wigan 2-1

Independent:

Martinez furious over Chelsea's offside goals
Chelsea 2 Wigan Athletic 1: Wigan's manager rues 'clear calls against us' after costly last-ditch defeat

Glenn Moore

Roberto Martinez is normally one of the Premier League's more reasoned voices but his patience was stretched beyond breaking point yesterday as he saw his team condemned to remain in the relegation zone by a brace of offside goals.
The Wigan manager called the performance of the referee's assistant Dave Bryan "disgusting", before intimating that he felt it was easier for officials to give decisions against "little clubs" like Wigan. That Bryan failed to raise his flag after Chelsea's winning goal, an injury-time fluke by Juan Mata from a crowded goalmouth, was perhaps understandable. Even Martinez admitted it was a tight call. However, his failure to spot that Branislav Ivanovic was offside before scoring Chelsea's 62nd-minute first was, said Martinez, "not a difficult decision".
"That goal is clearly offside, one-and-a-half yards offside," he said. "You expect those decisions to be given. We have a feeling of injustice. I felt sorry for the referee [Mike Jones]. He relies upon his linesman. The linesman had worried me before as he got easy calls wrong. I was asked if we need technology. No. We need linesmen who know the rules. I don't want to get into the debate that it is easy to give decisions against "little Wigan", but too many times this season there have been clear calls against us."
Chelsea's interim head coach, Roberto Di Matteo, improbably claimed that he had not seen replays (despite speaking an hour after the final whistle), but admitted: "Wigan were really unlucky today."
And yet Bryan was not the only villain, for Wigan's Gary Caldwell could have won the game – or at least prevented Wigan from losing it. Three minutes into added time, with the scores level, Mohamed Diamé having spectacularly cancelled out Ivanovic's goal, Wigan broke forward. Caldwell charged into attack and Ben Watson's floated a cross towards the centre-half. Perhaps emboldened by his well-taken winner at Anfield a fortnight ago, the Scot did not go for goal but chose instead to try to bring the ball down. The chance was lost and Chelsea broke forward at speed.
As Caldwell sprinted back the man he should have been marking, Fernando Torres, was picked out unmarked at the far post by Didier Drogba. Torres' volley struck the far post and rebounded in off Mata.
A point would have taken Wigan out of the bottom three for the first time since September. Instead Chelsea climbed back above Newcastle United into fifth place, two points behind Arsenal in the fourth-and-final Champions League spot.
With Di Matteo making seven changes as he attempted to manage his squads energy levels, unchanged Wigan often looked the more cohesive side. They had won one and lost 10 of their previous 13 league meetings with Chelsea but a recent run of one defeat in eight matches had bred confidence.
For more than half-an-hour Chelsea were restricted to long-range efforts, with a Gary Cahill drive tipped over by Ali Al Habsi and Drogba rifling a low shot just past the far post. It was not until Chelsea began to move the ball and get Mata on the ball in advanced areas that they began to create chances. Eight minutes before the break Ryan Bertrand and Drogba combined the send in the Spaniard. Al Habsi blocked Mata's shot, Drogba headed the rebound goalwards and Maynor Figueroa cleared off the line. Then in injury-time Malouda played a one-two with Mata and delivered a cross from which Drogba drew a smart save from Al Habsi.
Mata continued to be the game's prime creative force after the break, finding Drogba only for the striker to be denied by the Omani goalkeeper. Aside from Mata Chelsea's most likely man was Ivanovic with his driving runs from right-back and it was a free-kick awarded for a foul on the Serb by Shaun Maloney that led to the breakthrough. Mata's delivery was half-cleared but Cahill returned the ball and Ivanovic stabbed it in. Wigan surrounded the officials but they were unmoved.
Wigan's response was bold, Martinez throwing on forwards. They should have paid for their adventure in the 79th minute but Daniel Sturridge attempted a difficult finish instead of squaring to Torres. Sturridge is developing a reputation for greed and the crowd jeered him then and when Di Matteo withdrew him soon after. Diamé then drifted away from Bertrand and buried a shot past Petr Cech from 20 yards. Wigan had a point, but they sensed three, only to end with none.

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Cech; Ivanovic, Cahill, Luiz, Bertrand; Essien (Mikel, 74), Meireles; Sturridge (Kalou, 83), Mata, Malouda (Torres, 59); Drogba.
Wigan Athletic (5-2-3): Al Habsi; Boyce, Alcaraz, Caldwell, Figueroa, Beausejour (Watson, 71); McArthur (Diame, 71), McCarthy; Moses, Di Santo (Sammon, 79), Maloney.
Referee Mike Jones.
Man of the match Mata (Chelsea).
Match rating 7/10.


=====================

Observer:

Juan Mata's 90th-minute goal gives below-par Chelsea win over Wigan
Paul Doyle at Stamford Bridge

The major riddle Roberto Di Matteo must resolve over the coming weeks is: how can Barcelona be beaten. The only help he got with answering that in this game was: not by playing like this. And, perhaps, by getting the sort of decisions from officials that contributed to this low-rent performance being rewarded with three valuable points.Wigan Athletic were looking comfortable until Branislav Ivanovic opened the scoring in the 62nd minute from an offside position. "People keep asking: 'Is it time to bring in technology?"' Roberto Martinez said before answering: "No, it's time to bring in referees and linesmen who know the laws of the game."Wigan cancelled out that goal through Mohamed Diamé's strike in the 82nd minute but were then undone in stoppage time when Juan Mata bundled the ball into the net from, Wigan believe, an offside position. Martínez said: "I don't want to get into the argument that it is easy to referee against little Wigan but that sort of thing has happened to us too many times this season"I want to believe that every team gets good luck and bad luck but we've been getting too much bad luck. I hope that means good luck is coming."Luck is a quality that Di Matteo has enjoyed since taking charge at Stamford Bridge. Indeed, it is perhaps the major difference between his reign and that of his predecessor, André Villas-Boas. With the exception of the stirring Champions League win over Napoli, Chelsea have sparkled no more under the Italian than they did under the Portuguese.Their pursuit of Champions League qualification through the domestic route received a boost before kick-off by the news that Tottenham had dropped points at Sunderland but there was no sign that that result had given Chelsea a lift. The flatness of the opening 30 minutes could be judged from the fact that when a pigeon alighted in the Wigan penalty area, it was able to stay there undisturbed for a good two minutes before a Chelsea cross in its general direction sent it fluttering to safety. "Pigeon for England!" chanted the supporters, for the lack of anything else to crow about.It was 38 minutes before the humans on the pitch gave spectators anything to enthuse about, as Mata twisted his way into the Wigan area before bringing a good save from Ali al-Habsi. The rebound bounced up to Didier Drogba, who headed it goalwards from eight yards but Maynor Figueroa cleared off the line. On the stroke of half-time Drogba went close again, heading powerfully from eight yards after a fine cross by Florent Malouda. Habsi again flipped it over the bar.With John Terry, Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole all out injured and Ramires ill, the replacements were doing little to enhance their credentials and the home team's midfield, in particular, was leaden-footed and uninspired. Wigan were playing the tidier football but their lack of a cutting edge meant Petr Cech's biggest challenge in the first period was to stay awake.The home crowd's appeals for Fernando Torres to be introduced from the bench were granted on the hour-mark, when he came on in place of the barely-effective Malouda. The opening goal came two minutes later and was steeped in controversy. After a Mata free-kick was cleared, Raul Meireles helped it back into the box and Ivanovic tucked it into the net from an offside position.Wigan's sense of injustice, along with their need to equalise, injected extra urgency into the game and Cahill had to scramble a Franco Di Santo effort to safety moments later.For all the crowd's goodwill towards Torres, the striker's travails continued. Twice he was put through with only the goalkeeper to beat and both times he fell over. Daniel Sturridge was faring no better but the crowd are less indulgent of him and booed the England player in the 78th minute when he wasted a one-on-one with a needlessly flashy shot wide.Wigan responded well but an equaliser was looking unlikely, even when Diamé received the ball on the edge of the Chelsea area in the 82nd minute. But the Senegalese created space with a canny shuffle and then blasted a shot into the bottom corner past Cech.Deep into stoppage time Torres's luck finally turned. Moments after Gary Caldwell had spurned a chance to give Wigan the win, choosing to try to take the ball down rather than head at goal from six yards, Torres struck a volley off the base of the post and it ricocheted into the path of Mata, who turned it into the net. The visitors crumpled to their knees in dismay.But they must get back to their feet quickly – their next assignments are against Manchester United and Arsenal. "Wigan were very unlucky today because they played very well," Di Matteo admitted, but plaudits are no use to Wigan now.

========================

Telegraph:

Chelsea 2 Wigan Athletic 1
By Jonathan Liew, Stamford Bridge

Wigan’s howls of protest rang loudly into the west London dusk. But Chelsea were deaf to them. So too will be Uefa, should Saturday’s result prove decisive in the race for theChampions League. Most importantly, so was linesman Dave Bryan, who failed to disallow goals from Branislav Ivanovic and Juan Mata when both were in offside positions.
Chelsea won the game, but Wigan’s sense of injustice will rankle, having deservedly wrenched themselves level through Mohamed Diame’s stunning late strike. Bryan’s error denied them an opportunity to lift themselves out of the relegation zone for the first time since December. The final toll could be greater still.
“The linesman had a disgusting performance,” manager Roberto Martínez said. “Today, my players were robbed and they now have a disgusting feeling they don’t deserve. If you are good at your job, you don’t get these decisions wrong.
“The referee relies on his linesman, and during the game I was worried that the linesman wasn’t getting easy calls. This is the best league in the world, and you should get better decisions than that. Someone asked me whether it was time to bring technology in. No, it’s time to bring in a linesman who knows the rules.”
Martínez is a temperate man, and by his standards these were extraordinarily scathing words. But they were the defiant cries of a man at the end of his tether. From Conor Sammon’s red card at Old Trafford to Blackburn’s phantom corner kick, fortune has spat on Wigan at every turn.
“Too many times this season,” he lamented, “it’s not a matter of opinions, but clear, clear calls that have gone against us.”
Roberto Di Matteo agreed that Wigan had been “really unlucky” not to get a point.
That Wigan played so valiantly, with such imagination and grit, only made the pill harder to swallow. Against a lethargic Chelsea, still recovering from prior exertions and saving themselves for future ones, a point would not have disgraced them. Martínez had lined his team up in a back five, and with the defence playing a high line and the front three employing a high-intensity press, Wigan succeeded in limiting the effective playing area to a narrow strip either side of the halfway line. Space was limited, as evinced by the 26 fouls and 11 offsides – nine of which were spotted.
Wigan’s innovation came at the price of an utterly forgettable first hour, dignified only by a clutch of fine saves from Ali al-Habsi.
Enter Fernando Torres after 58 minutes, replacing the ineffective Florent Malouda. Initially, he accomplished little bar slipping over twice when in a good position. But by that stage, Chelsea were unjustly ahead.
The goal followed a curling free-kick from Mata, headed out to Raul Meireles, who delivered it back into the six-yard box. Ivanovic nudged the ball home from close range, but replays showed that he had been around five feet offside when Meireles’s cross was played.
Wigan needed no replays to know they had been wronged. They set upon Bryan like a pail of wasps, Maynor Figueroa’s furious protests costing him a booking. But perhaps their smouldering sense of injustice contributed to the spirited manner in which they approached the closing stretch.
By contrast, Chelsea had relaxed a little, and were startled when Diame gathered Ben Watson’s pass, danced towards the edge of the area, was allowed room to shoot by Ryan Bertrand, and fired the ball left-footed past Petr Cech.
Remarkably, it was Wigan who looked more likely to burgle a winner. Substitute Sammon arrived just too late at the far post to slide Victor Moses’s shot into an empty net. Then Gary Caldwell chose to bring down Watson’s cross rather than shooting first time, losing the ball as David Luiz challenged.
In the 93rd minute, three points became none. Didier Drogba floated a cross to the far post, where Torres met the ball on the volley. The shot was fabulous – low, hard and smacking into the woodwork. But the rebound hit the onrushing Mata and bobbled over the line, despite the best efforts of Al-Habsi to scramble it away. It was desperately harsh on Wigan. But nobody will remember that when next season’s Championship fixtures are published.

