Paris Saint-Germain 2-0

Independent:

Chelsea 2 PSG 0 (agg: 3-3)
Sam Wallace

It was fortuitous that Jose Mourinho opted for a tracksuit rather than the smarter gear tonight, because when the second goal went in to propel his team into the Champions League semi-finals he was off down the touchline like it was 2004 at Old Trafford all over again.
Another stupendous night of European football at Stamford Bridge. Another thrilling conclusion. Another win pulled off by the manager who has never lost a quarter-final in the Champions League in his life and was not about to start the habit now. When substitute Demba Ba scored Chelsea’s second with three minutes of normal time remaining Mourinho headed down the touchline as he once did as Porto manager in that famous Champions League tie against Manchester United ten years ago.
This time he was going to tell his players how to defend the last few minutes of the game, pulling the substitute Fernando Torres off the pile first to shout instructions in his ear. Then he collared Andre Schurrle. At the critical point in the game, the Chelsea manager was once again at the centre of everything and yet again his team were turning the tables on one of the big guns in Europe.
Chelsea are in the semi-finals on away goals and as they celebrated at the end, you wondered why you had ever doubted them. This is the team that just tends to get its way in Europe. “Champions of Europe,” the home fans sang through the game, “we’ve done it before” and that warning certainly came true for Paris Saint Germain.
For all their Qatari investment, the men from Paris, defending a two goal lead, learned a little last night of what it requires to be successful at this level. They just do not give in at Stamford Bridge, through the early loss of Eden Hazard to injury and finishing the game with every one of the three strikers that Mourinho rates so little on the pitch together. In the end it was Ba, the last man on Mourinho’s mind most of the time, who was the difference.
There is something about their reaction to adversity that suits Chelsea so well in Europe. They went out the Champions League at the group stage last season but in all the last two years, which have yielded the Champions League and Europa League titles have been testament to their ability to tough it out. With Mourinho in charge, they are the street-fighters that no-one will relish playing in the semi-finals.
With Real Madrid through as well, there is a possibility that Mourinho will come up against his former club. Or Barcelona with whom his history would fill a few books. Or Manchester United, Bayern Munich or Atletico Madrid. It was why the Chelsea manager soon calmed down, later claiming that the victory had not registered especially high on his list of achievements and that the players had stopped celebrating in the dressing room within two minutes.

It was not just the loss of the man who has given Mourinho’s team their sharpest cutting edge this season, so early in the game; there was also PSG’s much stronger start to take into consideration too. They approached the game on the front foot, attacking in the early stages and dominating possession. With Ezequiel Lavezzi on the left  and the even pacier Lucas Moura on the right, they looked like the team more likely to win on the night by a two-goal margin.
But these high-end Champions League ties can switch-around so quickly. For Chelsea it was just around the half hour stage when they exerted a grip on the game and scored their first.
Until then, Thiago Motta in particular had been in control of the game in the middle for PSG with Frank Lampard and David Luiz struggling to get a hold of the ball. Then Lampard’s free-kick from the left was deflected off the PSG wall and Salvatore Sirigu was obliged to throw himself across to his near post for a very good save.
In the closing stages of the half Eto’o burst forward with the kind of power that Chelsea have often lacked in attack and it required a brilliant tackle from Thiago Silva, coming in from the side, to win the ball.
It did not take much for the second half to ignite too, not least when Chelsea struck the bar twice in the space of a minute in an absorbing phase of attacking play. Lampard and then Willian from the right combined to pick out Schurrle on that right foot of his on 52 minutes and his shot rattled Sirigu’s bar.
Recycled out on the left, Eto’o was fouled and from the free-kick Oscar beat Sirigu again. His shot located the same part of the bar that Schurrle had hit earlier. PSG survived with their lead in the tie intact and saw off that period of pressure. If nothing else, it had developed into a wonderful tie with the tension that one mistake capable of swinging it either way.
When the changes came it was Ba, whom Mourinho opted for first, and then Torres. A surprise given that even though the Chelsea manager rates Torres so little, he seems to rate Ba even less. This was the last roll of the dice from Mourinho, who had seen Eto’o do little of note after half-time. All he needed was one goal.
It came from Ba, who got ahead of Maxwell to score when Cesar Azpilicueta’s shot found its way into the area. There was a flurry of pressure at the end but Petr Cech in particular along with the excellent Cahill stood strong to hold for another remarkable win.

