west ham 4-1

Sunday Times

Didier Drogba scores twice to return Chelsea to top of Premier League table

Chelsea 4 West Ham 1

Jonathan Northcroft at Stamford Bridge

CHELSEA fans sang “One England captain” and saw this derby win as another chapter in the story of John Terry’s rehabilitation. But there is a better, more unlikely comeback at Stamford Bridge. When an Italian manager with an aversion to wingers arrived last summer and a rival left-sided attacker was his only major signing, there were probably players more confident about life under Carlo Ancelotti than Florent Malouda. But who, Wayne Rooney apart, is playing better? In Chelsea’s push for the title Malouda, unexpectedly, is their Factor X.

Adapted by Ancelotti into a multi-purpose footballer, the Frenchman is deployed centrally or on the flank, in midfield or the forward line, and even as emergency left-back. Yesterday Malouda was the blue arrow directed straight at the heart of West Ham’s greatest weakness. Jonathan Spector, despite several years in English football, remains as gauche as an American college kid and Araujo Ilan, selected, surprisingly, because Gianfranco Zola thought he would track back, took his responsibilities theoretically. Malouda had the run of his flank and, back as a winger, repeatedly punctured Zola’s side with his piercing runs and pinpoint crosses.

“I think that was the best performance of Malouda,” Ancelotti said. “I hope he will play like that on Tuesday [against Inter Milan].” Even Jose Mourinho can’t be cocky about facing Malouda on such form, though Inter’s brilliant right-back, Maicon, is unlikely to be as haunted as Spector.
Didier Drogba and Malouda were an emerging combination in their younger days at Guingamp and their understanding remains intact. Drogba’s second goal, converted from close range after keeper Robert Green spilt Frank Lampard’s shot, came after his compadre was substituted, leaving to a standing ovation. Drogba’s first — the game’s key strike — resulted from lovely Malouda work. Malouda also assisted in Alex’s opener and was classily responsible for Chelsea’s other goal.

Terry was hymned for his part in that crucial first Drogba goal, which came during West Ham’s best period. After a torrid opening 25 minutes when they were fortunate to be only a goal behind, West Ham equalised through a gorgeous volley from Scott Parker and were looking comfortable. Then Terry made a break from defence to carry possession deep into opposition territory and he found Drogba, who played it wide. Malouda’s sweet centre gave Drogba a simple header for 2-1.

Later, when the Frenchmen reconnected, the game was over. Malouda collected Drogba’s canny knockdown 30 yards out and advanced, calmly checked inside Danny Gabbidon on the edge of the box and finished expertly for 3-1. In the 15th minute Malouda’s cross had teed up Alex for 1-0.

Worrying for England was the vulnerability to crosses of a defence featuring Green and Matthew Upson. Another hit Upson’s thigh and ricocheted off West Ham’s bar, another still was headed into the side netting by Drogba and just before Malouda went off he centred for Lampard to hit a post. Green did look like Gordon Banks once, when he danced swiftly along his line and launched himself full length to tip away Alex’s header from a cross by Branislav Ivanovic. Yuri Zhirkov, Ancelotti’s big summer signing, came on alongside Joe Cole but Chelsea did not need fresh artillery. West Ham had already been blitzed.

Zola said he dropped Carlton Cole because the striker had missed training in the week due to sore knees but it still seemed a strange decision, especially when Cole came on for a cameo that carried more menace than Zola’s three starting attackers, Ilan, Kieron Dyer and Mido, had managed combined. With goalkeepers Hilario and Petr Cech unlikely to recover from injuries, Ross Turnbull will probably remain in goal for Chelsea against Inter. To guess how he might do is impossible because, as Ancelotti agreed, Turnbull was barely tested here.

Star man: Florent Malouda (Chelsea)

Yellow card: West Ham: Mido

Referee: M Clattenburg Attendance: 41,755

Chelsea: Turnbull 6, Ferreira 6, Terry 7, Alex 7, Ivanovic 6 (Zhirkov 80min), Malouda 9 (Kalou 87min), Lampard 6, Mikel 6, Ballack 6, Drogba 8, Anelka 5 (J Cole 66min)

West Ham: Green 6, Gabbidon 5, Upson 6, Spector 4, Daprela 6, Parker 7, Kovac 5, Dyer 4 (Cole 68min), Behrami 5, Ilan 4 (Diamanti 84min), Mido 5 (Stanislas 68min)


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Telegraph:

Chelsea 4 West Ham United 1

By Duncan White at Stamford Bridge

They are welcoming back their old heroes to Stamford Bridge this week, although welcoming might not be the right word. Gianfranco Zola left the stadium he used to thrill with his side ruthless humbled by a Chelsea team that returned to the top of the league.
Next, Jose Mourinho and his Internazionale team: that will prove a more rigorous examination than this, surely.

Chelsea were inspired by a superb Florent Malouda, who made the first two goals and scored the third. The France international was back playing in his favoured role on the left wing, having deputised for the suspended Michael Ballack in midfield against Stoke City last weekend. He destroyed Jonathan Spector, the West Ham United right back, and Zola was even forced to switch Valon Behrami from the left to the right to try and help deal with him. It didn’t work.
The initial mistake for the opening goal came when Spector’s loose pass was intercepted by Paulo Ferreira, who put Malouda clear down the left. Spector recovered to tackle but conceded the corner. Malouda took it and West Ham could only half-clear, Frank Lampard working the ball back out to the left so Malouda could have a second bite at the cross. This time he picked out Alex, who, despite being 6”3 and built like a heavyweight, had managed to completely elude West Ham’s somnolent markers to place his header past Rob Green.

