a nightmare and his partnership with the erratic David Luiz is not a match made in heaven.
But because skipper John Terry needs a knee op which could keep him out for two months, we may not have seen the last of this dodgy double act.
For all the problems behind the scenes, Chelsea had the advantage on 27 minutes thanks to Juan Mata.
Cole was already on for Jose Bosingwa — who had pulled a hamstring playing in an unfamiliar left-back role — and appeared perfectly fit for battle as he pushed his team forward.
One of the surviving veterans — and captain for the night — Didier Drogba fed Daniel Sturridge.
When the ball came in, Paolo Cannavaro sliced his attempted clearance, which dropped to Mata, who coolly converted
Mata was involved in all that was good about Chelsea and, from his corner, Luiz headed narrowly over the bar.
But Ezequiel Lavezzi was just as influential for the home side and he linked up with Edinson Cavani to devastating effect.
When Argentinian Lavezzi latched on to Cavani's lay-off, he curled a glorious 20-yarder into the bottom corner for the 38th-minute equaliser which got 60,000 fans jumping.
Ramires should have restored Chelsea's lead immediately after working his way free into the area, only to blaze horribly over the top.
A booking for Raul Meireles for handball followed, meaning he was out of the second leg.
Then, in first-half stoppage time, Napoli went in front as Gokhan Inler's clip to the back post was bundled in by Cavani from close range with Branislav Ivanovic rooted to the spot.
There was a suspicion of handball about it because the ball appeared to hit Cavani on the shoulder but the goal stood.
It was a serious body blow to AVB's men.
The Italians should have had a third on 54 minutes. Lavezzi was released by Cavani but dragged his left-foot shot wide.
However, more awful defending proved costly on 65 minutes as Luiz lost out to Cavani, who squared for Lavezzi to finish.
AVB threw on reinforcements Lampard and Essien. But it took a great clearance by Cole to stop Maggio scoring No 4 for Napoli.
Drogba had a chance to make it 3-2 from Cole's cross and Lampard forced Morgan De Sanctis into a save. Had either scored, it would have given Chelsea a proper chance of progress — but it would have covered up a lot of cracks, too.

DREAM TEAM RATINGS
STAR MAN - EZEQUIEL LAVEZZI

CHELSEA: Cech 6, Ivanovic 5, Bosingwa 5 (Cole 6), Cahill 5, Luiz 5, Ramires 6, Meireles 6 (Essien 5), Malouda 6 (Lampard 6), Sturridge 6, Drogba 6, Mata 7. Subs not used: Turnbull, Torres, Mikel, Kalou. Booked: Meireles, Cahill.

NAPOLI: De Sanctis 6, Campagnaro 6, Cannavaro 6, Aronica 6, Maggio 6, Inler 7, Gargano 7, Zuniga 7, Hamsik 6 (Pandev 82, 6), Lavezzi 8 (Dzemaili 74, 6), Cavani 8. Subs not used: Rosati, Grava, Dossena, Fernandez, Britos. Booked: Cavani.
REF: C Velasco Carballo 7.

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Star:
NAPOLI 3 CHELSEA 1: ANDRE VILLAS-BOAS' DICING WITH DANGER
By Brian Woolnough