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Cech; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta; Luiz, Lampard; Hazard, Oscar, Willian; Eto’o.
Subs: Hazard/Schurrle 18, Ba/Lampard 66, Torres/Oscar 81,
PSG (4-2-3-1): Sirigu; Jallet, Thiago Silva, Alex, Maxwell; Verratti, Thiago Motta; Moura, Matuidi, Lavezzi; Cavani.
Subs: Cabaye/Verratti 54, Lavezzi/Pastore 72, Marquinhos/Moura 84
Man of the match: Cahill
Rating: 8
Booked: Chelsea Willian, Lampard, Luiz PSG Verratti, Cavani, Moura, Matuidi, Maxwell

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Guardian:

Chelsea snatch place in semi-finals thanks to last-gasp Demba Ba goal
Daniel Taylor

This is not the first time Chelsea have reminded us of their durability, but there is still something remarkable about the way this team just never give up. They put everything into this match, never relinquishing their self-belief – and that competitive courage resulted in that euphoric moment when everything came together and José Mourinho could be seen haring down the touchline on one of his victory runs extraordinaire.
He first treated us to one of those fist-pumping sprints when Porto knocked out Manchester United back in the days before he had announced himself as the Special One. Mourinho has never lost a quarter-final in this competition and that record was perilously under threat before Demba Ba, the forgotten man, poked out one of his long legs to scramble in the killer goal three minutes from the end.
Ba was an improbable hero but nobody could dispute that Chelsea deserved to progress for displaying such powers of endurance. This was only the second time in 111 games that PSG had been beaten by two goals, in a sequence stretching back to March 2012. Chelsea had a 3-1 deficit to recover from the first leg at Parc des Princes and their opponents arrived on the back of a club-record, 11-match winning run, with only one occasion in their previous 46 games when they had failed to score.
Yet Chelsea have made a habit of wearing down more refined opponents. André Schürrle's 32nd-minute goal changed the entire complexion of the tie and after that, the manner in which PSG wilted suggests one of Europe's nouveaux riches still have a lot to learn at this level.
Quick to the ball, strong in the challenge, it was Chelsea's tempo more than anything else that was so unsettling for their opponents. Mourinho's team did not play with balletic grace but their intensity of play was relentlessly impressive in the last hour of the match. They ran for everything and if they did lose the ball they quickly hunted it back down. They also hit the crossbar twice in a chaotic second half. PSG were simply worn down, just like Napoli were two years ago, and a few others, too.
The champions of Ligue 1 undoubtedly missed the injured Zlatan Ibrahimovic but it is not as if Chelsea were particularly blessed on the attacking front either. They started the match with Samuel Eto'o up front, even though he was still troubled by the hamstring injury that kept him out of the game in Paris.
Eden Hazard lasted only 18 minutes before he was forced off with a calf injury and at that stage there was little sense of the drama that was to follow. Chelsea had huffed and puffed through the opening stages and it is never a good sign when Mourinho's hands are firmly embedded in his tracksuit pockets.
He gambled at the end, largely because he had no choice. Ba was the first Chelsea striker to come off the bench to join Eto'o and, as Mourinho said afterwards, maybe being selected ahead of Fernando Torres gave the former Newcastle player the belief that "he did not have No3 striker on his back".
Torres followed him on to the pitch a bit later, and Chelsea's urgent need for a goal made it inevitable they would leave gaps in their own defence. Fortunately for them, Edinson Cavani is not the same rampager who used to terrorise defences for Napoli. His chances were squandered, and then the moment arrived that will add this game to the list of great European nights at Stamford Bridge.
César Azpilicueta had advanced from his left-back spot. His shot was hopeful more than anything, but the ball took two slight deflections. The last ricochet fell kindly for Ba and he had anticipated getting the run of the ball, flying in for the poacher's goal.
Mourinho was off, charging down the touchline, but still working out his strategy. Even amid the euphoria, he could be seen passing instructions to his players. Torres was told to man-mark Maxwell while Ba was ordered back into defence. It was classic Mourinho, always thinking.
If the finest moment of Ba's Chelsea career had not arrived, then Mourinho would otherwise have been left to reflect on the chance Gary Cahill passed up shortly after the opening goal, plus a wild 90-second spell early in the second half when Schürrle thudded a shot against the crossbar and Oscar did the same from a free-kick 25 yards out.
Instead there was still time, with four minutes added on, for some nerve-shredding moments at the other end. Yet Chelsea defended throughout with great togetherness and vigour, and Petr Cech, who was fallible in the first leg, played with much of his old assurance.
PSG, in stark contrast, had looked fallible when put under pressure to high balls in defence. Schürrle's goal was a case in point, emanating from the kind of long throw-in and flick-on routine that is not often seen at this level.
Branislav Ivanovic was the man hurling the ball into the penalty area, then David Luiz applied the first touch in front of Thiago Silva and Schürrle ghosted in from behind to sidefoot his shot inside a post.
Ivanovic would later collect a yellow card that rules him out of the first leg of the semi-final, but Mourinho was correct with his assessment of the last four. Any team that draw Chelsea, he said, will know they are encountering a team with "a special spirit".