With Malouda rampant it looked like Chelsea would ease away from West Ham before the excellent Scott Parker intervened. Kieran Dyer hurled the ball in from the left – it was comical foul throw – and got it just over the head of John Obi Mikel. Parker took it on his chest, let it bounce and lashed a shot with fade and power into the top corner. Ross Turnbull, making his first league start in the Chelsea goal, had barely got his hands on the ball and there he was picking it out of the net.

Aside from that, West Ham struggled to build coherent attacking moves. Zola had ill-advisedly chosen to change his whole front line, playing Dyer on the left, Ilan on the right and Mido up front. Dyer is a shadow of his former self, Mido still looks like he could lose more weight and Ilan might politely be described as enigmatic – the enigma being how he ever managed to win three caps for Brazil. Ilan’s only real contribution was swiping a complete sitter of the bar with the game still scoreless.

“The reason I changed my strikers is that I wanted to play a more counter-attacking game and needed quick players,” Zola said of the inclusion of Dyer and Ilan. The exclusion of Carlton Cole, no doubt to his great frustration with Fabio Capello watching, was explained by Zola as being down to a knee injury that had allowed him to train just twice last week.

His namesake, Joe, was also left on the bench and then tried too hard when he finally did get on the pitch. Joe Cole needs unhurried game time if he is to get back to his best and at his rate he is not going to get it. Game by game his World Cup hopes grow fainter.

He certainly won’t be getting in the side ahead of Malouda, not on this form. The crucial second goal, which Zola conceded ended West Ham’s resistance, was again made by the Frenchman, 10 minutes into the second half. John Terry came surging forward from the back and drew in Spector and Behrami, which allowed Drogba to work the ball to the free Malouda. Drogba then peeled off the back of Matthew Upson to find the space to head in Malouda’s fine cross.
Pumped up by the goal, Drogba was in full histrionic mode, exchanging words with the Chelsea bench and nagging incessantly at referee Mark Clattenburg. Annoying as he is in this mood, it is often when he plays his best stuff and Upson was struggling to deal with him. For Chelsea’s third he chested the ball down to Malouda, who cut inside Danny Gabbidon – far too easily – and shot low past Green from outside the box.

Malouda was withdrawn late on, to allow the crowd the chance to give him a standing ovation. “It was his best performance for us,” Ancelotti said. “I hope he will play on Tuesday like he played today.” Chelsea still had time to prove they could score without him.

Frank Lampard sprinted at the West Ham defence and was allowed a sight of goal by Upson’s unfortunate stumble – flashback to Egypt’s goal 10 days ago – and while his shot lacked menace, Green contrived to spill it at Drogba’s feet. The Ivorian slammed the ball into the empty net for his 27th goal of another productive season. Not exactly convincing from the England goalkeeper and first reserve centre back, though.

For Chelsea this was an important appetiser ahead of Tuesday’s main course. It helped them flush that 4-2 defeat against Manchester City out of their system and, with Internazionale contriving to lose 3-1 against Catania in Sicily on Friday night, they will welcome Mourinho back to Stamford Bridge with confidence.


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NOTW:

FLORENT AND THE MACHINE HAVE GOT THE LOVE

Chelsea 4 West Ham 1

By Andy Dunn

THE LOVE is back at Chelsea. Carlo kissed Franco, like those Italian blokes do, Didier left the field arm-in-arm with Mark. Clattenburg, that is. As in the referee who normally has only himself to love.
No snarling, bicep-flexing, armband- pointing defiance from John Terry. Just a friendly smile and a warm embrace for the myriad Chelsea old boys who had played the role of pleasant but deferential guests.
With love all around, no wonder a Frenchman took centre-stage.
Florent Malouda took to the padded stool in Sky's Champions League studio in midweek, dispensing punditry with laid-back confidence, incisiveness and accuracy.
Just as he dispensed his football here.
Amidst the confetti of controversy that has fluttered around Stamford Bridge this season, Malouda has quietly flourished.
Considering England's long-standing travails on the left flank, it is galling to think this guy cannot get near France's team.
Under Carlo Ancelotti he has, when selected, become a consistent achiever. And there were not many who thought that when he sashayed into Stamford Bridge back in 2007 and duly contributed two goals and one assist in his first season.
Yesterday, he gift-wrapped the opener for Alex, the second for Drogba - who later completed this casual conquest of a compliant West Ham - and collected the third himself.
He was quite comfortably the most accomplished player on an unaccomplished pitch.
But not as predictably tenacious as Scott Parker, whose first-half equaliser gave West Ham brief hope.
Yet tenacity was never going to be enough for this West Ham line-up.
A line-up, it has to be said, that showed little tenacity of selection from a coach revered in these parts.
You could interpret Franco Zola's decisions kindly or cruelly.
Either it was a brutal response to the home defeat by Bolton... or he was treating this contest as, putting it diplomatically, experimental.
His rotation certainly didn't find favour with Carlton Cole, who sat on the bench with a face longer than Kauto Star's.
No doubt Fabio Capello was equally glum. He came to watch a couple of Coles and found them sitting almost next to him.
Ancelotti said on Friday that he was '100 per cent certain' Joe Cole would sign a new contract. With whom is not clear.
If the Italian continues to keep Cole in adidas bubble-wrap, it is unlikely to be Chelsea. Potloads of dough or not.
But at least Joe Cole's failure to make the starting 11 was predictable. Carlton Cole's demotion was baffling. Play for England one day, replaced by Mido the next.
Zola's post-match explanation was wholly unconvincing.
And with now-familiar uncertainty sprinkled across Chelsea's back four - and with stage fright stalking the third-choice keeper - no wonder Cole was ticked off.
He certainly would have backed himself to do better than Araujo Ilan, who hit the girders from 10 yards out, after Mido and Radoslav Kovac had spun Paulo Ferreira into a single ball of confusion. If Chelsea collect honours with this disparate collection at the back, it will be some achievement.
While Terry's form has been - despite the worthy protests of support from inside the Bridge - indifferent, he does have to cope with an onerous task.
And that it is to bind together a defence that has been holed beneath the waterline by injuries to the two first-choice full-backs.
Tunnel vision has always been the key to Terry's dominance. Now he needs peripheral vision.
And eyes in the back of his head.
Ross Turnbull might have been fumble-free on his first Premier League start for Chelsea but his positioning was suspect when Parker thumped a volleyed equaliser from 25 yards.
And Jon Obi Mikel's slipshod streak of form - he was abysmal against Manchester City - continues and his attempted interception was pitiful.
At the moment, Mikel is more poodle than guard dog.
His mistake knocked Chelsea out of a canter which had been started by Alex's towering header and Malouda's towering self-belief.
He is one of the main reasons why Joe Cole kicks his heels for most of Saturday afternoons.
Once flighty, he is now reliable. Once infuriating, he is now incisive.
It might have been a catalogue of West Ham errors that created the space for Malouda to pick out Alex but the Frenchman did it with understated finesse.
Just as he did when Chelsea regained the lead early in the second half.
It was Terry who led the charge, careering into West Ham territory like a Toyota Prius.
When defenders finally applied the brakes, the ball squirted to Malouda who picked out Drogba's run with the steady nerve of an engraver.
A good cross is one that turns a chance into a formality. Both of Malouda's crosses did exactly that. For simplicity and economy of effort, they were exemplary. Joe Cole might take note. He got half an hour but hardly made an entry into Capello's mental notebook.
And was ignored when Malouda drifted inside some woeful West Ham defending.
With good reason.
Malouda manufactured some room with considerable ease and then hit a strike of surgical precision to beat the blameless Robert Green.
In fact, Green's full-stretch stops from Frank Lampard and Alex might have only bolstered Capello's estimation of the West Ham keeper had it not been for a slight blunder that allowed an alert Drogba to tap in his 27th of the season.
Green clearly believed he could smother Lampard's reasonably hit strike and chose that option instead of pushing it to safety.
The ball wriggled free of his grasp and Drogba pounced with unbridled enthusiasm, the tap-in allowing him to smooch and make up with Clattenburg as they strolled off.
The pair had fallen out after Clattenburg saw nothing illegal about Matthew Upson's clumsy challenge inches outside the penalty area.
Drogba's reaction was a magnificent throwback to the halcyon days of epic tantrums. Like an eel thrown on to rocks, he pulled off that electrical wriggle, fist-pounded the turf and then pointed at the ref all the way back to the halfway line.
It took the intervention of Terry - the voice of reason and calm in Chelsea ranks - to somehow prevent Clattenburg from taking action.
Either that or he was star-struck. And that couldn't be the case, could it?
Whatever, it was almost uplifting to see a glimpse of the hysterics of old. Maybe Drogba has just been that bit too nice recently.
It was certainly an amusing diversion from a match that became mundane in its inevitability of outcome.
No matter how much Zola tried to justify his selection, he knows there are battles that can be more realistically won.
Just, as you suspect, Roy Hodgson will know today at Old Trafford.
Which is why this title race will go to the wire. Which is why Chelsea's game at Old Trafford could well decide its destiny.
Make a note of the date. April 3.
And you can guarantee there will be no love-in on that day.

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Mail:

Chelsea 4 West Ham 1:
Didier Drogba hits a double to send Blues back to the summit