======================

Mail:

Chelsea 2 Wigan 1: Di Matteo's team grind out controversial win to keep pace in race for top-four

By ROB DRAPER

How to judge Chelsea at the moment? On results, some would say, in which case Barcelona should be very afraid. But on the substance of their recent performances?
On that measure, Chelsea’s Champions League semi-final opponents should be booking their flights to the Munich final already.
Taking the more positive view, Chelsea recorded a vital win yesterday that keeps them in the hunt for a Champions League spot even though they were without John Terry, Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard and Ramires, all of whom would start if fit.
However, they needed the benefit of one on the worst refereeing decisions of the season to score their first and another offside goal in added time to overcome relegation-threatened Wigan.
Pity poor Wigan. They were organised, effective and hard working.
And they were worth the point that would have lifted them out of the bottom three for the first time since early December, but were on the wrong end of some abysmal officiating.
The first and worst decision came in the 62nd minute. Wigan cleared a Juan Mata free-kick before Raul Meireles turned the ball back in. No matter, it seemed, for the Chelsea raiders had been extremely lax in getting back onside.
At least two, Didier Drogba and Branislav Ivanovic, were offside, so when the Serb stuck out a leg and turned the ball in, it seemed irrelevant. But no flag came from linesman Dave Bryan and referee Mike Jones did not have the confidence to over-rule.
Wigan were aghast. It is rare to see an entire side surround an assistant referee. Antolin Alcaraz and Franco Di Santo led the charge and Gary Caldwell was the angriest, with good reason. It was a straightforward decision and an awful error.
More was to come. Chelsea’s 92nd-minute winner came when substitute Fernando Torres hit a terrific volley from the edge of the box on to a post. Mata followed up to finish but from an offside position.
‘It’s a very, very difficult pill to swallow,’ said Wigan manager Roberto Martinez. ‘We’ve had too many times this season when clear, clear calls that have been against us. It’s not a matter of opinion.’
He was thinking of Conor Sammon’s red card at Manchester United, later rescinded, and Junior Hoillet’s goal for Blackburn from Morten Gamst Pederson’s incorrectly taken corner.
‘I don’t want to get into that debate, that it’s very easy to referee against little Wigan. But you should get better decisions than that.’
Head for heights: Didier Drogba added a powerful ingredient to Chelsea's attack in place of Fernando Torres
Wigan were good but, for long spells, Chelsea were extraordinarily lame. Florent Malouda’s touch was awful and he was withdrawn after an hour. Mata aside, there was no creativity. Daniel Sturridge was anonymous and a 77th-minute miss brought jeers from home fans. Michael Essien looks tired and Meireles was ineffective.
Roberto Di Matteo recognised as much. He said: ‘I think there was a concern there might be a hangover from the Champions League game, and even though I tried to make some changes to energise the team, in the first half we didn’t get into the game.
‘Every game people say, “You need to win today”. We are in a position, unfortunately, where we have to win. We’re pleased we got the three points even though it wasn’t a sparkling performance. I think that shows the strength of the team.’
Di Matteo said he had not seen replays of the goals but did concede: ‘Wigan were really unlucky not to get something because they played very well, despite the decisions.’
The first half had little to commend it, an effort from Gary Cahill and an interchange between Mata and Drogba aside.
Al Habsi did well to block Mata’s shot and Maynor Figueroa even better to clear Drogba’s rebound off the line. Just before half-time Al Habsi tipped over a Drogba header.
Al Habsi then blocked a Drogba effort from a delightful Mata chip before Chelsea’s controversial opener. But a minute after his goal, Ivanovic got back to hack Di Santo’s shot off the line. And when Mohamed Diame received the ball just outside the area on 82 minutes and drove the ball past Petr Cech, it seemed justice had been done.
Wigan might have even gone ahead had Sammon managed to connect with a Victor Moses’ cross or had Caldwell decided to head Ben Watson’s cross when he had a clear sight on goal, rather than bring it down, allowing David Luiz to clear.

==================

Mirror:

Chelsea 2-1 Wigan
By Steve Stammers

Chelsea reinforced their challenge for a top four Premier League finish – but their victory over Wigan was shrouded in controversy.
The priorities for Wigan are at the other end of the Premier League and the least they could ask for against one of the high profile opponents they have to confront is efficient performances from the officials.
They did not get it.
Chelsea’s opening goal by Branislav Ivanovic was clearly offside and although Mohamed Diame struck a superb equaliser, Juan Mata clinched victory in time added on by referee Mike Jones.
Wigan boss Roberto Martinez said: “We are really down, because we didn’t get the result we deserved. There is a sense of real injustice.
“We won at Liverpool recently but there we had a strong referee. We came to Chelsea, semi-finalists in the Champions League, and looked a real threat.
“It has happened too many times this season that bad decisions go against us.”
Chelsea boss Roberto Di Matteo said: “When you play a midweek game in the Champions League, you sometimes get a hangover in the next match.
“But this group has belief and character and Ivanovic showed we can get goals from everywhere.
“But you also have to give credit to Wigan. They were really unlucky not to get something out of the game.”
There was a distinct air of anti-climax at Stamford Bridge following the midweek entry into the semi-finals of the Champions League.
The buzz beforehand was of Barcelona. Wigan? They were there to make up the numbers – except no one told them.
Latics started with an assurance untypical of a team scrapping for their lives, and in the lively Victor Moses had a man capable of stretching a revamped Chelsea defence lacking the dynamism of Ashley Cole and commanding presence of John Terry.
And they had the eccentric and at times elastic goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi who has few equals in the Premier League when it comes to shot-stopping. Gary Cahill tested his reflexes with a stinging 30-yarder that the Omani turned over the bar, but he was just warming to his task.
His best was reserved for a remarkable save from Mata in the 38th minute. Didier Drogba pounced on the rebound but Maynor Figueroa cleared the danger.
Drogba suffered again when Mata crossed and the Ivorian headed powerfully but again was frustrated as Al Habsi leapt to tip the ball away.
But in truth, it was a muted Chelsea offering and their disaffected fans resorted to cheering the antics of a pigeon that flew from one end of The Shed end to the other.
In the 50th minute, haphazard Wigan defending gave Drogba a chance from six yards but again Al Habsi left him cursing the Wigan keeper’s talents.
Then all Al Habsi’s good work was undone by an atrocious decision by assistant referee David Bryan. Mata’s free-kick was cleared only for him to return it into the box to Ivanovic. Television replays showed the Serbian defender clearly offside but his close-range effort was allowed to stand amid vehement Wigan protests.
Martinez continued the argument with Bryan and fourth official Stuart Attwell, all to no avail, of course, but the sense of grievance was understandable.
Justice seemed to be done eight minutes from time when substitute Diame produced a quite magnificent strike to bring the visitors level.
There seemed little danger as he gathered the ball 20 yards out but he unleashed a fearsome shot that gave Petr Cech no chance.
However, the last word belonged to Chelsea. Fernando Torres may not score too often but in the second minute of time added on, the substitute’s superb angled volley from Drogba’s cross hit a post and Mata bundled in the rebound.
It was so cruel for Wigan, but relief for Di Matteo and his Chelsea side.

=================

Sun:

Chelsea 2 Wigan 1
By MARK IRWIN

THE petrol shortage has been averted but Chelsea have still run out of gas nearing the last lap of their marathon season.

Roberto Di Matteo’s flagging stars just about did enough to return to the Premier League’s top five and close the gap on third-placed Spurs.
But they needed an outrageous helping hand from blundering linesman Dave Bryan to claim an ill-deserved three points.
Branislav Ivanovic was one of TWO Chelsea players in an offside position when he scored from Raul Meireles’ 62nd-minute through ball.
Even Juan Mata’s injury-time winner could not disguise the fact that Blues had got away with murder.
No wonder the entire Wigan team surrounded referee Mike Jones and his myopic assistant as sheepish Ivanovic celebrated his ill-gotten gains. For this was a defeat Roberto Martinez’s struggling team most certainly did not deserve as they fight for survival.
And while flagging Chelsea were running on empty at the final whistle, Wigan headed home fuelled by a burning sense of injustice as they reflected on the loss of a priceless point.
With 93 minutes on the Stamford Bridge clock, Wigan were set to climb to 16th place in the Premier League and out of the relegation zone for the first time this year.
But Fernando Torres smashed Didier Drogba’s deep cross against the far post and Mata bundled the rebound in with his knee.
It was a bitter pill for Wigan to swallow after they had fought back to level terms from bungler Bryan’s unforgivable cock-up.
Sub Mohamed Diame was convinced he had rescued a magnificent draw when he rifled home an 82nd-minute equaliser after Ryan Bertrand allowed him to turn on the edge of the area.
Yet all Wigan’s hard work was to prove in vain when Mata struck with virtually the last kick of a curious match.
The visitors’ commitment, work-rate and effort were in stark contrast to Chelsea’s half-hearted showing.
This was the kind of ponderous performance that got Andre Villas-Boas the sack.
Even the seven changes made to the team which beat Benfica did not explain such a display.
It was hard to believe Chelsea were supposed to be fighting for every point to claw their way back into the top four.
What is certain is that Barcelona boss Pep Guardiola won’t be losing too much sleep when he gets round to watching the tape of this match. In fact, it will probably send him into the land of nod.
It just about says it all that for most of the first half Chelsea fans were relying on a pigeon grazing undisturbed in Wigan’s penalty-area for their entertainment.
The feathered intruder was briefly ruffled when Gary Cahill’s ambitious long-range drive forced a flying save from Wigan keeper Ali Al Habsi.
And Didier Drogba should have done better when he muscled James McArthur off the ball but shot wide.
In fact, Chelsea’s first sustained pressure did not arrive until the 38th minute.
Mata’s shot was blocked by Al Habsi and Maynor Figueroa cleared Drogba’s follow-up header off the line.
The Wigan keeper was back to his best on the stroke of half-time when he clawed away another Drogba header.
It was proving far easier for the visitors than it should have against a team in the last four of the Champions League and FA Cup.
But poor old Martinez had not reckoned on the inadequacies of referee’s assistant Bryan, who would have been squirming with embarrassment when he watched Ivanovic’s strike on Match of the Day last night.
To add insult to Wigan’s injury, it was Ivanovic who threw himself across goal to clear off the line from Franco Di Santo just two minutes after his breakthrough goal.
The Serbian international defender has proved a real pillar of strength for Chelsea in recent weeks.
But not many of his team-mates emerged with credit from this display and Di Matteo admits that his team are starting to feel the pace after winning eight of their 10 games since he took over from AVB last month.
The problem is that not enough of his shadow squad are good enough to step up to the plate when the superstars are given a rest.
But with a West London derby at Fulham tomorrow followed by Spurs, Barcelona, Arsenal in the league and then Barcelona again, there is no time for Chelsea to put their feet up.

Chelsea: Cech, Ivanovic, Cahill, Luiz, Bertrand, Meireles, Essien (Mikel 74), Sturridge (Kalou 83), Mata, Malouda (Torres 59), Drogba. Subs Not Used: Turnbull, Romeu, Bosingwa, Ferreira.Booked: Essien, Malouda. Goals: Ivanovic 62, Mata 90.
Wigan: Al Habsi, Alcaraz, Caldwell, Figueroa, Boyce, McCarthy, McArthur (Diame 71), Beausejour (Ben Watson 71), Moses, Di Santo (Sammon 79), Maloney. Subs Not Used:Kirkland, Crusat, Gomez, Stam. Booked:Maloney, Figueroa. Goals: Diame 82.
Att: 40,651
Ref: Mike Jones (Cheshire).