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Telegraph:

Chelsea 2 Paris Saint-Germain 0
By Henry Winter

Chelsea defied all the odds, all the predictions and all the scepticism to reach the semi-finals of the Champions Leagueon one of the great nights at Stamford Bridge. They just refused to give up, running themselves into the ground in search of victory. André Schürrle covered every blade of grass, David Luiz powered between the boxes. Even Jose Mourinho sprinted to the corner flag.
Chelsea’s victory and ticket for Friday’s draw were totally deserved. They shrugged off the early loss of the talismanic Eden Hazard, who damaged his calf and is a doubt for the huge Premier League game at Anfield on April 27. Schürrle, his replacement, embodied Chelsea’s will to win and scored the first. Demba Ba, a Paris St-Germain fan, also came off the bench, pouncing late on to give Chelsea the aggregate edge, demoralising the visitors. Down and out for Paris in London.
Petr Cech, so slated after the first leg, was superb, making a couple of vital saves. His defence was resilient, the tone set by Gary Cahill and John Terry, while Branislav Ivanovic and César Azpilicueta showed their character in surviving some nervous moments when PSG started brightly.
A powerful team ethic pervades the Chelsea dressing-room, a strong sense of the collective that makes them greater than the sum of their individual parts, a contrast to PSG, who remain a puzzle of glittering pieces still waiting to be assembled properly.
Chelsea refused to be daunted by the first-leg 3-1 loss, by the arrival of visitors who had won their previous 11 games in all competitions, who were missing Zlatan Ibrahimovic but had the speed and trickery of Lucas Moura and Ezequiel Lavezzi added to the line-leading strengths of Edinson Cavani. Chelsea were missing the suspended Ramires while Nemanja Matic and Mohamed Salah were ineligible. Chelsea still believed.
It is in their DNA. Giving everything from first whistle to last. Fighting footballing logic. “We’ve done it before, champions of Europe, we’ve done it before,” chanted their fans, reviving memories of great escapes against the Napoli of Cavani and Lavezzi, Barcelona and Bayern Munich in triumphing in 2012.
Ultimately, this was a triumph for Mourinho. Chelsea’s head coach got the mood right, ordering his players to be “patient” in team talks before kick-off and in exhortations during the game. He got the tactics right, angling direct balls into the box, pressuring PSG in a way they simply do not experience in their domestic league.
Mourinho got his selection of substitutes right. It can be argued that they were obvious swaps but he still made them. He sent on Schürrle for Hazard after 17 minutes, then Ba for Frank Lampard and Fernando Torres for Oscar. All had an impact, ­particularly Schürrle for his tireless running and goal, also Ba for his opportunism and also the oft-maligned Torres, whose 10-minute cameo saw him drag PSG defenders around and make an important hooked clearance.
For a man who lamented his quality of strikers, Mourinho had three on the pitch by the end, Samuel Eto’o as well as Torres and Ba. It is a sign of the camaraderie in the camp that each contributed despite having occasion for grievance. Mourinho has criticised them and yet they produced for him. He really is a special coach.
Whoever Chelsea are drawn against at 11am on Friday, Mourinho will have history with the semi-finalists, particularly Real Madrid, Barcelona or Atletico Madrid, and Manchester United or Pep Guardiola’s Bayern Munich. As a disconsolate ­Ibrahimovic left the Bridge, he stopped to wish Mourinho good luck, a sign of respect and past shared employment.
Like Ibrahimovic, PSG reacted in dignified fashion, Laurent Blanc refusing to complain about Mourinho’s touchline antics and the club then tweeting “Congratulations to the English, who didn’t want to leave Europe” adding “See you next year”.
Chelsea were also assisted by signs of Blanc’s managerial inexperience in Europe. The French media lambasted the PSG coach’s “timidity” and slated his substitutions, particularly removing the consistently dangerous Lavezzi for the mercurial Javier Pastore with 17 minutes remaining. “Mourinho showed Blanc what a great coach is” was the thrust of one influential newspaper report back in the city of extinguished lights.
PSG twinkled brightly early on. Cavani drove a free-kick into the Chelsea wall after a Lucas run. Lucas then scampered forward again, shimmering with danger, until stopped by Terry. Chelsea’s captain then slid in to clear Maxwell’s cross.
Mourinho was geeing up the ball-boys and the fans to recycle the ball quickly, to keep the pressure on PSG. Chelsea fans responded to the gestures of Luiz to raise the ­decibel level. Chelsea began building. Salvatore Sirigu dived to his right to push away a Lampard free-kick that and then saved from Luiz but was then left exposed by his defence. From Ivanovic’s long throw, Luiz flicked the ball on and Schurrle pounced, driving the ball past Sirigu. The Bridge shook with emotion.
Chelsea’s tails were now up. Schürrle tried to win a penalty, diving when challenged by Verratti. Cahill sliced his shot wide from close range. At half-time, the DJ played Sweet Dreams (are made of this) and Chelsea fans responded again, particularly when PSG fans whistled abuse of Peter Bonetti, the half-time guest. Those sweet dreams almost materalised immediately but first Schürrle and then Oscar were thwarted by the crossbar.
One mistake, one goal ­conceded would have brought ­oblivion for Chelsea. Lavezzi curled in a free-kick which Cech, stretching to his left, pushed away. Cavani fired a shot over. Maxwell dragged an effort wide.
With 12 minutes left Cavani squandered a glorious chance, controlling Yohan Cabaye’s angled pass smoothly with his right foot, and then smashing it wildly over. It was a bad miss for a player valued at £55 million.
With 10 minutes left, Mourinho played his last card, sending on Torres for Oscar.
Chelsea refused to go quietly. Ivanovic whipped in across that Sirigu clawed away. Torres dribbled into the box, causing momentary concern. Cahill was sweeping up the pieces from Parisian attacks. Luiz was roaming around midfield.
Chelsea threw everything at PSG. When a shot from Eto’o bounced back after 87 minutes, Azpilicueta struck the loose ball which squirted through. Ba reacted quicker than Maxwell, lifting the ball past Sirigu. As the players celebrated, Mourinho sprinted down the touchline.
He was suddenly with his players down by the corner-flag, either ­sharing the emotion, passing on instructions or simply wasting time.
He pulled players off the massive piley-on, trying to find his strikers because – as he claimed afterwards – he wanted to tell Ba to play in front of the back-four and Torres to track ­Maxwell.
Chelsea still had to hold on through four minutes of injury time, two corners and a marvellous save from Marquinhos’s shot by Cech until the final whistle triggered an almighty celebration. They never give up.