By Rob Draper

Chelsea may have gone back to the top of the Premier League with this victory but in the coming weeks they face challenges that will define their season and success, or otherwise, of manager Carlo Ancelotti.
Inter Milan loom large on Tuesday and Manchester United are on the horizon, too.
Yet none of the those tests will be as straightforward as the win over West Ham, a team who would be relegation certainties if the League was not so bereft of quality in the lower reaches.
Ancelotti greeted his Italian counterpart at West Ham, Gianfranco Zola, with a continental kiss. It set the tone for West Ham's challenge: amicable and unthreatening.
A spectacular strike from Scott Parker rallied the team of Zola, the returning hero of Stamford Bridge.
And it may even have had some Chelsea stalwarts a mite concerned in view of how their team imploded here against Manchester City.
But there was little tension in the air and few would have feared that Chelsea would not regain top spot.
West Ham were lightweight, starting with a forward line that had mustered one Premier League goal between them this season and the side displayed little of the desire expected of teams in their position.
'Every match we play at the moment can decide our future,' said Ancelotti.
'We had a bad day against Manchester City and it was important after that defeat to have a good reaction.'
Zola stressed the positives, as he saw them.
'Until their second goal we were playing well, keeping control,' he said.
'Until that we had a chance. My team worked hard and didn't deserve the result.'
In his defence, managing the Hammers is a devil of a job.
Zola's vice-chairman, Karren Brady, used her newspaper column to discuss her manager's potential future employment and the best endorsement she could muster was: 'I don't have a crystal ball so I can't say what will happen.'
But Zola did little to enhance his long-term prospects. He said Carlton Cole was left out because of a knee problem which curtails his training and Alessandro Diamanti was likewise confined to the bench in favour of a counter attacking 4-5-1 formation.
But if Kieron Dyer and Araujo Ilan possessed the pace Zola was attempting to use, they hid it well.
Ilan had the best chance of rattling Chelsea's confidence. Eight yards out on 15 minutes, with scarcely a defender within arms' reach, the Brazilian snatched at his shot and sent it into the stand.
Within 60 seconds of that miss, West Ham were made to pay. They cleared a Florent Malouda corner but no one closed down the winger and he provided another cross for unmarked Alex to head home.
West Ham's defending was so poor that further calamities seemed inevitable. It was, therefore, a shock when they equalised on 30 minutes.
The build-up included a comical foul throw from Dyer: foot off the ground and the arc of the ball never behind his head. It would have shamed a six-year-old schoolboy.
John Obi Mikel ought to have cleared but allowed the ball to drop for former Chelsea man Parker, who chested it down and hit a spectacular half-volley from 30 yards past Ross Turnbull.
No blame could be attached to the stand-in keeper; the shot would have beaten the world's best.
Normal service was resumed in the 56th minute when John Terry played in Malouda, who sent a cross towards the far post. There lurked Drogba, unmarked, to nod the ball in.
Any semblance of a contest ended on 77 minutes when Malouda scored.
Drogba knocked down a long ball for the Frenchman, who attacked space as debutant Fabio Daprela backed off. He turned inside a defender and struck the third. '
This was Malouda's best performance,' said Ancelotti. 'I hope he plays like that on Tuesday.'
There was even time for Lampard to strike a post from three yards but he atoned in the 90th minute with a powerful shot which Green spilled, spoiling an otherwise impressive display in front of Fabio Capello. Drogba was on hand to strike his second of the afternoon and complete a routine, but satisfying, afternoon for Chelsea.

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Independent:

Malouda hammers home Zola's frailties

Chelsea 4 West Ham United 1: Chelsea top the Premier League again after making light work of London rivals who are fast going down the tube

By Steve Tongue at Stamford Bridge

Chelsea, it is clear, are in better shape than Internazionale ahead of Jose Mourinho's return here on Tuesday. After the Serie A leaders had crumbled in Sicily on Friday night, Carlo Ancelotti's team recovered from a brief and unexpected stumble against their rivals from along the District Line; a route which, like West Ham's back-line, was not operational yesterday. In doing so they regained the League leadership, having played the same number of games as Manchester United, who will be expected to beat Fulham this afternoon to keep the pot boiling nicely.
Fielding a third-choice goalkeeper in Ross Turnbull mattered not a jot, so rarely did the visitors test him, even if they should have taken the lead early on and later managed to draw level for almost half an hour.
A team that have scored 12 goals in 15 away games and not won one since the opening day of the season could hardly afford to spurn a gift like the one offered to Araujo Ilan, a striker preferred to Carlton Cole, along with the Premier League's cheapest footballer, the £1,000-a-week Mido.
One former Chelsea player, Scott Parker, did play from the start and was outstanding. Even he had to cede the game's individual honours, however, to the home team's Florent Malouda, whose form this season has been a revelation, as well as having the incidental effect of damaging Joe Cole's World Cup prospects. Cole was given the last 25 minutes at Nicolas Anelka's expense but can hardly expect to start on Tuesday. By that stage of the game, Ancelotti was already thinking of conserving some players' energy with substitutions and offering those like Cole and Salomon Kalou a trot. "We played a good match," said Chelsea's manager, who met talk of the special one's return to his former kingdom with a typically down-to-earth dismissal: "I am a normal man. This is Roman Abramovich's kingdom."
Mourinho will need to do better than another local hero, Gianfranco Zola, who hoped to surprise Chelsea with speedy counter-attacks. When Ilan, a Brazilian striker on loan from St Etienne, passed up a glorious chance in the 11th minute, it seemed unlikely that the visitors would be blessed with a better one all afternoon and so it proved. Mido's aggressive persistence at the byline forced the opportunity, hustling Paulo Ferreira off the ball, which he then laid back for Ilan, who hoofed it high over the bar.
Chelsea had already threatened from a series of corners and duly took the lead within four more minutes. John Terry, ritually abused by his fellow Eastenders in the West Ham section, laid a pass to Malouda, whose cross was headed in by the unmarked Alex. It was therefore all the more unexpected that the visitors were next to score. Kieron Dyer – yes, him – took a throw-in that eluded John Obi Mikel, enabling Parker to chest it down and sent a spectacular volley dipping over the helpless Turnbull.
Robert Green kept them level until 10 minutes into the second half with saves from Frank Lampard and Ferreira, but was then betrayed by his defence again. They failed to stop Terry leading a charge, allowing Didier Drogba to set up Malouda for another perfect cross that the Ivorian headed in from a yard out under no challenge.
Malouda deserved a goal himself and was appropriately rewarded with quarter of an hour to play, turning inside a defender on to his favoured left foot after Drogba headed down to him. Lampard hit a post, Green made one fine save from another Alex header, then failed to hold Lampard's low shot, Drogba following up for a tap-in.
West Ham, after a couple of wins had propelled them to the heights of 13th place, have now lost three in a row and go to Arsenal next. The weakness at both ends of the pitch is alarming, the only consolation being how many other poor teams are down there with them. Zola was happy to talk about Chelsea instead, suggesting: "I think they have an advantage on Inter. They have to score only one goal. It will be tough but I'd give a slight advantage to Chelsea."