HE rolled the dice and gambled big time on his Chelsea career.
Brave, stubborn or just plain stupid?Andre Villas-Boasput himself on trial in the biggest match of his life.
Already without the crocked John Terry, he decided to take on Napoli without many of his other experienced internationals.
By half-time he had been taken on a roller-coaster ride of emotions.
Juan Mata put Chelsea ahead but then goals from Ezequiel Lavezzi and Edinson Cavani piled the pressure back on the young Chelsea manager and Lavezzi’s second goal in the 65th minute turned the screw
It was a huge call to leave out Frank Lampard. The England international is not the player he was but is a big-match performer.
Ashley Cole was fit, although Villas- Boas decided not to risk him. It was gambles all the way.
The timing of Cavani’s goal, in first-half injury-time, was a huge blow for Chelsea.
It sent the Italians in on fire. Chelsea knew they couldn’t concede again but they did. Everything about this Champions League last-16 first leg had drama written all over it.
Here was a match when anything could happen, such was the inconsistency of Chelsea’s defending.
The selection gamble by Villas-Boas almost backfired on him quickly when Edinson was lost in the area and should
have scored, goalkeeper Petr Cech saving with his feet.
Walter Gargano was a bundle of trouble against Chelsea, popping up everywhere. Cech saved Chelsea again by diverting away Christian Maggio’s cross-shot.
There was something frantic about Chelsea’s defending and they looked vulnerable whenever the pressure mounted.
Villas-Boas keeps repeating that he knows what he’s doing with the backing of owner Roman Abramovich and his team was another example of him being his own man.
Lampard, clearly, is one of the players he intends to move on at the end of the season – if Villas-Boas is still at Stamford Bridge!
From the first minute last night he was a bundle of nerves in his technical area, kicking and living every ball. This was a man under pressure. He was never still.
He needed a break and got one in the 26th minute with Mata’s goal. You could feel the relief escape from him.
It was gifted to Mata by a terrible attempted clearance from Paolo Cannavaro. After Didier Drogba and Daniel Sturridge combined, Cannavaro’s miskick allowed Mata to run in unmarked and drive in an away goal.
The only senior player Villas-Boas recalled was Drogba, who returned as captain for the hapless Fernando Torres.
Such is the decline of the £50m Spanish striker that no one expects him to start any more.
Some bench, though, with Torres, Lampard, Cole and Michael Essien all waiting in the wings. Cole was on after 11 minutes when Jose Bosingwa pulled a hamstring.
Humiliation would have meant the end of Villas-Boas’ Chelsea career and how he needed the team to respond. This time he needed player power from the younger ones.
They backed him with determination and courage and there was no questioning the spirit of the side. David Luiz almost made it 2-0 with a header that went just over.
Then, just as Chelsea looked to be taking some kind of control, Napoli equalised. The dangerous Lavezzi created space for himself and drove a low shot past Cech.
Villas-Boas denied that this was a night to define anything, his future or Chelsea’s existence in the Champions League. “I will not be sacked,” he said.
That statement came back to haunt him when Cavani arrived at the far post to make it 2-1.
Was it handball? The ball certainly looked to go in off his shoulder. Chelsea didn’t protest and the goal stood.
Ramires should have equalised, blazing over from 15 yards. Sturridge was a constant danger and Mata almost squirted in a second.
This imposing San Paolo stadium creates a fantastic atmosphere that takes no prisoners. The Chelsea players were bombarded with firecrackers and abuse when they left their hotel and the ground was half-full three hours before kick-off.
By the time it started the atmosphere was electric. The match lived up to the build-up, crackling along, taking Villas-Boas with it.
The second half was so vital to him. Chelsea knew they had to hang on. To European football and the manager’s job.
Lavezzi should have punished Chelsea 10 minutes into the second half but when clean through, he shot hopelessly wide.
But he was clinical when he raced behind the Chelsea defence and rolled the ball across the edge of the area for Lavezzi to make it 3-1.
It would have been 4-1 but for Cole clearing Maggio’s late effort off the line.


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Express:

NAPOLI 3 CHELSEA 1: ANDRE VILLAS-BOAS TOLD TO BRING IN THE OLD GUARD OR ELSE
By Tony Banks

ANDRE VILLAS-BOAS does not make things easier for himself. He is a manager who stubbornly, perhaps foolishly, sticks to what he believes in. It is a trait that could cost him his job.
Chelsea boss Villas-Boas looked a lonely man as he walked slowly back to the tunnel from the dugout at the end of another chastening night.
He is running out of friends – and time.
Thanks to Juan Mata’s early goal, and even more important, Ashley Cole’s heroic clearance off the line eight minutes from the end of last night’s last-16 first-leg, this tie is still just about alive.
Had Edinson Cavani’s shot not been hacked away by England full-back Cole, then all hope would have been lost. And Villas-Boas might well have been out of a job by this morning.
The irony is that Cole was one of the players that Villas-Boas left on the sidelines last night, along with Frank Lampard – punishment, apparently, for their part in the criticism of the manager in their training-ground row of 10 days ago. Cole only got on the pitch because Jose Bosingwa pulled up injured early in the first half.
Stubbornness – or making a statement that he is in charge and that insubordination will not be tolerated? He admitted that he had “conversations” with the pair.
Whatever, it was a move which in the white heat of the San Paolo stadium exploded in his face. It will need one of the great European comebacks for Chelsea to turn this around – and for Villas-Boas to save his job.
Only three teams previously have managed the feat. It is a slim hope, but a 2-0 victory at Stamford Bridge would put his team through – so he should keep his job for another three weeks.
The truth, though, which will not have escaped owner Roman Abramovich, is that this was yet another shambolic performance, which left Chelsea with just four victories from their past 14 games.
Villas-Boas insists he has the backing of the owner, and that this is a project both intend to see through. But Abramovich is already examining options and among those on the list to be called in to save the season are Rafa Benitez, Athletic Bilbao’s Marcelo Bielsa, or Valencia’s Unai Emery.
It is not simply the problems on the pitch that are so worrying Abramovich. It is those off it as well. For instance, why did Villas-Boas take John Terry to Italy for a game he was clearly always struggling to be fit for, now that he needs knee surgery?
Then he left out most of the old guard for a crucial game. He may yet get away with it but this is brinkmanship of the highest order. The warning signs had been there from early on last night as three times Petr Cech saved his side with excellent stops.
But then, out of the blue, apparent salvation as Didier Drogba fed Daniel Sturridge. His cross should have been dealt with by Paolo Cannavaro, but a horrible mis-kick left the ball at the feet of Juan Mata, who slotted home.
All Chelsea had to do then in a city dominated by Vesuvius was prevent an eruption. But they could not. Seven minutes before half-time Lavezzi was allowed too much time to turn on the edge of the area by Raul Meireles, and curled his right-foot shot home.
What followed was worse. This time Cavani reacted faster than anyone else to Gokhan Inler’s cross, and turned the ball home with his shoulder.
The midfield failed to protect their back four. But Napoli also looked vulnerable at times, and Salvatore Aronica had to hack the ball off the line from Cannavaro’s mis-kick.
But time and again Lavezzi and Cavani caught Chelsea on the break, Gary Cahill and David Luiz not coming to terms with the two South Americans.
Lavezzi strode through the middle – only to shoot wide. It was a major escape. The respite, though, did not last.
Hugo Campagnaro played the ball down the line, the ever error-prone Luiz tried to clear but lost out disastrously to Cavani and he laid the ball square for Lavezzi to shoot into an unguarded net.
It was chaotic stuff. Unlike Arsenal, Chelsea are not yet out. There is still hope.
But Villas-Boas, providing Abramovich has not already run out of patience by March 14 and the second leg, cannot afford any more foolishness.
The old guard might be rebellious; they may not be the future. But he needs them now.

NAPOLI: (3-4-2-1): De Sanctis; Campagnaro, Cannavaro, Aronica; Maggio, Inler, Garnago, Zuniga; Hamsik (Pandev 82), Lavezzi (Dzemaili 74); Cavani. Booked: Cavani. Goals: Lavezzi 38, 65, Cavani 45.

CHELSEA (4-2-3-1): Cech; Ivanovic, Cahill, Luiz, Bosingwa (Cole 12); Ramires, Meireles (Essien 70); Sturridge, Mata, Malouda (Lampard 70); Drogba. Booked: Meireles, Cahill. Goal: Mata 27.
Referee: CV Carballo (Spain).