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Times:

Demba Ba swoops to conquer with Chelsea as PSG rue one that got away

Oliver Kay
Chelsea 2 Paris Saint-Germain 0 (3-3 on agg; Chelsea win on aways goals)

Once again, Europe was treated to the sight of José Mourinho hurtling down a touchline. On and on he went, all the way to the corner flag, where he joined Demba Ba in heralding the goal that had just taken Chelsea into the Champions League semi-finals.
This time, Mourinho insisted, his jaunt was not about celebrating the moment but about impressing upon his players the need to focus and to tighten up, tactically, now that Chelsea were finally ahead, on the away-goals rule, with three minutes plus stoppage time remaining.
For someone with nothing but tactical readjustments on his mind, he looked fairly euphoric as he set off — and who could blame him? If this felt primarily like a victory for bloody-mindedness, Mourinho and his players will take that as a compliment. That resilience, their never-say-die spirit, has been their calling card in European competition for the best part of a decade — retained during his long absence, renewed since he returned to Stamford Bridge last summer.
The decisive goal was not exactly a thing of beauty, as César Azpilicueta’s mis-hit shot was bundled home by Ba in unconvincing style — and neither, in truth, was the first, scored by André Schürrle after Branislav Ivanovic’s long throw was knocked on by David Luiz.
Other teams will win plenty more plaudits for artistic merit, but Chelsea have few rivals when it comes to guts, particularly now that Mourinho is back at the helm.
Put simply, whether you call it the Chelsea factor, the Mourinho factor or even the John Terry factor, it was the difference between the teams last night. In technical terms, player for player, Paris Saint-Germain looked every bit Chelsea’s equal over the course of the two matches, but they failed to seize the opportunity, Edinson Cavani missing a clear opportunity to put them 4-2 up on aggregate before Ba’s goal.
You can call that luck, a €58 million (£48 million) forward missing the target before a £7 million back-up scores a scrappy goal, but fortune has a funny knack of favouring the brave.
Chelsea did not play particularly well over the two legs and seemed to lose their way for long periods of the second half last night, but when a team come good as often as they have done in big knockout matches at this stage of the season, it cannot be dismissed as luck.
Chelsea had been here before. Two years ago, in the first knockout round, they were beaten 3-1 away from home by Napoli in the first leg. That result went a long way towards triggering André Villas-Boas’s departure before the second leg, at which point Chelsea, under Roberto Di Matteo, won 4-1 after extra time, setting them on course via Lisbon and Barcelona to that famous European Cup triumph in Munich. As members of that beaten Napoli team two seasons ago, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Cavani might have thought that forewarned meant forearmed, but it is hard to protect yourself against a Chelsea team whose main quality — certainly once they had lost Eden Hazard to injury — is their spirit.
For much of the game, with Samuel Eto’o dominated by Thiago Silva and Alex, Chelsea were heavily reliant on dead-ball situations, from Frank Lampard in particular. Lampard had already picked out Ivanovic from a corner when his free kick took a deflection off Marco Verratti and seemed to be travelling inside the near post until Salvatore Sirigu intervened with an excellent save.
Schürrle’s goal was as rudimentary as it gets. Ivanovic hurled a throw-in into the PSG penalty area, Luiz knocked the ball on, off the back of his neck, and it was swept past Sirigu by Schürrle, the early substitute, who was lurking near the penalty spot and left in far too much space by PSG’s defenders.
Five minutes later, from another set-piece, Chelsea almost scored a second after Lampard’s free kick ended up at the feet of Gary Cahill. Usually so accomplished in the opponents’ penalty area, the defender swung wildly and did not connect properly.
Chelsea started the second half as if they meant business, Oscar and Willian combining at last to set up Schürrle, who drilled a shot against the crossbar from the edge of the penalty area. Two minutes later the PSG crossbar was rattled again, this time by Oscar’s curling free kick. Mourinho, on the touchline, looked askance.
That momentum deserted Chelsea as quickly as it had arrived as Thiago Silva, Alex and Thiago Motta, the strongmen at the spine of this PSG team, stiffened their resolve.
Lavezzi, with a free kick, and Cavani, with a dipping shot after springing the offside trap, went close. For Chelsea, something had to change. Mourinho sent on Ba. Surprisingly, with a goal needed, Lampard was asked to make way, leaving Luiz as the anchor in midfield.
Cavani had the opportunity to settle the tie for PSG, from Yohan Cabaye’s wonderful pass, but he shot over the crossbar before Lucas Moura, after a fine build-up, had a shot saved by Petr Cech. The Lampard-Ba substitution had not had the desired effect, so Mourinho went for one final gamble, sending on Fernando Torres in an uncomfortable-looking right-sided role. Having bemoaned the quality of his strikers all season long, the Chelsea manager was going for quantity.
On 87 minutes, Chelsea roused themselves for one final push. Azpilicueta seemed to shank his shot, but the ball made its way through a crowded penalty area and was converted on the six-yard line by Ba, sliding in to score in unorthodox style. Chelsea were ahead in the tie for the first time and, as Mourinho made clear in that conflab by the corner flag, it would have been criminal to let that hard-earned advantage slip.
Even then there was time for Marquinhos, a substitute, to force a fine save from Cech at his near post, but by then a sense of indomitability had taken hold among Chelsea players and supporters alike. The semi-finals beckon once more.