Attendance: 41,755
Referee: Mark Clattenburg
Man of the match: Malouda
Match rating: 6/10

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Observer:

Florent Malouda ends fine display with goal as Chelsea regain top spot

Chelsea 4 Alex 16, Drogba 56, Malouda 77, Drogba 90 West Ham United 1 Parker 30

Amy Lawrence at Stamford Bridge

Three days before the man himself returns to Stamford Bridge, Chelsea put on a performance that was classic Mourinho. There was no great need to exert themselves and, against a pedestrian West Ham side, they plucked the three points necessary to regain position at the top of the Premier League table.
They were even able to tweak their goal difference without sweating too much. No need to tell Carlo Ancelotti, but you-know-who would have been proud. Not that José Mourinho can afford to be quite so thrilled about his current charges because Internazionale lost 3-1 at Catania last night, are shedding an increasing number of players to injury and suspension, and have actually won fewer league games than West Ham in recent weeks. Ancelotti has the air of a man feeling calm before the storm.
With the exception of Florent Malouda, whose contribution shone in terms of vigour and finesse, Chelsea were a couple of gears below the levels they will require against Inter in the Champions League on Tuesday night. Not that there will be any complaints about a comfortable win after a month that threw up domestic defeats by Everton and Manchester City. "It was important to have a reaction and we have come back in the right way," Ancelotti pointed out. "We want to maintain our determination and concentration now because every game can decide our future."
Florent Malouda was at his best against West Ham, with the winger causing West Ham all sorts of problems down the Chelsea left. Malouda chipped in with two assists to go alongside his goal, and also hit the post in an impressive all-round display. It was a calm afternoon for Ross Turnbull, the third-choice goalkeeper who is almost certain to play against Inter in what will be only his fourth appearance for Chelsea. If Ancelotti was hoping for the reserve's understudy to get his eye in and warm up his gloves before the spotlight intensifies, the truth was, it wasn't until stoppage time that he pulled off a genuine save, parrying well from Radoslav Kovac.
Mind you, much of his underemployment was down to West Ham, who scored a spectacular goal Turnbull could not get near to, but, otherwise, fluffed their lines. Araújo Ilan ought to have given them the lead in the 12th minute, but the Brazilian blazed a rasping shot over the crossbar.
Three minutes later, Chelsea were in front. Malouda picked out Alex with a fizzing cross and the centre-half hung high in the air to thump in a header from close range. Chelsea had barely stopped celebrating when they were pummelling Robert Green's goal again. Matthew Upson's touch was panicked and he had his keeper to thank for preventing an own goal.
West Ham's response was as enthralling as you could expect from a team whose attacking focal point, Mido, strained to break into a walking pace. So it came as a shuddering thunderbolt when Scott Parker gathered possession in midfield and belted the ball with beautiful ferocity and dip into the top corner from 25 yards out. The equaliser crowned an energetic display by the ex-Chelsea man, who last scored in the Premier League more than a year ago.
Ten minutes after half-time, Chelsea profited from an incisive break sparked by a bullish run by John Terry and helped on by a touch from their best player, Malouda. The Frenchman's cross again laid it on a plate for a team-mate and Didier Drogba was the grateful recipient, nodding in from close range.
Gianfranco Zola was disappointed with the strategic mistakes made when his players got drawn out of position because of Terry's run. "That goal was a big blow," he said. "We lost our shape. But Chelsea really punish you when you make mistakes."
Malouda scored the goal his performance deserved in the 75th minute, with a fine strike, sidestepping his marker before drilling past Green. Ancelotti enthused that it was as good a game as he has seen the winger produce. Drogba was not bad, either, and snaffled Chelsea's fourth in the last minute of the match, capitalising on a loose touch from the West Ham keeper.
Zola believes Chelsea have the edge for their tussle with Inter. "It will be tough because they are playing against a good side and a manager who knows Chelsea well and will be preparing counter measures. It will be very close, but I give a very small advantage to Chelsea."