====================

Express:

Chelsea 2 Wigan 1
Roberto Martinez fires from the Lip
By Jim Holden

THE most shockingly inept decision of the season kept Wigan in the relegation zone last night and gift-wrapped Chelsea a huge boost towards their hopes of finishing in the top four.
Branislav Ivanovic was more than a yard offside when he tapped home from close range to score Chelsea’s opening goal – a truth confirmed by TV replays that will haunt linesman Dave Bryan, who made the error.
Two other Chelsea players were also beyond the last Wigan defender. This wasn’t even a close call. It was hopeless.
The incident drove the mild-mannered Wigan manager Roberto Martinez to say the linesman had given “a disgusting performance”. It was a strong comment but everyone in football will surely sympathise with the strength of injustice felt by him and his players.
Wigan’s protests on the pitch were immediate. They were long and loud, and, to their enduring credit, orderly. They were also unproductive.
It was a deeply unjust goal but it stood – and it robbed Martinez’s men of the point that would have taken them out of the bottom three.
They so nearly claimed that anyway in a stirring finish to a mostly mediocre match. Wigan’s spirit conjured an equaliser in the 82nd minute through a fierce left-foot shot from substitute Mohammed Diame, and skipper Gary Caldwell was close to a winner in stoppage time.
Instead, an instant counter-attack delivered victory to Chelsea when a volley by sub Fernando Torres struck a post and Juan Mata bundled home the rebound. That goal, to add further insult, also had a hint of offside.
Victory took Chelsea back into fifth place above Newcastle and within three points of Tottenham in third place. But all the focus was on the lamentable linesman. At the final whistle, Martinez waited for the officials to leave the field and shook his head in dismay and disdain as they walked by. It was an eloquent rebuke.
He spoke with heartfelt candour, saying: “There is a real feeling of injustice in the dressing room. They say football can be cruel and this is as cruel as the game can get.
“The linesman had a disgusting performance. My players were robbed and they now have a disgusting feeling they don’t deserve. If you are good at your job then you don’t get these decisions wrong.
“Ivanovic was one-and-a-half yards offside – and you can’t miss that can you? The second goal was offside too but that was harder to spot. I was asked if we need technology? No. We need a linesman who knows the rules. I feel sorry for the ref because he has to rely on his linesman.
“It’s not the first time this season we have had bad decisions and it happens too many times. But I was very proud of the composure and discipline my players showed.”
Chelsea boss Roberto Di Matteo was diplomatic, claiming not to have seen TV replays, but adding: “I have to say that Wigan were very unlucky not to get something from this game.”
The dramas of the finale were in stark contrast to what had gone before. The loudest cheers and the jolliest chants of the first half had nothing to do with the football; no surprise when play was so mundane.
They were prompted by a pigeon swooping high and low in front of the noisiest section of the Chelsea fans in the old Shed End.
“Pigeon pigeon, give us a wave,” they sang with lusty vigour. And, when the bird disappeared, it was followed by a cry of “We want our pigeon back.”
That’s what happens, it seems, when Chelsea are without their celebrated ‘vintage’ English trio of John Terry, Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole, all absent through injury. The supporters resort to birdsong.
Only Didier Drogba showed any consistent appetite. He had a header blocked on the line and another header tipped over the bar by keeper Ali Al Habsi.
Di Matteo’s other forwards, Daniel Sturridge and Florent Malouda, were footballing birds of the lesser-spotted variety. When Sturridge shot poorly wide he was jeered by sections of the crowd, the booing repeated when the 22-year-old striker was taken off towards the end. He could hardly complain when his display had been so lacklustre.
Not that Torres was much better until his superb volley in stoppage time that created the winning goal. He twice slipped as he moved into threatening positions in the area, while groans greeted Chelsea’s poor passing. It was the most fortunate triumph, yet it may be one with profound consequences at both ends of the table.

CHELSEA: Cech; Ivanovic, Luiz, Cahill, Bertrand; Essien (MIkel 74), Mata, Meireles; Sturridge (Kalou 83), Drogba, Malouda (Torres 59).
WIGAN: Al Habsi; Alcaraz, Caldwell, Figueroa; Boyce, McArthur (Diame 71), McCarthy, Beausejour (Watson 71); Moses, Di Santo (Sammon 80), Maloney.
Ref: M Jones Att: 40,651roberto martinez

=====================

Star:

CHELSEA 2 - WIGAN ATHLETIC 1:
ROBERTO DI MATTEO IN TOP-FOUR CHARGE
By Tony Stenson

CHELSEA should make Roberto Di Matteo their manager.
Not only has he got an ageing, ­lacklustre side challenging in three competitions, he is proving to be a lucky manager – and they’re hard to beat.
Three minutes into added time, Juan Mata scored to keep Chelsea’s Premier League season alive.
It broke Wigan hearts and masked many failures on a day that could be pivotal in the race for a top-four spot.
The late drama came after one of the most blatant offside goals of the season. Branislav Ivanovic broke the deadlock just after the hour-mark – but the goal should never have stood.
Furious Wigan boss Roberto Martinez admitted defeat was a bitter pill to swallow for the lowly Latics.
He said: “People say we should have technology in games but we should have good officials.
“We came here, played well but were victims of an injustice. I do not blame the referee but he should have been helped by his assistant.
“He had a disgusting performance. My players were robbed and today they have a disgusting feeling they do not deserve.
“Both of their goals were offside and that hurts, particularly when you are facing the Championship. This is the toughest league in the world.
“It takes everything away from how we played and we did play well. We are in trouble and this hurts.”
The Barcelona scouts at the game witnessed Chelsea trying their best – but they will not have been worried by what they saw ahead of their Champions League semi-final clash.
Di Matteo rested many of the players that had beaten Benfica in midweek and the shadow squad were made to look pretty ordinary.
John Obi Mikel, dropped yesterday, will always been the man who promised much but delivered little, while questions still remain over Michael Essien.
He drifted in and out of the game, with Raul Meireles and Florent Malouda stepping up their game to compensate.
And what has gone wrong with Mata? Until his goal, the Spaniard did nothing. Summer signings will be important for Di Matteo if he gets the job full-time.
Wigan arrived at Stamford Bridge fighting for their lives – but they play the game the right way and were unlucky.
They defended well, broke out with gusto but struggled in forward positions.
Chelsea’s defence looked secure, Gary Cahill and David Luiz impressed in the absence of John Terry.
Cahill, getting better with every game, stung the hands of Wigan keeper Ali Al Habsi with a 25-yard thunderbolt after 20 minutes.
Then ten minutes later Didier Drogba blasted a shot from similar distance just wide of goal.
They were eventually put on the road to victory by an opening goal that should have been disallowed.
Ivanovic turned in Malouda’s cross but at least three players in blue shirts were in offside positions. It ­destroyed Wigan and lead to a ten-man crowd around referee Mike Jones.
The Latics deservedly equalised through sub Mohamed Diame in the 82nd minute and it showed Chelsea are a shadow of the side that once ruled ­English football.
Diame netted from the edge of the box and it looked as though Chelsea would drop vital points just hours after Spurs were held by Sunderland.
Lady Luck rode to their rescue in stoppage time though.
Drogba found Fernando Torres, given a hero’s welcome on his arrival from the subs’ bench, and he crossed for Mata to touch home at the far post.
It was expected. Wigan have not won at Stamford Bridge in the seven years they have been in the Premier League.
Di Matteo said: “I have not seen the play of the goals but I thought Wigan were unlucky because of how they played. They put in a good performance.
“After you play a game in the Champions League it is tough, we were definitely a bit tired.
“I am delighted to stay in touch with the teams above us. We had to win.
“I left some players out but they have accepted we are a group, the spirit is strong and everyone is needed.”

benfica 2-1

Independent:

Chelsea 2 Benfica 1 (Chelsea win 3-1 on aggregate)
Sam Wallace

Ten minutes after the final whistle Roman Abramovich embarked on his customary walk across the Stamford Bridge pitch from his executive suite in the West Stand to the tunnel that takes him to the home dressing room. With a spring in his step and his entourage in tow he was off to see the Chelsea players who are just 180 minutes from a Champions League final.
So near and yet, for now, Chelsea feel so very far from the possibility of a second final of the Abramovich years. Standing in the way in the semi-finals is a familiar enemy and one that seems to discover new and devastating ways to break the hearts of their opponents with every game that they win. This is Barcelona in 2012. This is the biggest test any team of this generation will face.
What shape are Chelsea in for the most exacting examination of their powers? It would be fair to say that last night typified their season. It was not all bad, in fact they defended well at times, and Petr Cech was superb. But there were times when the home support had to watch through their fingers as, against Benfica's 10 men, Chelsea almost conspired to throw the whole damn thing away.
In the end, Raul Meireles' late winning goal lifted the tension and allowed Stamford Bridge to forget how ropey their team had been at times last night. They are in the sixth Champions League semi-final of the last nine years, a remarkable record, especially when you consider that this was the season no-one expected them to do anything in the competition. Yet, there is no point denying there is a sense of foreboding about what lies ahead.
If Chelsea approach their semi-final with the defending champions in the same careless fashion as they stumbled through some of last night's tie, they could find themselves embarrassed. But there is no guaranteeing what kind of performance you will get from this team. With the pressure off, and no expectations Chelsea could be a different side altogether. Warning: it requires a leap of faith to believe that.
This semi-final against Barcelona, starting with the home leg in 13 days' time, will be billed as the re-match for that semi-final elimination in 2009 when, justifiably, Chelsea felt harshly treated by the referee Tom Henning Ovrebo. Since then, Barcelona have won the Champions League twice and Chelsea have changed their manager three times. One club is playing the best football some say has ever been played. The other does not have a permanent manager.
If they are to reach the final in Munich on 19 May, and potentially another meeting with Jose Mourinho, then Chelsea must find a way of stopping Lionel Messi. It was not that long ago that they could not stop Gareth McAuley.
For the time being, however, it is only be fair to note that Roberto Di Matteo has not done a bad job of turning around a very unpromising situation. From 3-1 down to Napoli in the first leg of the previous round, when he took over from Andre Villas-Boas, his team is in the last four of the biggest club competition in Europe in a dismal Champions League for the rest of the Premier League's elite.
This will be a chaotic end to the season now with at least 11 games in 40 days including last night and possibly one more within that timeframe if Chelsea beat Tottenham in the FA Cup semi-finals a week on Sunday. The Benfica coach, Jorge Jesus, said yesterday that his team had made Chelsea look "ordinary" and it was difficult to argue with that assessment.
The dismissal of Maxi Pereira before half-time had given Chelsea the kind of advantage that, at this level, is so often decisive. They were already leading through Frank Lampard's penalty and yet they could not close out the game despite an array of chances at the start of the second half. Slowly Benfica's confidence crept back.
In the first half, the Slovenian referee Damir Skomina, the man who so enraged Arsène Wenger in Arsenal's second-leg win over Milan, dished out eight yellow cards, six of them to Benfica and two for Pereira. As Pereira headed off, he appeared to take Benfica's hope with him.
Until Benfica conceded that crucial penalty to Chelsea in the 21st minute they had looked much more dangerous than the predictable, risk-adverse side that Di Matteo's team had beaten last week in Lisbon.
Then Ashley Cole was released into the Benfica penalty area, running into the left channel and controlling the ball with a nifty first touch that took it past Javi Garcia. The Spanish midfielder, co-opted to play centre-back because of Benfica's defensive injury crisis, could not stop himself colliding with the left-back. Lampard tucked away the penalty.
Benfica had chances. Oscar Cardozo had a shot kicked off the line by John Terry who later went off with what the club fear are two fractured ribs sustained in the first leg last week. In his absence, Chelsea looked much more vulnerable. Before then Pereira's red card came for his second bookable offence – a silly tackle on John Obi Mikel – that swung the tie in Chelsea's favour.
As the visitors were stretched after the break, so the opportunities came for Chelsea to put their opponents away. Salomon Kalou hit the post in the 49th minute and Ramires could not force the ball over the line. Juan Mata had a couple of shots saved. Fernando Torres turned Emerson on the edge of the area but his strike was deflected wide.
With the lively substitute Yannick Djalo on the pitch, there was greater purpose about Benfica. He headed wide before the Portuguese side equalised. It came from a corner from the excellent Pablo Aimar on 84 minutes. In the centre David Luiz lost Garcia, who was given a free jump at Aimar's corner, scored and the tie was back in the balance.
Breaking free from a Benfica attack, Meireles carried the ball a long way and just when it seemed like he would play in Ramires, he struck a fierce shot past goalkeeper Artur. Only then did the home support feel confident enough to turn their minds to Barcelona — and that brings a whole new set of problems.