Mail:

Chelsea 2-0 PSG (agg: 3-3): Ba strikes late to send Blues through on away goals

By Martin Samuel

There it was again. The manic touchline run. It was how we were introduced to Jose Mourinho, a decade ago, and how we will remember him after he is gone, too.
Cesar Azpilicueta shot, the ball caught a tiny hold-up deflection and fell to substitute Demba Ba. It wasn't, fair to say, the cleanest finish. Ba almost scooped it into the roof of the net, off his boot, off his shin, somehow looping over goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu. No-one cared.
Chelsea were through, and off went Mourinho, down the line to join the celebrations by the corner flag, just as he had done when Porto equalised at Old Trafford to eliminate Manchester United in the same competition in 2004.
This, like that, was one of his greatest nights. Chelsea have come back from 3-1 down before in the Champions League, but not at this late stage and not against a team with the potential of Paris Saint-Germain.
Those looking for omens will be heartened, though. Reversing a 3-1 defeat by Napoli two years ago was part of the campaign that ended in Champions League victory under Roberto Di Matteo.
He is a shrewd one, though, Mourinho, so do not imagine for one moment that his dash to meet his players was inspired by elation only.
For a manager with no strikers, he had three on the pitch by then, and was probably telling them for what remained of the game they had to think defence first. A goal from PSG at that point would have eliminated Chelsea, surely. Amazingly, they nearly got it.
This was a night for old-fashioned heroes and none loomed larger than Petr Cech in Chelsea's goal. After his poor performance in the first leg, at fault for two goals, here was the reason Mourinho may yet resist bringing Thibault Courtois back from Atletico Madrid next season.
Cech was outstanding, most memorably four minutes into injury time when tipping around a low shot for substitute Marquinhos. Stamford Bridge was holding its breath by then; the visitors equally desperate.
Branislav Ivanovic will miss the first leg of Chelsea's semi-final after picking up a booking at Stamford Bridge.
The knockout rounds with Chelsea are never anything less than the grandest theatre, and this was no exception. The final whistle blown, the Chelsea players danced in a corner to One Step Beyond, while PSG's slumped to the floor and Oscar left the field in tears. He will need to get used to it; history suggests it is the semi-final stage when the drama really takes off.
Mourinho has never lost a Champions League quarter-final tie but as the time drained from the game it really did look as if this would not be his night. Referees have denied him, and Chelsea, on occasions, but here the crossbar was the greatest enemy - repelling the home side twice in 60 seconds as they went in search of that elusive second goal.