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stoke 2-0

The Times

Defiant John Terry puts Chelsea through to FA Cup semi-finals

Chelsea 2 Stoke City 0
Matt Hughes, Deputy Football Correspondent

Most people behave differently at home to their carefully cultivated professional personas, and John Terry is no different.
The man who claimed last week to have put the stripping of his England captaincy behind him demonstrated yesterday that he has done no such thing, defiantly raising his shirt and pointing to his armband after scoring the goal that took Chelsea into the FA Cup semi-finals.
His exit from the pitch was more dramatic than anything that took place during the game — stripped to the waist like a latter-day gladiator, aside from his black armband — hardly the actions of an individual happy with his lot.
Terry may stew on his loss of status for the rest of his life. The Chelsea captain clearly remains bitter about being demoted from a position craved since childhood, as is shown in his eagerness to assert his authority whenever possible. Chelsea are willing to indulge their captain’s sense of theatre because he remains an outstanding leader for them in every sense, although Fabio Capello is unlikely to be impressed by such deliberately dramatic shows of defiance. Terry was egged on by a supporting home crowd chanting, “There’s only one England captain”, but unfortunately for him, that person is Rio Ferdinand. It would be better for everyone if Terry moved on.
In mitigation, Terry had to contend with the most hostile abuse he has encountered since news of that affair was made public, the Stoke City fans providing a sustained sing-a-long that made Wednesday’s mixed reception at Wembley sound like the warmest of welcomes. What began as a pantomime chorus of “John Terry, are you my dad?” degenerated into increasingly vicious chants. Others would have shrugged off such mindless abuse, but Terry’s skin is not the thickest, as Ray Wilkins, the Chelsea assistant first-team coach, unwittingly acknowledged.
“He was taking a bit too much stick from the Stoke fans and wanted to demonstrate that,” Wilkins said. “The abuse has run its course, but it’s happening and John’s just getting on with the situation. He’s dealing with the situation in the only way he can: committing himself to the cause. That was another superb performance from him. He’s an exceptional captain and we’re delighted to have him on board.”
Tony Pulis, the manager of a typically physical Stoke side who began well but were well beaten by the end, was less sympathetic. “Our fans are brilliant, different class,” Pulis said. “John will have to accept he’ll take stick, but if John does well in the World Cup and wins it, he’ll come back a hero.”
Terry will have to develop a tougher hide if he is to fulfil his oft-stated ambition of going into management, although if that plan does not come off, he should have no problems finding work as a dramatist, scriptwriter or even a choreographer. In addition to a natural attraction to the limelight, the 29-year-old has the rare knack of casting a shadow over events that are occurring around him and shaping proceedings to his will, which for Chelsea yesterday was just as well.
Carlo Ancelotti’s side started sluggishly and were overrun in midfield. Were it not for a goalline clearance from John Obi Mikel, Stoke would have taken the lead through a volley by Dean Whitehead in the eighteenth minute, but the visiting team failed to capitalise on their early pressure and soon found themselves relegated to bit-part players in the latest instalment of the John Terry Story.
Jeers poured down upon him as he came within screaming distance of the visiting supporters in the 35th minute but Terry showed that he has presence of mind, on the field at least, laying off a poorly cleared corner into the direction of Frank Lampard, who beat Thomas Sorensen with a first-time drive from the edge of the penalty area.
Lampard goes about his business far more quietly than Terry these days, but is equally important to club and country, as is demonstrated by the fact that he has scored 19 goals from midfield by the start of March.
Chelsea’s progress to a ninth FA Cup semi-final in 17 years, and three in the past four, was never in doubt from that point as Stoke faded, while Terry’s role as a match-winner appeared preordained. Sorensen made good saves from Nicolas Anelka and Alex from successive corners in the 66th minute, but was unable to prevent Terry making it third time lucky a minute later, meeting Lampard’s corner at the back post before completing his celebration at the corner flag.
Such determination to assert himself suggests that Terry may not be as mentally strong as is widely assumed, and even he conceded that he wanted to make a point. “The armband means a lot, of course,” Terry said. “Chelsea have been very supportive, the players as well, but the main thing was to come back from a disappointing result last week [a 4-2 defeat at home to Manchester City].”
If Terry is willing to bare his tortured soul in such a fashion at Stamford Bridge, who knows how he would express himself on the subject in his own home? Given the starting point of this sorry saga, it is probably sensible not to speculate.

Chelsea (4-1-3-2): Hilário 6 B Ivanovic 6 Alex 5 J Terry 6 P Ferreira 6 J O Mikel 5 S Kalou 6 F Lampard 7 F Malouda 6 D Drogba 6 N Anelka 6. Not used: R Turnbull, J Cole, Deco, D Sturridge, N Matic, G Kakuta, P van Aanholt.

Stoke City (4-4-2): T Sorensen 6 A Wilkinson 5 Abdoulaye Faye 6 R Huth 6 D Collins 5 D Whitehead 6 G Whelan 5 R Delap 6 Tuncay Sanli 4 R Fuller 5 M Sidibe 6. Substitutes: D Pugh 5 (for Whelan, 45min), D Kitson 5 (for Sidibe, 62). Not used: S Simonsen, L Lawrence, Amdy Faye, A Davies, L Moult.

Referee: M Atkinson. Attendance: 41,322.

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Independent:

Terry revels in role of captain fantastic
Chelsea 2 Stoke City 0

By Sam Wallace

Some of them were quite witty, most of them were plain abusive but none of the chants that Stoke City's supporters aimed at John Terry yesterday appeared to have the desired effect of unsettling the performance of the former England captain.
The stick, if that is the right word, that has been directed at Terry from the stands in the aftermath of the Wayne Bridge saga is probably the least of his worries but there is no doubt that yesterday he was subjected to the most sustained barrage yet. Just about the only one printable was "John Terry – are you my dad?" and you can imagine that it went downhill from there.
Say what you like about Terry, but the abuse just seems to bounce off him. When he scored Chelsea's second goal, he rolled up the sleeve of his left arm, leaving just the captain's armband around his biceps which he pointed to as he ran back towards the Stoke supporters in the Shed End.
Having been cruel before then, the Stoke fans descended into outright abuse of the man who was once England captain. This kind of stick is usually par for the course but the level of the abuse gave pause for thought. Stoke are the sort of Premier League club whose fans also follow the national team and if this was their considered opinion on Terry then perhaps there is more animosity to come from England supporters.
It was Terry's first goal since he was stripped of the England captaincy and, the worse the abuse gets from the rest, the more they love him at Stamford Bridge. He left the pitch shirtless again yesterday having given it to a fan as he completed another mini lap of honour that included its fair share of chest-thumping and kiss-blowing.
Terry will lead Chelsea into their ninth FA Cup semi-final in the last 17 years against Aston Villa next month and there was no doubt that they deserved it. The FA Cup holders gave a textbook display in negating the very obvious threat of Stoke that meant Henrique Hilario in the Chelsea goal was scarcely called upon to make a save in the second half.
Frank Lampard, who scored the first Chelsea goal, was also integral to the victory against the same Stoke team that eliminated Arsenal and Manchester City. Tony Pulis was without five first-team players and when he lost Glenn Whelan to injury just before half-time it was hard to see how the typical Stoke game plan would have any effect.
Rory Delap's throw-ins were repelled by a Chelsea defence that did not look under any pressure other than two occasions in the first 15 minutes. The first was Robert Huth's header that was nodded on by Mamady Sidibe, just over the bar. Dean Whitehead's shot was kicked off the line by John Obi Mikel and from then on it was one-way traffic.
There were few regrets from Pulis who accepted his side had finally run into a team who lived up to their billing as one of the strongest in the country. "You have your chances, you've got to take them when you play the top teams," Pulis said. "We've knocked Arsenal and Manchester City out. To pull Chelsea out of the hat at Stamford Bridge was a difficult tie. The players were first-class. We gave everything."
Lampard's goal came on 35 minutes as Chelsea's pressure became too much. A corner was half-cleared by Stoke to Terry who teed up Lampard on the edge of the area. His shot went in having taken a slight deflection off Abdoulaye Faye.
For Joe Cole it was yet another afternoon of pacing the touchline waiting in vain for the nod from Carlo Ancelotti to get his opportunity. It never came. With the game effectively sealed with more than 20 minutes to play there would have been no harm in giving him a run-out. Cole could be forgiven for getting paranoid that his manager is taking his contract stand-off personally.
In the absence of Ancelotti, Ray Wilkins explained that Cole would simply have to wait. "We have a superb squad of players and Carlo has a very difficult task in picking a side," he said. "Everyone merits a place in our team, but that was the side. Joe's had a very traumatic time with his knee, and you get highs and lows. He'll play plenty of games for Chelsea, don't you worry. I've no idea [about his contract], but that will be done towards the latter stages of the season."
Terry headed the second goal – via a deflection off Andy Wilkinson – from Lampard's corner in the 67th minute and that was it. Terry paraded his armband in front of the away end but it did not persuade them to shut up. He knows there will be plenty more of that abuse before the end of the season.