Man of the match Mata.
Match rating 6/10.
Referee D Skomina (Sloven).
Attendance 37,264.

The semi-finals

Bayern Munich v Real Madrid Tuesday 17 April (Allianz Arena); Wednesday 25 April(Bernabeu)
Chelsea v Barcelona Wednesday 18 April(Stamford Bridge); Tuesday 24 April (Nou Camp)


====================

Guardian:

Chelsea's Frank Lampard sinks Benfica and sets up Barcelona semi-final
Daniel Taylor at Stamford Bridge

Stamford Bridge, once again, feels like a happy place to be. It has been a difficult, frequently ignominious season and there was a point last night, almost inexplicably, when it seemed there could be one more excruciating low, but the team deserve their place in the semi-finals despite the late scare when everything threatened to go horribly wrong.Chelsea had led through Frank Lampard's 21st-minute penalty and really ought to have made more of their chances after Maxi Pereira had been sent off five minutes before the interval. Javi García's late, jolting equaliser, with a free header direct from a corner, would have been a terrible goal to concede at any time and, after 85 minutes, it sparked something that strayed dangerously close to panic.Benfica had played far more impressively than at the Estádio da Luz last week and there were moments in a nerve-shredding finale when they threatened a second goal to eliminate their hosts. John Terry had left the pitch with suspected cracked ribs – he will undergo a scan in the morning – and the 10 men of Benfica sensed something remarkable when they won a free-kick, two minutes into stoppage time, and sent just about every available player into the penalty area.As it turned out it was a poorly taken free-kick, headed out by Mikel John Obi. Raul Meireles took the ball off Yannick Djaló and drove forward into a vast expanse of space where the Benfica defence had previously been located. It was finished with a torpedo of a shot, still rising as it hit the net. The relief was immense.Whether this team are capable of getting past Barcelona over two legs is another matter. They will certainly have to play much better, tighter at the back and less generous with their finishing. More than anything they will need to show a greater sense of control and, even then, it is difficult to get away from the fact that their opposition appear to belong to a different universe sometimes.Roberto Di Matteo's team struggled at times to get any momentum, particularly early on when they were careless enough for Terry to remonstrate angrily with his team-mates. Equally, it should not be overlooked that Benfica came into the match missing four centre-halves because of injury, including the two Brazilians, Luisão and Jardel, who had played in the first leg. García, a midfielder by trade, and Emerson, a left-back, filled the roles and Axel Witsel, another midfielder, was moved to right-back after the sending-off. With such an experimental back-four, it is not surprising they were vulnerable.The penalty, for example, originated from an error of positioning from García after Ashley Cole had surged forward from left-back. The Benfica player was caught the wrong side of his man and it was a clear barge as he tried to prevent his opponent from getting into a shooting position. Lampard's penalty was struck powerfully to the right of Artur, though he was a little fortunate that it went under the goalkeeper's right glove.Benfica had been on top at the time, playing with a mixture of adventure and belief, and they responded well to the opening goal. Ultimately, however, the red card left them with too great a disadvantage, and they made little attempt to conceal their disgust at Damir Skomina's refereeing.Skomina's last visit to London was the Arsenal-Milan tie that resulted in Arsène Wenger receiving a three-match ban for berating the Slovenian at the final whistle and then criticising him after the match. This time it was Jorge Jesus, the Benfica coach, who could barely contain his ire. Skomina showed five yellow cards plus two for the sending off in the opening 45 minutes, which was totally out of keeping with the game. Five of the yellows had gone to Benfica players. All the same, their complaints were undermined because Pereira, as one of them, was reckless to raise his studs when challenging Mikel.Benfica could have waved a white flag at this point. Instead they began the second half as they had the first, pressing forward, with Oscar Cardozo always a difficult opponent, just as he had been in Lisbon. Cardozo could reflect on two Petr Cech saves and a goalline clearance from Terry before he was withdrawn. Yet the second half was mostly a story of squandered Chelsea chances – more, in truth, than Di Matteo will want to remember. Ramires somehow missed from a yard when it seemed easier to score. Fernando Torres had a busy match but his finishing was always skew-whiff. Juan Mata was the same.Perhaps a bit of complacency crept in, too, as Benfica lost their momentum for a 20-minute spell and the crowd serenaded Di Matteo. It certainly seemed that way with the defending when García headed in Pablo Aimar's corner.It was a soft goal, and there is no way Chelsea will get away with that kind of generosity against Barcelona.

===================

Telegraph:

Chelsea stand firm against Benfica to set up Barcelona Champions League revenge mission

By Jason Burt, Senior Football Writer at Stamford Bridge

And now for Barcelona. But only just. The aggregate result appeared relatively comfortable but this was another instalment in the nerve-jangling, controversy-ridden, last-gasp Champions League football that Chelsea appear to have patented over the years.
They won both legs of this quarter-final tie but that only tells half a story. Having deservedly taken the first leg 1-0 away to Benfica last week, they appeared overcome with nerves and expectation at times on Wednesday night.
Chelsea were often outplayed by Benfica’s 10 men, and a makeshift defence, who were conducted brilliantly by the little magician Pablo Aimar, by far the best player on show.
Indeed, at 1-1, had the substitute Nelson Oliveira rolled the ball to Aimar inside the Chelsea penalty area, rather than ambitiously going for goal, then this could have been a very, very different report. It could have been a tale of how Chelsea threw it away.
How they failed to reach their sixth semi-final in this competition in nine years; how they spurned the opportunity to take on Barcelona, their old nemesis, once again and have a shot at what Frank Lampard declared was “unfinished business”.
Revenge will be in the air when Chelsea do meet Barca and that is a prime motivator.
Will it be enough? Probably not, but Chelsea’s muscularity can unsettle them. Also, there is another growing sense around this Chelsea campaign: with Roberto Di Matteo, the so-called interim head coach, there is a feeling that he is a lucky manager.
There was luck last night, for certain, with the award of a soft-looking penalty and then Maxi Pereira’s dismissal, and there is a touch of the Guus Hiddink regime to what is happening under Di Matteo.
The Italian has steadied the club, improved the atmosphere and touched wood on occasions with results. Last night his name rang around Stamford Bridge.
Hiddink’s Chelsea went out to Barcelona three years ago on that insanely crazy night of Andres Iniesta’s last-gasp goal and the implosion of referee Tom Henning Ovrebo and the wounds are still to heal.
Chelsea feel they have suffered at the hands of perceived Uefa injustices - going back to the days of Jose Mourinho - against Barca and will fear them again.
On Wednesday night it was the Benfica fans who felt aggrieved at the performance of referee Damir Skomina and chanted the name of the Uefa president Michel Platini.
The inference was clear: they felt Uefa wanted the big dogs in the last four and Chelsea are in rarefied company with not just Barcelona but Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.
So if they progress to the final then it is either Mourinho lying in wait or an encounter with the Germans at their own stadium. Gulp.
In truth Chelsea will have to play far, far better than they did last night to have any hope of going further. But they are in a place now that they would never have believed possible not so long ago, when they were getting rolled over in Naples and seemed on their way out, and deserve great credit.
The only blight for them last night, beyond a ropey performance, was injury to John Terry. It was no coincidence that they conceded when he departed.
The Benfica coach, Jorge Jesus, declared that his team made Chelsea appear “ordinary” and although that was a harsh assessment, there was truth in it.
This was an occasion when the hype around Fernando Torres’s return to form was exposed as he struggled; when Juan Mata looked what he is (tired) and when Lampard scored from the penalty spot but provided further evidence that his powers are on the wane as the game often passed him by (as Aimar constantly did).
Chelsea need to brush this aside. They need to rally and go again and forget about fatigue.
It is a balancing act with games coming thick and fast and the priority remaining to finish in the top four of the Premier League, but they are in two semi-finals, with the FA Cup also, and silverware is close if they can find the right game-plan.
It could be the most astonishing of seasons.
They got the game-plan wrong last night. They were propelled back, taken aback, by Benfica’s attacking impetus and rarely got to grips with it.
But just as they struggled, they cut a break with Ashley Cole running into the Benfica area to meet Terry’s lobbed pass.
Javi Garcia, the midfielder standing in as a central defender, clumsily collided with him and the penalty was awarded. Benfica protested with Pereira, fatefully, among those cautioned, but Lampard coolly drove the spot-kick low to the right of goalkeeper Artur.
It should have settled Chelsea but did not. Instead Benfica, with some wonderfully creative football, pushed on and Oscar Cardozo beat Petr Cech with a snapshot only for Terry to hack if off the goal line.
Aimar was conducting proceedings and with Lampard wandering, Chelsea were indebted to John Obi Mikel (not a line often written) before they cut another break.
This time Pereira overran the ball, lunged to dispossess Mikel and a second yellow, then a red card, was shown. Only 40 minutes had been played and Jesus knew he needed a miracle.
But his team kept playing. Cardozo drew a fine save from Cech, Joan Capdevila blazed over when well placed, as did substitute Yannick Djalo.
Of course, Chelsea also had chances and plenty of them - with Ramires somehow failing to turn Salomon Kalou’s cross-shot into the net, from almost on the goal line, Kalou then fluffing a one-on-one with the goalkeeper and Torres’s shot deflected narrowly wide.
Kalou then drove wide and it appeared a second goal would come.
When it did, however, it was from Benfica with Javi Garcia earning redemption by heading home from a corner.
Cue panic. Benfica poured forward and appeared the more likely scorers but then substitute Raul Meireles stole possession inside his own half and ran on to crash the ball beyond Artur. Against Benfica, that was a delicious moment for the former Porto midfielder but not as delicious as reaching the Champions League semi-final.

Match details:

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Cech; Ivanovic, Terry (Cahill 59), Luiz, Cole; Lampard, Mikel; Ramires, Mata (Meireles 79), Kalou; Torres (Drogba 88). Subs: Turnbull (g), Essien, Drogba, Meireles, Ferreira, Sturridge, Cahill.Booked: Ivanovic, Ramires, Mikel.
Benfica (4-2-3-1): Artur; Maxi, Javi Garcia, Emerson, Capdevila; Matic, Witsel; Gaitan (Djalo 61), Aimar, Cesar (Rodrigo 72); Cardozo (Oliveira 57).Subs: Eduardo (g), Nolito, Saviola, Almeida.Booked: Pereira, Bruno Cesar, Aimar, Cardozo. Sent off: Pereira.Referee: D Skomina (Slovenia).