In the 52nd minute, a flowing exchange of passes ended with Oscar playing the ball out to Willian on the right. The Brazilian cut it back to Andre Schurrle who smashed his shot against the bar with goalkeeper Sirigu beaten. The ball came out and Lucas clumsily fouled Eto'o. A free-kick was awarded 25 yards out. Oscar took it and - crossbar again. Sirigu was truly leading a charmed life. At that moment the momentum was wholly with Chelsea. It was barely believable that, 35 minutes later, the score was still 1-0 and Paris were clinging on.
Really, the difference was nerve. Chelsea are a team that do not know when they are beaten, certainly in Europe, while Paris Saint-Germain have a touch of Manchester City about them.
They are still feeling their way through this tournament as a group and, when the pressure is on, they failed the test. Midway through the second-half, Edinson Cavani was put through by Yohan Cabaye, one on one.
The PSG bench was on its feet, preparing to celebrate, but Cavani shot over. If the game had a turning point, there it was.
Had that gone in, Chelsea were as good as dead. The same could be said of Cech's save from a free-kick by Ezequiel Lavezzi in the 55th minute - Branislav Ivanovic's booking for the foul on Blaise Matuidi takes him out of the next match - or his stop from a low strike by Lucas.
With a single goal taking the required margin of victory to 4-1, Chelsea were always vulnerable. The glory goes to the goalscorers, but the worth of that nil cannot be underestimated, either.
The first 30 minutes were perhaps the most discomforting. So much work to do yet Chelsea barely laid a glove on Paris. They lost Eden Hazard, too.
So often the difference this season, the Belgian had not been travelling well for several minutes, when Mourinho bought matters to a head. Few managers make a firm touchline call like Mourinho.
He gave Hazard the option of continuing and receiving an uncertain reply, wasted no time: off came the talisman, on went Schurrle. The atmosphere at Stamford Bridge fell a little flat. Schurrle has had his moments this season - not least that hat-trick against Fulham - but he is no Hazard. What happened next, then, was something of an irony.
Schurrle scored the goal that brought Chelsea into this game. Funny how things work out. Where Hazard had clearly been carrying his injury, Schurrle brought energy and dynamism to the left flank. Not that his goal was the greatest example of either. What was it that Mourinho said about 19th century football earlier in the season? Here was a throwback to agricultural days - a goal Dave Bassett's Wimbledon would have been proud of, or Stoke City in the heyday of Rory Delap.
It came from a long throw by Ivanovic, sailing into the penalty area, flicked on by Luiz - more shoulder than head - into the path of Schurrle, arriving late into space. Sirigu did not even move to stop his first-time finish.
Chelsea were away and with time to spare - but few imagined they would leave the denouement so late. ‘Congratulations to Chelsea - the only Englishmen who do not want to leave Europe,’ read a PSG statement on Twitter. It is impossible to deny them, at times. Long may they run.

Chelsea: Cech 8.5, Ivanovic 7, Cahill 7, Terry 7, Azpilicueta 6.5, Luiz 6.5, Lampard 7 (Ba 66, 7), Willian 7.5, Oscar 6.5 (Torres 81), Hazard 5 (Schurrle 18, 8), Eto'o 6.5.
Subs Not Used: Schwarzer, Cole, Mikel, Kalas.
Booked: Willian, Lampard, Ivanovic, Luiz.
Goals: Schurrle 32, Ba 87.

PSG: Sirigu 6.5, Jallet 6.5, Alex 7, Thiago Silva 7, Maxwell 6.5, Verratti 6 (Cabaye 54, 6.5), Thiago Motta 7, Matuidi 6.5, Lucas Moura 6.5 (Marquinhos 84), Cavani 6.5, Lavezzi 7.5 (Pastore 72).
Subs Not Used: Douchez, Menez, Digne, Van Der Wiel.
Booked: Verratti, Cavani, Lucas Moura, Maxwell.

Ref: Pedro Proenca (Portugal).

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Mirror:

Chelsea 2-0 PSG: Late Demba Ba goal sends Blues through to Champions League semi-finals
 