Chelsea (4-1-3-2): Hilario; Ivanovic, Terry, Alex, Ferreira; Mikel; Kalou, Lampard, Malouda; Drogba, Anelka. Substitutes not used: Turnbull (gk), J Cole, Deco, Sturridge, Matic, Kakuta, Van Aanholt.
Stoke City (4-4-2): Sorensen; Wilkinson, Abdoulaye Faye, Huth, Collins; Whitehead, Whelan (Pugh, 45), Delap, Tuncay (Lawrence, 61); Sidibe (Kitson, 61), Fuller. Substitutes not used: Simonsen (gk), Amdy Faye, Davies, Moult.
Referee: M Atkinson (West Yorkshire).
Booked: Chelsea Terry.
Man of the match: Lampard.
Attendance: 41,322.

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

Guardian:

John Terry header secures Chelsea FA Cup semi-final spot
Chelsea 2 Lampard 35, Terry 67 Stoke City 0
Kevin McCarra at Stamford Bridge

Chelsea entered the semi-finals of the FA Cup with a purposefulness that almost suggested the defence of the trophy was their priority. The victors were probably more intent on recovering confidence after consecutive defeats in other competitions. It was, in a sense, to their advantage that Stoke City should demand the best of them.
Frank Lampard opened the scoring before the interval, but victory was not clinched until the second goal in the 67th minute. Chelsea had been insistent. Thomas Sorensen put a Nicolas Anelka header behind. That corner led to another and John Terry's header was not to be denied. Chelsea required the margin of error since their goalkeeping situation is worrisome while Henrique Hilário deputises for the injured Petr Cech.
Stoke would have been encouraged by that, but morale was also high because they were unbeaten in away games since Boxing Day. Tony Pulis's team disturbs opponents precisely because of their predictability. Opponents know what to expect of a direct approach that includes the long throw-ins from Rory Delap but do not have a method to thwart it consistently.
In the opening quarter of an hour, there were two occasions when Chelsea were in distress as the ball was hurled into the centre. The first of those incidents saw Ricardo Fuller mis-hitting a shot that Mamady Sidibe might have converted had it not been for a block by Alex. Carlo Ancelotti's side also had cause to be uneasy about Hilário.
With 14 minutes gone, there was panic at another Delap delivery and the Portuguese goalkeeper's weak punch set up Dean Whitehead for a shot that cannoned off Mikel John Obi. In the 4-2 loss to Manchester City the previous weekend, Hilário had displayed the hapless positioning of an outfield player ordered between the posts after the real goalkeeper had been sent off, yet he was retained here in preference to the remaining option, Ross Turnbull.
Even if they had not been at home, Chelsea would have had cause to try to keep the ball at the other end as much as possible. Anelka was elusive and his intelligence was particularly significant since any trial of strength with Stoke's husky back four was likely to prove futile. Chelsea were to take the lead following a corner, but height was not relevant.
Ten minutes from the interval, a half-cleared corner was laid back by Terry for Lampard to send a low shot past the goalkeeper. With that advantage, Chelsea were restored to their former selves and won with little difficulty.