===================

Mail:

Chelsea 2 Benfica 1 (3-1 agg):
Raul rocket does the job as Blues hold their nerve to set up Barca semi
By MATT LAWTON

In the end it was the Champions League encounter that had everything. A penalty, a red card, a sheer sense of panic when a Benfica side down to 10 men somehow scored with five minutes remaining; there was even a furious Jesus and a rather more content Roman.
Jorge Jesus was enraged by what he felt was the decisive moment in this game. Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is a step nearer his holy grail.
The Jesus moment came when Yannick Djalo ducked out of a 50-50 ball with Raul Meireles and so enabled the Portuguese midfielder to score the second-half, stoppage-time goal that spared Chelsea nerves in a competition that has proved so painful for them in the past.
The pressure was enormous, Benfica pressing in a manner that would have alarmed Roberto Di Matteo as much as it did Chelsea’s increasingly anxious supporters. This is certainly no way to be playing Barcelona.
With John Terry already off, a rib injury forcing him to make way for Gary Cahill, Chelsea had lost their security blanket. Having allowed Javi Garcia to score with a soft, near-post header it seemed the visitors might just land a second, knock-out blow.
There was a chance it might come when John Obi Mikel needlessly conceded a free kick.
But Mikel quickly made amends when he met Pablo Aimar’s delivery with a thumping header.
Meireles did the rest, beating Djalo to the bouncing ball with a high, out-stretched boot before running 40 yards and leaving Artur helpless with a terrific drive.
As Stamford Bridge erupted with a mixture of joy and relief, Jesus erupted with anger, marching out to see Djalo at the sound of the final whistle and giving the Portuguese forward the most public of dressing downs.
In truth, there were others he could have blamed. Benfica did trouble Chelsea enough last night to worry Di Matteo when Messi and Co come next. But their own indiscipline did for Benfica, with Garcia’s foul on Ashley Cole for the penalty as reckless as the studs-up challenge on John Mikel Obi that earned Maxi Pereira — Benfica’s captain — a second yellow card shortly before the break.
Even then, Chelsea made this tough for themselves, sitting far too deep and allowing a 10-man team with an already makeshift defence — Garcia normally plays in midfield — to dominate.
That will leave Di Matteo with much to ponder before Chelsea contest their sixth Champions League semi-final in nine years. If they are as cautious as this and as profligate in front of goal when they do get opportunities, Barcelona will punish them.
Di Matteo cannot hide from that, just as he can no longer insist it would be disrespectful to both AC Milan and Benfica to look beyond this Champions League quarter-final. Chelsea are now playing Barcelona, just as the form guide suggested they would.
Before we look ahead, the mere fact that they have secured another date with the Catalans should be acknowledged.
Yes, this was uncomfortable. But after losing so heavily in Naples under the guidance of Andre Villas-Boas, it still amounts to some achievement. The man who took his place in the dug-out for only his third European game as a manager once again deserves much credit.
If that second leg against Napoli was something of a blur, a product of naked defiance, gritty determination and some great attacking football, the back-to-back defeats of Benfica have been more intelligent and methodical.
In Lisbon, the interim manager got his team selection and his tactics spot on and here at Stamford Bridge he made another major call that was decisive.
Frank Lampard was left on the bench at the Estadio Da Luz but he was back in the starting line-up here and what a good decision it proved. There is, after all, no better Chelsea player when it comes to taking penalties, particularly when such an opportunity presents itself with the stakes as high as this.
With Garcia’s foul on Cole came the chance not only to double Chelsea’s advantage but ease that pressure Di Matteo’s side had been under for what was a chastening first 21 minutes.
Chelsea looked nervous, unsettled, lacking confidence.
But the man who stepped up so memorably in 2008 to score that penalty against Liverpool in the semi-final in front of the same Matthew Harding Stand converted when it mattered most again.
It crowned a fine display for the 33-year-old. One that saw him driving forward from midfield but also tracking back to assist his defensive colleagues. He also made some important tackles last night.
Jesus would have been unhappy with the way Chelsea opened the scoring, given it was Oscar Cardozo’s rash challenge on Luiz that earned Chelsea the free-kick from which they struck.
Once he had recovered, Luiz played the ball across to Terry, who exchanged passes with Salomon Kalou before dropping a delightful first-time chip in front of the rapidly advancing Cole.
A super penalty from Lampard followed, the England midfielder scoring despite the fact that Artur guessed the right way.
Chelsea continued to live dangerously, Branislav Ivanovic clearing a Cardozo strike off the line when Petr Cech was beaten. When Pereira then went in studs up on Mikel in the 41st minute and earned himself a second yellow card, Chelsea should have retaken control.
They certainly had chances to increase their lead, with Kalou sending a shot against a post and both Juan Mata and Kalou forcing excellent saves from Artur.
At the opposite end, Cech had to produce a fine save to deny Cardozo. Just as he did to divert a header from Djalo wide.
It was from the resulting corner, delivered by Aimar, that Benfica scored, Garcia getting ahead of Luiz and Fernando Torres at the near post. Fortunately for Chelsea, though, Djalo missed his header and Meireles did the rest.

======================

Mirror:

Chelsea 2-1 Benfica: Meireles stunner seals showdown with Barca
By Martin Lipton

Good enough, just, to beat Benfica.
But if Chelsea think it will be good enough to beat the greatest side on the planet over two legs, they will be in for one hell of a shock.
Last night, against a team reduced to ten men for more than half the game and who were convinced they were being robbed blind by the referee, it took until the last few seconds of injury time, and Raul Meireles' thumping strike from 20 yards, for Stamford Bridge to relax.
In the end, the aggregate score and the match result will suggest this was as easy as it should have been.
Yet it wasn't. Indeed, it wasn't anything like that.
Even after being gifted a soft early penalty, even though Maxi Pereira compounded his indiscipline over that spot kick with a reckless, stupid and duly punished half-way line lunge.
Maybe Roberto Di Matteo wanted his side to play as if they were away from home, rather than on their own soil, as a taster for what will come in two weeks' time.
That makes some sense. In their wildest dreams, Chelsea know they will not be able to monopolise possession, territory, control, against the finest side the modern game has seen.
But where Di Matteo had hoped for a performance of conviction and quality, to confirm the evidence of the first leg, Chelsea instead stood on the verge of a collective nervous breakdown, appallingly sloppy defending punished by makeshift centre-back Javi Garcia's inconceivably easy header.
That knowledge ensured the Blues fans who made their way out onto the Fulham Road, having briefly contemplated the inconceivable, were a mix of relief, defiance and concern - and not just after witnessing how their side's composure disappeared the moment John Terry's back gave way and forced a precautionary early exit.
If Benfica, a side without a striker worthy of the description despite the promptings, vision and intelligence of Pablo Aimar, could cause so much anxiety, you wonder what the likes of Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta and Co might do to them.
All that is for another day, to be discussed, predicted, prognosticated over the coming fortnight.
This was all about coming through, making sure the hard work of Lisbon was not wasted, about making a sixth semi-final in nine seasons, another clash with the Catalan pass-masters.
That Chelsea European history, of course, is a heartbreaking tale of near-misses, angst, pain and fury.
Last night those were the emotions of Benfica and coach Jorge Jesus, who left Stamford Bridge raging at referee Damir Skormina, and not Chelsea.
The Slovenian, on the receiving end of Arsene Wenger's four-letter fury last month, produced eight yellow cards - six for Benfica and two, plus the inevitable red, for Pereira - in that opening half, to leave the Portuguese side spewing.
His key decision, though, came after 20 minutes which had been dominated by the elusive and perceptive Aimar.
Ashley Cole charged down the left and went shoulder to shoulder with makeshift centre-half Garcia before hitting the floor, his appeal hardly vehement.
Skormina decided otherwise, booked the deemed miscreant and both Pereira and Bruno Cesar for their protests, with Frank Lampard - left out last week but here restored in place of Meireles - drilling home his 22nd goal in 85 Champions League games.
While Terry made a vital goalline block to foil Oscar Card Theo Walcott: Our fight for third with Spurs is as exciting as title race ozo after poor defending from a Cesar free-kick, Pereira's wild, studs-first lunge at Mikel brought the inevitable punishment.
Although Cech acrobatically repelled Cardozo again at the start of the second period, the spaces began to open up.
Salomon Kalou should have scored three times, first hitting the post - Ramires alone will know how he failed to convert the rebound - then the keeper from a Juan Mata pass and then firing wide after great work by Cole.
Benfica remained dangerous yet it was only after Terry was replaced by Gary Cahill that the Portuguese side began to get joy.
Cech denied substitute Yannick Djalo but was horribly exposed - and will reflect on his own part - when Garcia evaded the sloppy David Luiz' supposed challenge to get on the end of Aimar's corner under the bar.
Signs of panic, quelled only as Meireles took advantage of Benfica's committed bodies to smash home in added time.
Relief all round. Victory too. Reality, though, intrudes all too swiftly. It will take a hell of a lot more to beat Barcelona.

===================

Star:

CHELSEA 2- BENFICA 1: FRANK LAMPARD 'N RAUL MEIRELES SPOT THE WAY
By David Woods

FRANK LAMPARD got Chelsea out of a spot of bother last night as the Blues found a referee on their side for once.
The Blues have had plenty to moan about over the man in the middle in Europe, most notably Anders Frisk and Tom Henning Ovrebo for their efforts in games against Barcelona.
But with Barca waiting in the semi-final, Roberto Di Matteo’s men could have no complaints about Damir Skomina of Slovenia.
He booked five Benfica players before the break – skipper Maxi Pereira twice to earn a red card – and awarded the Blues a penalty.
The spot-kick was converted by Lampard in the 21st minute to put them on the way to that Champions League semi-final showdown with Barca.
Yet Chelsea had to survive a nervy lasted five minutes after Javi Garcia headed in Pablo Aimar’s corner.
But Raul Meireles settled it in stoppage-time when Aimar’s free-kick was cleared and he ran clear to crash home the Blues’ second for a 3-1 aggregate win.
You can imagine what Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger must have been feeling if he was watching the game and the referee.
Skomina’s display would surely have had the Frenchman using the same four-letter words he aimed at the official after Arsenal’s exit to Milan in the last 16.
Wenger felt the 35-year-old estate agent gave the Italians too many free-kicks and his rant earned him a three-match ban and £33,000 fine.
Benfica boss Jorge Jesus would almost certainly have been damning him at the break.
The changes in the Chelsea starting line-up last night were the returns of Lampard and Branislav Ivanovic for Meireles and Paulo Ferreira.
They were the goal heroes in the 4-1 win over Napoli in the previous round, with Lampard scoring the penalty to take the tie into extra-time and Ivanovic banging in the winner.
Benfica were bright from the start and John Terry had to be alert and brave to block Axel Witsel and then Aimar.
At the other end Joan Capdevila produced an even better block as he flung himself in the way of a dangerous David Luiz drive.
Luiz was next up, deflecting a Bruno Cesar shot to safety.
Juan Mata smashed home with his left foot but was offside and soon after Terry was furious at his team-mates for giving Aimar the space to shoot.
Terry had to take out Aimar with a bodycheck, with the Argentina playmaker rightfully upset at no booking for his rival.
Striker Oscar Cardozo was first to be booked, for a foul on Luiz, but then worse was to come for Benfica when Garcia barged over Ashley Cole in the box.
There were huge protests, and ref Skomina gave Pereira the first of his yellow cards for complaining.
Keeper Artur did his best to put off Lampard, standing halfway towards the spot and it almost did the trick.
Lampard’s kick, to Artur’s right, was not his best, but the Brazilian could not keep it out, despite guessing correctly.
Fernando Torres almost took advantage of poor defending again as he was allowed to run on to a punt downfield from Petr Cech. But his pull-back just failed to pick out Salomon Kalou.
Luiz was dispossessed by Aimar, who put in Nicolas Gaitan, but Lampard came to the rescue, tackling cleanly in the box.
Terry kept out Cardozo’s left-foot shot on the line after a superb free-kick routine orchestrated by Aimar.
Ivanovic was carded for tripping Nicolas Gaitan from behind, then Pererira went into the book again in the 40th minute for catching John Obi Mikel on the shins. It was his second yellow, so off he went.
Benfica boss Jesus had seen his side give Chelsea a footballing lesson, yet they went in 1-0 down and one man down, having had eight attempts on goal compared to the home side’s two.
Benfica restarted positively, but Cech pulling off a fine stop to keep out Cardozo’s curler.
But then Kalou, the goal hero in Portugal, came even closer, showing great skill and composure in the box before rolling a pass across goal which Ramires seemed certain to convert.
Somehow, though, he got the ball under his foot and sent it away from goal with a candidate for miss of the season.
Torres did brilliantly in the box to turn and shoot, but Emerson just got a touch to deflect his goal-bound effort for a corner. The revitalised Spanish hitman then just failed to hook in after Artur kept out Mata’s firm strike in an end-to-end battle.
Garcia’s 85th-minute header gave Chelsea some anxious moments before Meireles eased those worries.