By Martin Lipton
 
They rode their luck. But nobody cared.
They got away with it. But nobody cared.
They did it. Against the odds. Against the ticking clock. Against all the evidence.
And everybody exploded in delight, lifted the lid off Stamford Bridge. And began to dream of Lisbon.
Jose Mourinho ran down the touchline, recreating the Old Trafford moment a decade ago when he burst into the nation's consciousness.
This time, to the sheer uncontrolled, unbridled joy of Stamford Bridge, the role of Costinha was taken by Demba Ba.
A forgotten man for most of this season, aware that Mourinho does not consider him a "real striker" - though sent on ahead of Fernando Torres last night.
But with just three minutes standing between PSG and the last four, Rafa Benitez' only Chelsea signing got the touch that sent Chelsea into the semi-finals, again.
Who says Mourinho doesn't write his own scripts? That he isn't "Special" any more?
Whatever you think about him, you cannot deny his magnetism, his ability to conjure big performances in the big matches.
Now eight quarter-final appearances in the Champions League, with Porto, Chelsea, Inter and Real Madrid. An unprecedented eight victories.
And this, perhaps, the greatest, the most unlikely.
Not only just the third time a side has clawed back a 3-1 deficit, but one grasped with sheer desire, heart and courage, just as it appeared all their efforts would be in vain.
All the more joyous, too, for the circumstances.
Yes, Samuel Eto'o was fit enough to start, if not to really influence proceedings.
But after barely a quarter of an hour, Chelsea lost their talisman, when Eden Hazard, the best in a Blue shirt by a million miles all season, limped off.
Already without the midfield legs of the suspended Ramires, everything appeared to be conspiring against Chelsea, PSG calm and measured.
Yet from somewhere, from deep within their collective souls, Chelsea found the energy and drive to get the goal that breathed life into their endeavours.
PSG keeper Salvatore Sirigu had performed wonders to keep out Frank Lampard's deflected free-kick but just after the half-hour mark, Hazard's replacement, Andre Schurrle, delivered.
Thiago Motta, ruffled out of his composure by Gary Cahill, made a complete dog's breakfast of Branislav Ivanovic's long throw and David Luiz, cleverly arched his back.
Schurrle, the man preferred to Torres in Paris, demonstrated why, sweeping home on the half-volley and with Chelsea playing the referee brilliantly, cranking up the tempo, PSG retreated into their shell.
Twice in a matter of seconds at the start of the second period, Chelsea were so, so close to getting the second they craved.
First it was Schurrle, crashing first time against the bar from the edge of the box after Oscar and Willian had combined to set up the opening.
Then, with Eto'o was fouled in the resulting scramble, Oscar placed his free-kick over the wall and the keeper's glove, only for it to come back off the same piece of woodwork (below).
Blanc's response, sending on Yohan Cabaye, regained the lost initiative.
The former Newcastle man passed with poise and purpose and twice Edinson Cavani had the opportunities to put the tie to bed, failing to hit the target on either occasion, while Petr Cech held on to Lucas Moura's drive.
Even so, with Ba on for Lampard and, only 10 minutes from time, the £50million man sent into the fray, Chelsea were running out of time.
Mourinho, surely, was cursing those few seconds of Parisian madness at the end of stoppage time last week, after he had already shaken hands on a 2-1 defeat, punished by Javier Pastore.
Sometimes, though, all the pretty football in the world is less effective than a pump into the box.
Eto'o made a nuisance of himself, the ball was half-cleared, Cesar Azpilicueta's hack went through the six yard box and there was Ba, in behind Maxwell, to somehow turn past the keeper.
Cue bedlam, Mourinho's dash and words in the ears of Terry, Schurrle and others, a frantic spell of injury-time.
But Cech saved Alex's header, turned Marquinhos' shot round the post and then punched away the final corner.
Once again, Chelsea and Mourinho had found a way of confounding everything. Once more, as in 2005 and 2007, they are in the semi-finals.
This time, though, it cannot end at Anfield. Can it end at the Stadium of Light?

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Express:

Chelsea 2 - PSG 0 (3-3 agg): Blues enjoy their greatest comeback
THIS one will probably go down as the most famous comeback of them all for Chelsea.

By: Tony Banks

Just three minutes were left at Stamford Bridge and Chelsea were staring at Champions League oblivion and a trophyless season.
But then Demba Ba poked the ball in from six yards and bedlam broke loose.
The Senegalese had been on the pitch for only 20 minutes but he was the man who put Chelsea into the Champions League semi-finals.
Andre Schurrle had given Chelsea hope with his first-half goal after they entered last night’s second leg trailing 3-1, but it looked like they were destined for failure as PSG held on. Until Ba struck.
As expected, Mourinho brought Samuel Eto’o back into his line up in place of the hapless Fernando Torres.
The old warrior, three times a Champions League winner, being his most potent forward weapon with 11 goals this season.
Also restored from the weekend’s win over Stoke were Eden Hazard and Oscar – so Mourinho was holding nothing back, with his team two goals behind at kick-off. The Special One had before the game asked his side to believe and to put in a performance that would carry the crowd with them and make Stamford Bridge the fortress, the cauldron it had become on several other memorable European nights.
Only twice in Champions League history had a team turned around a two-goal first leg deficit. And this was a PSG team which had won 11 games on the bounce before last night, lost only three all season and which had failed to score only once in 46 games.
Arguably then, Chelsea’s toughest task of all, even though PSG’s superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic was missing through injury.
Chelsea stormed forward from the off and from Frank Lampard’s corner Branislav Ivanovic glanced a header wide. But PSG were far from staying in their shell, as their coach Laurent Blanc had promised.
A lightning break saw Maxwell cross low, and Petr Cech had to dive at the feet of Ezequiel Lavezzi to save.
But then a major blow for Mourinho. Hazard limped off after being felled early on, and one of Chelsea’s main weapons had gone.
Schurrle went on in his place, but it was a major setback. Lampard though almost grabbed the opening goal Chelsea so desperately needed, as his free-kick took a deflection and was heading in, but Salvatore Sirigu reacted brilliantly to turn the ball round the post.
But then it came. From Ivanovic’s long throw David Luiz flicked the ball on off his back and Schurrle sidefooted home. It could have been two minutes later, but Gary Cahill completely missed his kick from six yards.
For the first time in the game, the French side looked rattled, suddenly unsure of themselves. Willian then pulled wide to the right as the Parisians found themselves stretched yet again.
When the Brazilian pulled the ball back, Schurrle cracked his curling shot against the bar.
Two minutes later the woodwork wobbled again, this time as Eto’o was felled on the edge of the area, and Oscar, inset, curled in a glorious free-kick that once again smacked against the bar.
Mourinho called on another striker in Ba to try to force the issue and the Senegelase almost made an impact as he flicked the ball on, and Schurrle saw his shot on the turn saved by Sirigu.
Then Oscar tested the goalkeeper. Lucas was always a danger with his direct runs in from the right, but Chelsea, even though John Terry was limping, restricted them to few chances. But when Edinson Cavani broke clean through, he should have done better than volley over and then he missed an even better chance. Then Maxwell drilled his low shot wide.
Mourinho was gambling now. It was all or nothing. He had already said that the league title was gone, so this was it as far as trophies went this season. The last hope. The danger was now that Chelsea would get caught on the break but it had to be done. Torres went on for the final 10 minutes. All or nothing.
And amazingly it worked. Cesar Azpilicueta crashed in a shot which deflected across the box and Ba reacted first to stab home to clinch the tie as an ecstatic Mourinho raced down the touchline to join in the celebrations with his players near the corner flag.