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

Telegraph:

Chelsea 2 Stoke City 0
By Jason Burt

The man with the buzz cut ran to the corner flag in primal celebration, pulled up his shirt sleeve and jabbed at the captain’s armband.
As he eventually wheeled away, back into his own half, his bicep was still exposed, sleeve up, the armband still in place. In case there was any doubt, he pointed to it again.
John Terry certainly reacted here. He reacted to the occasion, the need to get Chelsea back on track. He reacted to the remorseless goading of the
Stoke City supporters and although it may be a stretch to say he reacted to being stripped of the England captaincy by Fabio Capello – this was his first game since appearing for his country in midweek – he is still smarting from the loss, for sure, and the knowledge that the Italian, who wasn’t here, will never rely on him to lead again.
Terry’s face looked drawn as he stood, bare-chested, with that armband still in place and spoke about the need to “bounce back” from last weekend’s defeat to Manchester City.
“The armband means a lot to me. Chelsea have been very supportive,” he added of his own travails. “I would like to thank everyone for that.” Not everyone. Stoke’s fans got at him and got to him – no doubt about it – and assistant manager Ray Wilkins said of the taunting:
“It’s run its course. It’s a pity that it happens but John is getting on with the situation, getting on with his football and committing himself to the cause.”
Asked about Terry’s overwrought reaction, Wilkins added: “I think he was taking a little bit of stick from the Stoke supporters.”
Just a bit. But, for Chelsea, this isn’t going to go away. Not yet anyway. Not when Terry can be forced into a reaction – as he did when then fouling Ricardo Fuller, drawing a yellow card, and gesturing to the visiting fans.
He’s not exactly on edge but there is a taughtness to his game, to his features and, emphatically, despite his goal, it was his central defensive partner, Alex, who was the man-of-the-match.
Chelsea came in fear of Rory Delap’s trademark long-throw and left in praise of two trademark moves of their own.
There wasn’t just Terry’s header, powered into the net off Andy Wilkinson, following a third successive corner, with the Stoke fullback having also bundled away Nicolas Anelka’s goal-bound effort.
There was also the kind of crisp strike that Frank Lampard has made his own – running onto Terry’s lay-off to fizz a right-footed shot from the edge of the area that skimmed of the thigh of
Abdoulaye Faye to wrong-foot Thomas Sorensen. It was an 18th FA Cup goal for Lampard in Chelsea colours, one behind Peter Osgood for the club.
This was a performance from the cup holders – who have now reached a fourth FA Cup semi-final in five years and a date at Wembley against Saturday’s other quarter-final victors, Aston Villa – that bristled with a defiance.
This was a big result for Chelsea. Shorn off five – possibly six – definite first-team starters through injury and suspension, but with Joe Cole still confined to the bench by an increasingly unimpressed Carlo Ancelotti, they produced a display that had the feeling of getting back on track.
Regaining their footing; digging in for the run-in. Stoke manager Tony Pulis, as is his style, and the style of his team, took a no-nonsense approach to proceedings – and Terry’s predicament.
“John will have to accept he’s going to have to take stick,” he said. “He took stick from England supporters the other night … Ask John whether it fires him up more.” Pulis’s assessment of the match was equally blunt.
“You have your chances and you’ve got to take them,” he said. “Put everything in perspective. We knocked Arsenal out, Man City out – so to draw Chelsea away was a bit harsh.”
It was. And Stoke did have their opportunities. The first three moments of note all came from them – twice involving those Delap grenades.
On five minutes, the ball was headed on by Robert Huth and Mamady Sidibé, in front of the flapping Henrique Hilario, headed over.
On nine minutes Alex had to react sharply to block from Sidibé after Fuller’s cross-shot fell to him at the far post and on 15 minutes, Hilario punched the ball out to Dean
Whitehead whose low volley was hacked off the line by John Obi Mikel. It was looking rocky for Chelsea. Pressure wasn’t being applied, possession not dominated, chances not created.
Eventually Stoke’s storm subsided. Nicolas Anelka dragged a shot wide – and then, from a corner, Lampard struck. It changed the dynamics and the visitors lost a bit of belief.
Chelsea sensed it and Sorensen had to react quickly to push away a Didier Drogba near-post volley, before Lampard struck a knock-down over the bar and Pulis realised the game was slipping away. He quickly made a double substitution – having already lost Glenn Whelan to injury – but the momentum was with Chelsea.
After Terry scored, the game was up. Sorensen beat out Lampard’s dipping shot, before Terry’s long ball released Salomon Kalou.
Through on goal, his sidefooted shot was smothered by the goalkeeper before Terry harried Fuller into an error and Lampard, quick again, slipped a pass to Anelka who rolled it wide.
Faye headed two half-chances over for Stoke before, in the final minute, Alex jockeyed Fuller wide enough so that his eventual shot was easily blocked by Hilario. A clean sheet, as well as a victory, but a mixed emotion for Terry.


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man city 2-4

Independent:

Tevez steps into limelight as Chelsea turn to farce

Chelsea 2 Manchester City 4:

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

By Steve Tongue at Stamford Bridge

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

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

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

Sunday Times

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

Duncan Castles at Stamford Bridge

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

Star man: Carlos Tevez (Man City)

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

Attendance: 41,814

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

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


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

Observer:

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

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

Paul Wilson at Stamford Bridge

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


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

Telegraph:

Chelsea 2 Manchester City 4
By Jeremy Wilson at Stamford Bridge

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

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Mail:

Chelsea 2 Manchester City 4:

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

By Rob Draper

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

MATCH FACTS

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

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

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NOTW:

CARLOS THE CACKLE HAS THE LAST LAUGH FOR BRIDGE

Chelsea 2 Man City 4

By Andy Dunn

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

inter 1-2

Independent:

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

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

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

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The Times

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

Inter Milan 2 Chelsea 1

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

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

Inter Milan 2 Chelsea 1
By Henry Winter

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

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Guardian:

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

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

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Mail:

Inter Milan 2 Chelsea 1:

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

By Matt Lawton Chief Football Correspondent reports from Milan

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

MATCH FACTS

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

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

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

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Sun:

Inter Milan 2 Chelsea 1

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

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