===================

Express:

CHELSEA 2 - BENFICA 1: CHELSEA CLAIM DREAM DATE
By Matt Law

CHELSEA will take on Barcelona more in hope that expectation, but the fact they can now dare to dream demonstrates the turnaround in fortunes Roberto Di Matteo has inspired.
When the Blues lost the first leg of their last-16 clash against Napoli, there seemed no hope. No hope of a happy ending to the season. No hope of a happy ending to the Chelsea careers of Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba and Ashley Cole. And no hope Fernando Torres would end up as anything but a £50 million flop.
But since Di Matteo accepted the role of caretaker boss and started piecing together what had become a fractured dressing room, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Di Matteo is clearly proud to be in charge of the club he cherishes and the players are once again proud to pull on the shirt. It is that pride which Chelsea will largely rely on in the semi-final against the best club side in the world, Barcelona, especially if last night’s performance against 10-man Benfica is anything to go by.
Chelsea were nervy even after they had been given a penalty – which Lampard converted midway through the first half – and had a man advantage, when Maxi Pereira was sent off for a second bookable offence just before half-time. Not until substitute Raul Meireles broke free and scored in the dying seconds of stoppage-time could they relax. But it was a case of job done and the Blues are now showing admirable ‘stickability’.
The bigger picture remains complicated, with important decisions still to be made over a permanent manager and an overhaul of the squad.
But for now and the rest of the season, Di Matteo and his men seem determined to give the fans something good to remember the season by. What could be better than a shock semi-final win over the mighty Barcelona?
However unlikely it may seem, the end could yet be glorious for Lampard and Co. And there would be no better arena for Torres to show he has still got it than the Nou Camp.
Referee Damir Skomina sent Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger potty in the last round, and the Frenchman was handed a three- game ban for confronting him after the Gunners had been eliminated by AC Milan.
Carefully coiffured Benfica coach Jorge Jesus was last night similarly angry with the Slovenian, who seemed hell- bent on proving he does not hold a grudge against English teams.
Jesus was left to look to the heavens in the 21st minute, when Skomina ruined Benfica’s promising start by awarding a dodgy-looking penalty.Cole burst into the box and appeared to go shoulder to shoulder with Javi Garcia. But the England left-back went over and Skomina pointed straight to the spot.
Pereira would later regret the booking he picked up for his protests and Lampard, as he has done so often his Blues career, stepped up to send the resulting penalty into the back of the net on his 550th appearance for the club. In contrast to the visiting boss, Di Matteo did his best not to let his emotions get the better of him, but allowed himself a clenched fist in celebration.
Chelsea were given a warning the tie was not all over on the half-hour mark, though. Oscar Cardozo was left unmarked in the penalty area and his volley needed to be blocked on the line by John Terry and hacked clear by Branislav Ivanovic.
Pablo Aimar then tested goalkeeper Petr Cech from long range. But Jesus was sent into another state of rage, to the extent his chewing gum flew out of his mouth, as he ranted at Skomina for giving Pereira his marching orders. Having been booked for dissent over the penalty, Pereira picked up his second yellow card for a late challenge on John Obi Mikel.
At that point it seemed the tie was over. Juan Mata went close to doubling Chelsea’s lead and Jesus gesticulated his disgust towards Skomina as he gathered his players off the pitch at half-time.
But any theories Benfica would simply roll over were quickly ended after the break as Cardozo forced a brilliant save from Cech.
Ramires was gifted the easiest of chances to put Chelsea’s progress beyond doubt, but somehow contrived to produce the miss of the season.
Salomon Kalou jinked his way into the penalty area and placed a low cross-shot towards goal, only for Ramires to somehow keep the ball out, instead of simply tapping home from a yard. Torres was next to go close, as he turned brilliantly but saw his goalbound effort deflected out for a corner.Gary Cahill was sent on to replace Terry with half an hour remaining and the captain trudged straight down the tunnel in obvious discomfort. From that point chaos ensued.
Chelsea conceded space to their 10-man opponents, who flooded further and further forwards as the minutes ticked by. With time running out, Cech made a wonderful save to keep out a Yannick Djalo header but, from the resulting corner, Garcia gave Benfica unlikely hope.
It was the type of ball into the box Terry would have headed clear, but Chelsea were clearly lacking a leader in the dying moments.Fortunately, as the home crowd were beginning to fear the worst, substitute
Meireles broke free and slammed the ball past Artur to finally seal Chelsea’s semi-final place.
It had hardly been the performance that roared, ‘Bring on Barca’, but Chelsea just want hope. And they have it now.

aston villa 4-2

Independent:

Seriously ill Petrov an inspiration

Aston Villa 2 Chelsea 4
DAVID INSTONE VILLA PARK

Grief continues to follow Aston Villa around. They were the visitors to Swansea on the day on which Gary Speed's death was announced, their recent home game against Bolton was postponed following Fabrice Muamba's collapse and now they worry for Stiliyan Petrov.
More prosaically, their supporters fret over the possibility of relegation despite a fine late fightback with two goals in three minutes. As Villa Park was sniffing the unlikeliest of victories, Branislav Ivanovic and Fernando Torres struck at the other end in the final eight minutes as Chelsea ended a run of three consecutive Premier League away defeats with a thrilling victory.
Petrov undergoes his first bout of treatment tomorrow as he contests a battle infinitely more important than the one his side fought and lost here on the pitch. Inspirational leader that he is, he watched with his wife and two young sons and gave a friendly wave just before kick-off as a statement read out on his behalf spoke of his confidence in fighting the acute leukaemia with which he was diagnosed on Friday.
"He was in before the game and everybody embraced him," said Villa's manager Alex McLeish. "He inspired a lot of people today." Whether the Bulgarian will be back in claret and blue is doubtful. At the age of 32, with 106 international caps and just over a year left on his contract, he can be forgiven for having other targets, although the club insist the words "for now" became dropped off in translation in the reports in his homeland quoting Petrov as saying: "Football is over."
This was an afternoon of applause all round; mainly, of course, for Petrov but also for the ebb and flow of a fine game. Chelsea's players loosened up in white number 19 T-shirts with Petrov's name on the back and the message 'Our thoughts are with you' on the front. By the time the fans led one minute's clapping in the 19th minute, Roberto Di Matteo's team had scored one and threatened others.
The breakthrough was only nine minutes in coming. Torres, having already struck Shay Given's feet from a one-on-one chance set up by David Luiz's superb long pass, was denied in an intricate link-up involving Salomon Kalou and Juan Mata but Daniel Sturridge forced the ball home left-footed at the far post.
The Villa Park faithful has been urging McLeish to give youth its fling and, partly out of necessity, the manager did here. Petrov's absence reduced the average age of the outfield players to 23, with 16-year-old Jack Grealish among the substitutes.
For a while, the inexperience showed. John Obi Mikel's venomous 35-yarder took two deflections on its journey straight to Given before Mata dinked brilliantly over the keeper and against the far post.
Although James Collins headed a good chance over and Gabriel Agbonlahor was superbly denied by Petr Cech's right boot, the game seemed to be going Chelsea's way with something to spare when Ivanovic chested down Mata's left-wing corner and toe-poked home early in the second half. "We thought there might have been a handball there and maybe Torres high-kicked before the first goal when Nathan Baker was diving to head the ball," said McLeish. "I think I've killed an albatross."
Against the odds, though, the revival came. Collins climbed highest to despatch a terrific header from Eric Lichaj's long 76th minute throw and the young American right-back soon struck with the equaliser – his first Premier League goal – by appearing behind Ashley Cole to turn in Marc Albrighton's driven low centre from the left.
Only once since 1999 had Villa lost at home to these opponents and the thought of completing a 2011-12 double over them must have flashed before their eyes. But this is a not an Andre Villas-Boas team; it is one that has rediscovered its resolve. Even with Didier Drogba out with a foot injury suffered in training and David Luiz limping off with an ankle ligament problem late in the first half – both will be assessed before the Champions League return against Benfica on Wednesday – Chelsea found it within themselves to dig deeper.
Ivanovic restored the lead by heading in after Torres nodded on Malouda's corner, then Sturridge superbly set the Spaniard up in stoppage time to rifle home his first League goal since late September and only his eighth for the club.
"It was an emotional day," Di Matteo said. "It was great to see the football community respond like that but I thought we controlled the game apart from that few minutes. We had many chances. I am pleased for Fernando. He has been providing goals and now he has scored."
It's onwards and upwards for a manager who has now overseen six victories and a draw from his eight matches in charge. For Villa, the landscape is different. But at least we were all talking about football at the end; just as Stiliyan Petrov would want it.

Aston Villa (4-4-2): Given; Lichaj, Collins, Baker, Warnock; Bannan, Herd (Albrighton, 70) Ireland, Gardner; Weimann (Heskey, 82), Agbonlahor.
Chelsea (4-1-2-3): Cech; Ivanovic, Terry, Luiz (Cahill, 45), Cole; Mikel; Lampard, Kalou (Ramires, 59); Sturridge, Torres, Mata (Malouda, 74).
Referee Lee Mason.
Man of the match Mata (Chelsea).
Match rating 9/10.


==================

Observer:

Stilian Petrov watches as Chelsea beat Aston Villa in six-goal thriller
Russell Kempson at Villa Park

On a chilly and sombre day in the midlands, Chelsea crept closer to Champions League qualification next season – that is, if they don't win the competition this time around – with a nerve-jangling victory over a young and eager yet brittle Aston Villa side. They threw away a 2-0 lead, allowing Villa to draw level, but two late goals crowned an entertaining encounter that was perhaps needed after the desperate news emanating from Villa Park the previous day, when it was announced that Stilian Petrov, the Villa captain, had been diagnosed with acute leukaemia.Chelsea, ending a run of three successive away defeats, now lie two points behind Tottenham, who play Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium on Sunday, in the chase for fourth place. If they are not yet wholly convincing under the stewardship of Roberto Di Matteo, the interim replacement for André Villas-Boas, they are now resilient instead of fractured. It was Di Matteo's sixth win from eight matches in all competitions since he stepped into the breach. As job interviews go, he is stating his case quite emphatically.Not that the Italian is comfortable staking his claims verbally. "I will enjoy this for about an hour," he said. "Then we prepare for the next game." That is the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Benfica at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday. Chelsea hold a 1-0 lead from the first leg and will have to be sounder defensively than they were against Villa in the second half if they are to repel their Portuguese opponents. "We were strong and dominant today, apart from those five minutes," Di Matteo said. "We had many chances, it was a shame we didn't kill the game off earlier."As a bonus, Fernando Torres also appears to be rediscovering a semblance of form, now that Di Matteo has shown faith in him – Villas-Boas patently did not – with five starts in his eight matches in charge. Torres lashed in a cross-shot in time added on, after Daniel Sturridge's thrusting run, for his first Premier League goal in six months. Eight goals, though, is still hardly the greatest of returns since he moved from Liverpool to west London for £50m in January last year. Yet if Torres has problems, perspective almost engulfed Villa Park. The match had been overshadowed 24 hours earlier with the news that Petrov had leukaemia. Poignant reminders were everywhere, with the players of both teams wearing T-shirts on which were printed "Our Thoughts Are With You" during their pre-match warm-ups.A statement was also read out on Petrov's behalf over the PA system, in which he said. "I am sure I will beat this illness and I am determined to do this," he said. "For me, football will have to take a back seat for a while but I will continue to support my team-mates." Petrov will start receiving treatment on Monday but, despite reports in the Bulgarian media, he has not retired. "I've not heard anything about that," Alex McLeish, the Villa manager, said. "We saw 'Stan' in the dressing-room before the game and I think some of us weren't sure whether to applaud or cry. He shook everyone's hand and everyone embraced him."Torres played a role when Chelsea went ahead in the ninth minute. Salomon Kalou dinked in a cross from the right, Torres touched it on to Juan Mata and collected the return pass. Shay Given denied Torres but the ball squirmed to Sturridge, who guided in his 12th goal of the season from close range. More applause for Petrov broke out in the 19th minute – he wears the No19 shirt – but Chelsea maintained their concentration. "It was an emotional day," Di Matteo admitted, "but once the game starts, you have to focus."Branislav Ivanovic stretched the advantage, perhaps using a hand to help control Juan Mata's corner before he planted it into the net, but Villa fought back with two goals in three minutes, James Collins nodding in powerfully from Eric Lichaj's long throw and then Marc Albrighton crossing for Lichaj to tuck in the leveller. But with a plucky draw appearing on for Villa, Ivanovic headed in his second goal and Torres fired home in stoppage time.