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Star:

Chelsea 2 - Paris St-Germain 0 (Agg 3-3): Best Ba None - Blues through in Euro classic

CHELSEA fans warned all night they had done it before - and they did it again in stunning, dramatic fashion to reach the Champions League semi-finals


By Adrian Kajumba

Super sub Demba Ba’s last-gasp goal sent the brilliant Blues into the last four on yet another European glory night at Stamford Bridge that will live long in the memory.
In a repeat of the fight-back from 3-1 down against Napoli two years ago, which the hopeful home fans sang about all night, Chelsea did it again when Ba’s priceless
88th minute goal fired Jose Mourinho’s men through to the last four on away goals.
And it wasn’t just his players who repeated history against impressive moneybags French champions Paris St-Germain.
So too did Mourinho, who celebrated Ba’s dramatic strike by dashing down the touchline to join in the celebrations with his players just like he did when celebrating
another famous Champions League win at Old Trafford as Porto boss 10 years ago.
Mourinho went on to win the competition that year. Chelsea will hope last night’s sprint from the Special One is an omen.
But for now, though, they can bask in a sensational comeback that will go down as one of the greatest in their history.
Another sub Andre Schurrle kick-started it with the opener which gave Chelsea hope they could salvage the tie.
And just when time was running out and they were starting to look like heading out of the competition, Ba kept them alive and kicking in Europe’s top competition.
He has been something of a forgotten man recently and struggled to get a kick.
But he will forever be remembered in these parts after turning home the goal that kept Chelsea’s Champions League dreams alive.
And after Mourinho bemoaned his lack of a real striker after the first leg it was fitting that Ba answered his manager’s call with a real poacher’s goal to cap Chelsea’s glory night.
It was rip-roaring end-to-end stuff from the off with both sides carrying out their managers instructions to attack to the letter.
Their early positivity was briefly punctured when star man Eden Hazard was forced off.
But his replacement Schurrle made a telling impact to lift the roof off Stamford Bridge.
David Luiz improvised brilliantly to flick-on Branislav Ivanovic’s throw in with his back and Schurrle sweep the ball past Salvatore Sirigu, who delayed Chelsea breaking the deadlock moments earlier with a brilliant save from a Lampard free-kick.
It was a clinical strike from the German who showed in a flash why Mourinho thought he might be a better goal-threat than the out-of-sorts Fernando Torres for the first-leg.
Still Chelsea needed a second and Schurrle and Oscar were inches away from getting it when they cracked efforts against virtually the same part of the bar within minutes of each other after the break.
But they also needed to keep PSG, who played their full part in a thrilling second leg, out at the other end.
Petr Cech flew to his left to tip away a dangerous free-kick from Chelsea’s chief first-leg tormentor Ezequiel Lavezzi.
Then Maxwell and the usually deadly Edinson Cavani, twice, blew chances to kill the tie off as it remained so finely balanced heading into the final 10 minutes.
Those misses proved to be oh so costly.
Mourinho and Chelsea threw everything at PSG, ending the game with four men up front and at one stage all but Cech and John Terry in the visitors’ box.
And just when it looked like the clock was about to run out on Chelsea Ba popped up in just the right place at just the right time to scoop home Cesar Azpilicueta’s deflected shot and send Chelsea storming into the last four.