==================

Telegraph:

Aston Villa 2 Chelsea 4: match report
By Graham Chase, Villa Park

It began with a ripple as Petr Cech gathered a harmless throughball and developed into a throaty noise that watered eyes and made hairs stand on end.
As soon as the clock turned to 19 minutes, the Villa Park crowd stood for a minute’s applause in honour of Stiliyan Petrov, who was diagnosed with acute leukaemia on Friday, with two sets of balloons in the red, white and green of the Bulgarian flag drifting over the heads of theChelsea supporters.
One can only begin to imagine the emotions felt by Petrov and his family as they looked on from a hospitality box followed by the pride when his young team-mates laid down a marker of defiance, coming from two goals down to threaten to earn what would have been a remarkable comeback.
The effort expended by this collection of youngsters – six of the starting line-up were 23 or younger – says much about their character.
Petrov, 32, faces an uncertain battle when he begins his treatment in London tomorrow, but he has been left in no doubt about the way his sport feels about him. Both sets of players wore
T-shirts with his name on to warm up and there were banners everywhere, particularly in the Holte End.
Chelsea did their bit but looked ready to depart with an easy win thanks to goals from Daniel Sturridge and Branislav Ivanovic. But James Collins and Eric Lichaj pulled Villa level with 10 minutes left to set up what looked likely to be a remarkable comeback.
Yet it was not to be as Ivanovic scored his second before Fernando Torres broke away to score his first Premier League goal in more than five months.
Petrov’s programme notes, written in the days before Friday’s announcement, added further poignancy, with the Bulgarian renewing his message of support for Bolton midfielder Fabrice Muamba, who continues to recover from his cardiac arrest, and talking up the young Austrian forward Andreas Weimann, who was given his first start by Alex McLeish.
They were sentiments that Petrov also alluded to in a statement that was read out moments before kick-off as pictures of him in his seat were shown on the big screens, as his intention to fight with a determination inspired by Muamba was expressed over the speakers.
There is something reassuring that not all tribalistic tendencies are forgotten in such circumstances. Despite their
T-shirts, the visiting players were gently jeered as they came out before the game. And after Villa fans sang “One Stiliyan Petrov”, they applauded the visitors’ song without realising it was 'One team in Europe’ being belted out of the away end.
When it came to it, a Villa team full of youth and purpose ultimately looked limited against a Chelsea side that faces Benfica next week with the chance to move into the Champions League semi-finals. However, David Luiz and Didier Drogba are both doubtful for that game with respective ankle and foot problems.
Chelsea will be delighted with Torres’s performance, even though he saw an early effort blocked by Shay Given after he raced on to a David Luiz pass, but he was soon involved again as the visitors took the lead.
Salomon Kalou sent over a cross from the left and Torres was fed by Mata, but the striker was stopped in his tracks by Stephen Warnock before Sturridge swept in from close range. Soon after John Obi Mikel saw his thumping drive deflect off both Baker and James Collins only to finish up in the arms of Given before Collins headed over at the other end as he went close to ending the minute’s applause in style.
Mata always looked the most dangerous player on the field and after a flurry of quick passes involving Kalou and Torres, he guided a shot past Given only to see it come back off the inside of a post, while a Gabriel Agbonlahor effort, which was blocked by Cech’s legs, was the best effort from the home side.
Petrov is renowned for his local charity work and there is no sign of that stopping, with the Villa captain pledging £500 for each spot-kick missed in a half-time penalty shoot-out against former England goalkeeper Peter Shilton.
Any prospect of a comeback appeared to have been halted within six minutes of the restart, when Ivanovic prodded in from close range from a Mata corner.
But with 12 minutes left, a long throw from Lichaj was met with a powerful header from Collins as Villa pulled one back and within three minutes, Lichaj was at the far post to touch in from a cross from Marc Albrighton to level the scores.
It made the climax even harder to take for Villa’s fans. Ivanovic prodded in from a Florent Malouda corner three minutes later and there was even time for Torres to end that long wait for a Premier League goal.
Although this was less convincing than it should have been, with six wins from his eight matches in charge Chelsea’s Roberto Di Matteo is staking a strong claim to become more than an interim manager and he was pleased with the character shown by his players, not just Torres.
“He’s been providing goals for his team-mates and now he’s scored as well,” Di Matteo said. “We’re happy we can score four goals.
“Before the game our thoughts were with Petrov and his family but once the game starts, you have to focus on the task.
“We keep this positive momentum and spirit. Every game and win helps us continue and believe.
“After they drew level they could have capitulated but you saw the spirit and desire to win the game and we reacted in a positive way.”
Chelsea have their eyes on Europe, this week and next season, and Villa should have enough in the tank to survive their battle against relegation. For Petrov, the battle is just beginning.

=====================

Mail:

Aston Villa 2 Chelsea 4: Torres ends Premier League drought as Petrov watches on

Amid all the emotion of a disturbing afternoon, football could never be more than a trivial diversion at Villa Park.
Yet a match was played, Chelsea won with a good deal to spare, and the Champions League place which had faded to a distant dream was suddenly acquiring sharper focus.
Aston Villa had emerged from the trauma of Friday's diagnosis to play for their stricken captain.
They worked to offer the watching Stiliyan Petrov the tribute victory, but as the match bubbled to its frantic conclusion, Chelsea carried the heavier ammunition.
Men who had declined to rouse themselves for the previous manager were now toiling urgently for Roberto Di Matteo, and the manner of their success occasionally evoked faint echoes of the Chelsea of old.
If the heart was with Villa at this time of deep anxiety, then the head acknowledged Chelsea's superiority.
And they were given their just reward when Fernando Torres drove in their fourth goal in added time.
Until that final strike, it seemed as if Villa might deliver a deeply improbable outcome.
Two goals down and fading fast, they somehow found equality with goals in the 77th and 80th minutes.
With the home fans screaming for miracles, and the Chelsea defence yielding to wholesale panic, it seemed that those demands might be answered.
Back with a bang: Torres scored his first Premier League goal for six months against Villa
But Branislav Ivanovic seized a chance at a corner four minutes later, and the late goal from Torres ended the frantic speculation in those closing moments.
On a more normal Saturday, the Villa fans might have launched all manner of protests at the way this season has turned on them.
But with the shock of Petrov's diagnosis of leukaemia scarcely 24 hours old, there was nothing normal about this occasion.
Quite naturally, Villa had begun as if their minds were elsewhere. In seven minutes, Torres was allowed to lope on to a through-ball from David Luiz, yet managed to hit the keeper with the simplest of chances. And Villa's defending did not improve.
Salomon Kalou flung in a long cross, and both Torres and Juan Mata played unopposed passes in the sixyard box.
Daniel Sturridge came surging in to thump the scoring drive with the minimum of resistance.
Still the atmosphere remained nervously unnatural, with the tension being eased by the erupting applause of the 19th minute, when the tribute to Petrov rang around the ground.
Villa tried their mightiest to mark the minute with a goal, winning two corners, the second of which James Collins headed frustratingly high.
With Gabriel Agbonlahor Villa's only potent option at the front, Chelsea coped comfortably in midfield and should have gone further ahead when they worked a fine opportunity for Mata in 23 minutes, the chance slapping against a post.
Still Villa toiled, and their efforts yielded their best opportunity two minutes from the interval. Barry Bannan played a shrewd, short ball in the box to Agbonlahor, who made himself space, struck a low, fierce drive and saw Petr Cech fly across goal to parry instinctively and force the ball away off the crossbar.
And yet, within six minutes of the second half, that lead was doubled. Again, the defending was wretchedly inept.
Mata took a corner from the left and Ivanovic exploited the indecision of Nathan Baker at the near post.
The ball was hastily controlled, a hopeful foot was prodded out, and a silence fell across the entire ground, save for the capering blue section in a stretch of the grandstand.
At this stage, the plot was apparently written. Chelsea began to tinker with their formation, while Villa seemed resigned to another debilitating defeat.
But came that 77th minute, and came a long throw, heaved into the Chelsea area by Eric Lichaj.
This time, Collins accepted the scoring header with some force.
Barely three minutes later, the Villa substitute Marc Albrighton embarked on a lovely, weaving run on the left.
The cross to the far post was low and probing, and Lichaj came tearing in for the touch. Pandemonium reigned.
Everything seemed possible. And the elation lasted precisely four minutes.
Then Chelsea won a left-wing corner and the cross was whipped into the turmoil of the six-yard box.
The ball seemed to hit the head of Ivanovic almost involuntarily.
But no matter. Shay Given was beaten, the defender was celebrating his second goal, and Villa's dream was almost dead.
Still they worked, fighting for one more improbable break, but Chelsea were preparing to end the debate.
In 92 minutes, with almost the entire Villa side stranded upfield, a ball was played out of defence and moved smoothly by unopposed players before Torres strode on to the final ball to drive home the conclusive goal.
As he celebrated his first league goal for 1,035 hours, the Villa side dropped their shoulders and accepted reality.
And we knew that their minds would soon turn to other, more important matters on this sad weekend.

==============

Mirror:

Aston Villa 2-4 Chelsea
By Ian Edwards

Stiliyan Petrov’s emotional appearance at Villa Park was an act of defiance and sheer bravery his team-mates were unable to reward.
The Bulgarian, who just 24 hours earlier had been ­diagnosed with acute leukaemia, has been an ­inspirational figure at Villa Park for six years.
His colleagues would have swapped any of the club’s former triumphs for success against Chelsea, but they were unable to deliver as a well-taken strike from Fernando Torres — his first league goal in more than six months — put the seal on the win for the Blues.
For Petrov, however, more important victories lie ahead. T-shirts were worn by both teams in a show of solidarity for the midfielder (right) and Chelsea supporters were equally respectful in their backing, but that was where the unity had to end.
Roberto Di Matteo’s galvanised Blues were as ­ruthless as could be for a team with designs on a top-four finish and a Champions League and FA Cup double.
Even if they squandered a two-goal lead generated by Daniel Sturridge and the first of Branislav Ivanovic’s two contributions, Villa’s response from Eric Lichaj and James Collins was ultimately futile. A second goal from Ivanovic followed by Torres’ strike swatted away renewed aspirations of the victory and maintained Chelsea’s rehabilitation under Di Matteo.
The Italian said: “It was an emotional day and we really feel for Stiliyan as a person and a player. But we had to do our job and try to win the game.
“You could see how the football community ­responded again after such terrible news and that is magnificent, but we showed great character and we were very professional in what we had to do.”
Aston Villa manager Alex McLeish said: “Stiliyan came in before the game and it was very emotional. We were not sure whether to applaud him or cry.
“He went around and shook everyone by the hand and all the players embraced him. It was great to see him.
“It was a travesty we did not get something out of the game for him, but the show of support was fantastic.
“When any player’s mortality is cast into sharp focus, real life and death circumstances, tribal combat for the bauble of victory and three points is meaningless.”
Chelsea, who displayed dignity by warming up with T-shirts bearing Petrov’s name, left with only their second victory at Villa Park in 13 years, which takes them to within two points of Tottenham.
Despite the absence of Didier Drogba because of a toe injury, the Di Matteo effect was evident again with another confidence-boosting success ahead of their bid to secure a Champions League semi-final place against Benfica on Wednesday night.
Di Matteo’s only blow yesterday was the loss of ­defender David Luiz at half-time to an ankle injury, meaning he may miss the game.
Emotions generated by Petrov’s illness will remain raw and his emotional address over the PA system was barely audible, drowned by a crescendo of spontaneous applause at the sight of the Villa captain waving from the directors’ box.
He was clearly moved by the outpouring of goodwill from the fans and appeared to wipe away a tear.
For him football has no importance now. The plight of the family man with two children renders Chelsea’s squabbles over TV schedules, senior players’ power struggles with former coach Andre-Villas Boas and Torres’ lack of goals irrelevant. Yet victory for them and the need to rescue a miserable season was crucial, and by the time Villa fans broke into more orchestrated applause in the 19th minute — the squad number of the Villa captain — Chelsea were already ahead through Sturridge’s tap-in, after Collins blocked Torres’ initial effort.
Ivanovic doubled the lead, again from inside the six-yard box when Villa failed to deal with Juan Mata’s corner.
At that point, avoiding embarrassment looked the only option for Villa. Yet from nowhere they found the stomach for a battle they could have been forgiven for not caring too much about.
Mata curled a long-range free-kick over the bar and ­Torres glanced a header wide. Collins gave Villa a lifeline with 14 minutes remaining when he headed a long throw from Lichaj past Petr Cech.
Then three minutes later Villa Park erupted when Lichaj equalised for McLeish’s side.
Marc Albrighton was the creator with a dangerous low ball across the Chelsea six-yard box and Lichaj made no mistake at the far post.
But Villa were again caught out at a corner in the 83rd minute when Ivanovic restored Chelsea’s lead.
Florent Malouda floated the ball into the danger area and no one picked up Ivanovic as he headed past Shay Given.
Then in time added on Torres scored when he beat Given with a low drive.

======================

Sun:

Aston Villa 2 Chelsea 4
WONDER BRA ... two-goal Ivanovic give Blues a lift
By ROB BEASLEY

MATTEO will not get the job, of course — not after Roman Abramovich's big gamble on AVB backfired
But put your money on him being offered another top post in the summer after his heroics at the helm for Chelsea.
Not only has the amiable Italian united a dressing room that was fractured and feuding under Andre Villas-Boas, he has turned the Blues into contenders again.
Six wins in eight prove that, so watch out Spurs and Arsenal, beware Benfica and, dare we say it, Barcelona?
Super Robbie has even got Fernando Torres scoring!
In fact, the £50million striker was magnificent, a clear man of the match who did far more than just notch his first league goal in SIX MONTHS. That's right, his first since he scored against Swansea way back in September.
Torres has been widely mocked since then but the Spaniard made a tremendous contribution from start to finish.
As early as the sixth minute he was through one-on-one with Shay Given, who denied him with an outstretched boot.
Chelsea's No 9 did play a key — Villa argued controversial — role in the Blues' opener just three minutes later, though.
His volleyed pass to compatriot Juan Mata saw defender Nathan Baker get a kick in the face as he dived in head first.
With Baker laid out on the deck Mata returned the ball to Torres whose blocked shot rebounded to the unmarked Daniel Sturridge, who could not miss.
Villa did try to respond and there were roars when Gabriel Agbonlahor hammered home — unfortunately long after he had been flagged offside.
In the 19th minute, the whole ground, including Chelsea fans, rose as one to roar its support for the stricken Stiliyan Petrov.
The Bulgarian, who is battling acute leukaemia, wears No 19, and it was a wonderfully orchestrated tribute to the Villa captain who was watching from the stands.
He returned the fans' applause as football showed its caring, compassionate side once again on another highly emotional occasion.
But Chelsea, who wore T-shirts in support of Petrov in the warm-up, were ultra-professional once the action was under way, with Torres leading by example. Like in the 25th minute when he laid the sweetest of passes into the path of Mata.
When Mata's effort rebounded off a post, Torres was in again only to be denied by a dramatic block from Baker.
Sturridge then shot at Given to waste another opportunity and so the Londoners' slender lead left them vulnerable.
They nearly paid the price just before half-time when Agbonlahor again let rip but this time the alert Petr Cech made a great save with his legs to divert the ball over.
But six minutes after the break, Chelsea, did turn their dominance into something more tangible when Mata's corner was forced in at the near post by Branislav Ivanovic.
Torres then flashed a header wide though it did not appear to matter, with the visitors seemingly cruising to an impressive away win.
Yet suddenly the wheels fell off spectacularly as Villa plundered two goals in just three minutes.
First centre-back James Collins headed in a long throw from Eric Lichaj on 77 minutes but the alarm bells went ignored by the Blues.
So American right-back Lichaj ventured forward again, and this time he scored — ghosting in behind Ashley Cole at the far post to squeeze home Marc Albrighton's excellent cross.
Unfortunately for Villa, Di Matteo's Chelsea are a far different proposition to the Blues of Villas-Boas.
And the Champions League quarter-finalists came storming back to secure a valuable away win that keeps them right in the hunt for a top-four finish.
With seven minutes to go, Torres flicked on a corner and there was Ivanovic to thump home an unstoppable header.
Then, in injury-tim,e Torres cut in from the right and let fly with a fierce drive that flew across Given and into the net.
The icing on the cake for Chelsea, a bitter pill to swallow for the home team. How their prospects differ as the season reaches its climax.
Villa are not out of danger as they stay rooted in the bottom six with just 33 points.
Away games at Liverpool and Manchester United are sandwiched around a home clash with Stoke.
In contrast it is Benfica at the Bridge on Wednesday for the Blues, with old rivals Barcelona beckoning.
And RDM and his men still fancy themselves to surprise neighbours Tottenham and Arsenal with a late flourish to finish as the top team in London after all.
Just a shame about those Manchester boys, eh Robbie?

Aston Villa: Given, Lichaj, Collins, Baker, Warnock, Gardner, Herd (Albrighton 70), Agbonlahor, Ireland, Bannan, Weimann (Heskey 82). Subs Not Used: Guzan, Johnson, Williams, Carruthers, Grealish. Booked: Warnock.
Goals: Collins 77, Lichaj 80.
Chelsea: Cech, Ivanovic, Luiz (Cahill 45), Terry, Cole, Mikel, Lampard, Sturridge, Mata (Malouda 74), Kalou (Ramires 59),Torres. Subs Not Used: Turnbull, Essien, Bosingwa, Bertrand.
Goals: Sturridge 9, Ivanovic 51, 83, Torres 90.
Att: 34,740
Ref: Lee Mason (Lancashire).


=====================

Express:

ASTON VILLA 2 - CHELSEA 4: BRANISLAV IVANOVIC DOUBLE IS HEARTBREAKER
By Bob Wroe

ASTON VILLA'S youngsters did everything they could to honour Stiliyan Petrov, coming back from two goals down, only for Branislav Ivanovic’s late effort to leave them heartbroken.
Daniel Sturridge and Ivanovic looked set to seal a comfortable win for the visitors.
But efforts from James Collins and Eric Lichaj in the space of three minutes pulled Villa level, only for Ivanovic to grab his second late on before Fernando Torres ended a league goal drought that had stretched back to September.
But it was still a display of real defiance from a youthful Villa team that will have no doubt left Petrov proud.
There was no shortage of tributes for the Villa captain, 32, who was diagnosed with acute leukaemia on Friday, including a minute’s applause when the clock ticked on to 19 minutes with reference to his squad number.
It was not quite the ruthless efficiency Chelsea have so often shown under Roberto Di Matteo but they move within two points of Tottenham all the same.
Torres passed up the chance to grab the lead when he saw his shot blocked by Shay Given after he was clipped through by David Luiz.
But the visitors put themselves in front on eight minutes thanks to neat work inside the box. Salomon Kalou clipped the ball in and after Nathan Baker went down under Torres’ challenge, Mata returned the ball to his fellow Spaniard.
Even though the striker’s shot was blocked by Stephen Warnock, Sturridge was on hand to side-foot in his 12th of the campaign.
It should have been more before the break, with John Obi Mikel’s arrowed shot deflecting off Baker and Collins before being gathered by Given.
As the minute’s applause came to an end, Collins headed over the bar from a corner from Barry Bannan.
Mata almost added the second goal, coasting through after passes from Torres and Kalou, only to see his effort come back off the inside of the post. Luiz gave the visitors an anxious moment when he glanced a Warnock cross just wide of his own goal.
When Villa finally came up with a decent opening, Petr Cech did well to block a low effort from Gabriel Agbonlahor with his legs.
Five minutes into the second half Mata’s corner fell for Ivanovic, who stabbed in from four yards.
Villa pulled one back when Collins thumped a header in from a long throw from Lichaj. And when Marc Albrighton surged down the left and sent over a cross, Lichaj was at the far post to touch in.
Then, from a Florent Malouda corner, Torres flicked on and Ivanovic fired in Chelsea’s third before Torres raced away to add his first Premier League goal in five months.
Di Matteo said: “I will enjoy this for an hour and then start preparing for Benfica.
“You saw their spirit and desire to win the game – and we reacted in a positive way.”
Alex McLeish said: “Stan was with all the boys and they weren’t quite sure whether to applaud or cry, but he shook everyone’s hand and everyone embraced him.
“It was great to see him. His presence inspired the crowd and young players. It was a travesty we didn’t get anything out of the game.
“I am very disappointed, but the show of support for Stiliyan was fantastic.

===================

Star:

ASTON VILLA 2 - CHELSEA 4: IVANOVIC IS BRAN-TASTIC
By Harry Pratt

RUTHLESS Chelsea showed their winning instinct is firmly back in place – but only just.
For while Villa Park was a sad, sombre place to be yesterday, following the news that the Midlands club’s much-loved skipper Stiliyan Petrov has leukaemia, the Blues wrapped up a vital victory in dramatic fashion.
When goals from Daniel Sturridge and Branislav Ivanovic had Roberto Di Matteo’s visitors two-up with only half an hour left on the clock, it seemed game over for the Villains.
But that was before a sensational fight- back from Alex McLeish’s troops, who hauled themselves into contention with two strikes in two crazy minutes.
Defender James Collins headed the first on 77 minutes – and then American midfielder Eric Lichaj tucked in Marc Albrighton’s cross to level proceedings.
Suddenly, it seemed Petrov, watching from the stands, would get just the boost he needed before heading to a London hospital tomorrow to begin months of treatment for his illness.
Yet it was not to be. Villa went gung-ho and, searching for an unlikely winner, they fell asleep at the back to allow Serbian Ivanovic and Fernando Torres to bury two more at the other end.
That late double was enough to seal victory for the resurgent Blues, who have now closed the gap on fourth-placed Spurs to just two points, having played a game more.
Di Matteo, with six wins in eight games at the helm, said: “We all feel for Petrov – and we wish him well. This was an emotional day, but we had to do our job and get the result.
“I felt we were strong and dominated the game – apart from the five minutes when they scored their goals. We created many chances and could have finished the game off earlier.
“Everyone can see Torres has been providing goals and now he is scoring them as well. It was great that we score four times and the win is all-important for us.
“We can only influence what we can do and even though our schedule is difficult at the moment, we have to try to get as many points as we can.”
Chelsea arrived at Villa Park in a buoyant frame of mind.
Already through to the FA Cup semi-finals, they have one foot in the last four of the Champions League following last week’s 1-0 win in Benfica.
Yet with Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich all looking good bets to join them at that stage, winning that competition would be a major achievement.
Which is why finishing among the top four come May 13 – and qualifying for next season’s Champions League is an absolute imperative.
With that in mind, Di Matteo stuck pretty much to the same side that had performed so well in Portugal – recalling only Frank Lampard, Sturridge and Ivanovic.
And Chelsea were quickly into their stride when Torres played a one-two with Juan Mata and although his shot was blocked on the line, the rebound fell to Sturrridge, who smashed in his 12th goal of the season.
Villa looked shell-shocked and with the experienced Richard Dunne missing through injury, seemed incapable of getting themselves back into the contest.
That all changed following a highly-charged 19th minute when, in honour of Petrov’s squad number, the entire 30,000-plus crowd stood united as one again to give the seriously-ill star another rapturous round of applause.
Petrov’s response was to join in – and give a wave of appreciation to all those keen to see him get better soon.
It nearly brought the perfect response from the Villa players as almost immediately James Collins headed over by inches and then Gabby Agbonlahor’s bullet drive was stopped by Petr Cech.
Unfortunately for McLeish’s men, they were left rue to that miss when, 14 minutes into the second period, Chelsea grabbed a decisive second.
Mata’s corner found its way to unmarked Ivanovic at the near post and, despite a suspicion of handball, he stabbed in from five yards.
It looked over and done with for the Blues before that amazing Villa fightback forced them to find the extra gear – missing for most of this season – and win the match.
McLeish said: “Stan came in beforehand and a lot of the lads didn’t know whether to applaud or cry.
“But he shook hands and embraced the players. His presence inspired a lot of people – and the crowd in turn inspired the young players. We felt that it was a travesty that we didn’t get anything – so we’re obviously disappointed.”