Tottenham 4-0

Independent:

Chelsea 4 Tottenham 0
Samuel Eto’o stoops to conquer sorry Spurs
Striker has cheeky dig at Mourinho after his goal sparks a rout aided by Kaboul’s harsh dismissal

By MIGUEL DELANEY

Old habits lived strong at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea claimed yet another win over Tottenham at home, Tim Sherwood’s side conspired to characteristically gift them those points, and Samuel Eto’o set it all up with an opportunistic opening strike that recalled his best form and produced a joke about his age.
The end product of all that, meanwhile, is something else we have become well accustomed to over the past decade: a Jose Mourinho team increasing their lead at the top of a League table.
The Portuguese stated that “objective number one, top four, is in our hands” but still would not move on from down-playing the title challenge. “Now let’s go for objective number two, top three with direct Champions’ League qualification.”
Mourinho even insisted that he would still rather be in Manchester City’s situation due to their goal difference, despite the fact Chelsea are nine points clear of them, albeit with three games more played.
“If they win the matches, they’re top of the League. If you win the next nine matches, we may not be champions. If we win nine matches, maybe we are not champions. If City win the 12 matches they have, they’re champions. They have the destiny in their own hands. I would prefer to have destiny in my own hands.”
Sherwood was much more critical of the manner in which his team surrendered to their supposedly eternal fate at this stadium. “Too often, and again today, against the big sides [we cave in]. We were 2-0 down with 10 men at Chelsea, you’re not going to win the game. But you want to see a bit more pride, a bit more clever.
“I don’t want to be the only one who shouts at them. They need to sort it out themselves sometimes among themselves. Massively disappointed. Not too much about the result and the performance in the first half, but on the capitulation that the team showed, and showed too often this season.”
The capitulation is not the only aspect of the game that should have irritated Sherwood. There was also the fact that, for almost all of the first 55 minutes, it seemed like Spurs had finally set up the best possible chance to claim a first victory at Stamford Bridge in 24 years. Although Sherwood’s initial formation raised eyebrows, it resulted in Spurs greatly raising their game and enjoying the better of the match. That is why the eventual defeat will have been so galling. Even 10 minutes into the second half, this was not a vintage Mourinho transformation as in last week’s 3-1 win at Fulham.
By that point, however, we had at least seen some vintage Eto’o again – with the mischievous celebration to match. Although the forward had remained on the fringes of the contest, he was suddenly played right into front and centre by an atrocious Jan Vertonghen backpass.
Never one to waste an opportunity like that, regardless of where he was in his career, Eto’o bore down on Hugo Lloris and slotted the ball between the Tottenham goakeeper’s legs. Afterwards, the forward, using the corner flag as a walking stick, mimicked a hip problem, to mock all the recent controversy about his age, that had been prompted by remarks made by his manager.
Mourinho smiled about it. “I didn’t suggest it but we knew it,” the Chelsea manager said. “We knew it. We thought it was more than fine. The best way to diffuse the situation is to make fun of a funny situation, so it was good. Some newspapers did great with photoshop. Now they don’t need photoshop.”
Given the way the game was going, Chelsea probably did not strictly need a referee error in their favour at that point either, but they got two. Eto’o went over easily in the box after minimal contact from Younes Kaboul, a harsh penalty was awarded, and the Spurs defender received an even harsher red card.
Sherwood put it all in his own inimitable way. “It all went Pete Tong after the goal. Anyone can slip up. I appreciate the referees have a very tough job, but that one went against us. I think it’s a soft decision. I think it’s not a penalty. It’s a shame the referee didn’t get the chance to look at it again.”
Mourinho had no sympathy. “I didn’t watch, so I cannot really comment for good or bad,” he said of the decision. “But I complain with referees during all my career, now less, but I’ve always done it, but never when I’ve lost 4-0. When you lose 4-0, you go home and do not complain about the ref.”
That was the ultimate consequence of that penalty, which Sherwood found so frustrating: complete collapse. Hazard stroked the ball into the centre of the net from the spot, and it was always going to take much more than a tactical  masterstroke from Sherwood to overturn that. Instead, substitute Demba Ba turned in the third and fourth goals in the dying stages. Old trends lived on.

Chelsea: Cech; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta; Matic, Ramires, Lampard (Oscar 45;); Hazard, Schurrle (Willian 66); Eto’o (Ba 86 7).
Tottenham Hotspur: Lloris; Naughton, Dawson (Fryers 72), Kaboul, Vertonghen; Sandro, Bentaleb; Walker, Lennon, Sigurdsson (Paulinho 61); Adebayor.
Referee: Michael Oliver

Match rating: 6/10
Man of the match: Cesar Azpilicueta

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Observer:

Chelsea 4 Spurs 0
Chelsea's Ba and Eto'o capitalise on Tottenham blunders to extend lead
Dominic Fifield at Stamford Bridge

Chelsea's title pursuit has taken on a relentless feel, their advantage at the top now gaping at seven points from a pack increasingly, perhaps perilously, pinning their hopes on winning games in hand. Emerging from thunderous contests such as this with victories so emphatic will only fuel conviction within this team, while deflating that of the others. This ended up as a thrashing.
Tottenham's wounds were admittedly all self-inflicted here, their display disintegrating into a series of mind-boggling errors in the last half-hour as if playing down to their wretched record in these parts, but Chelsea were still eager to capitalise. Demba Ba registered his late brace almost in disbelief, the visitors gifting him each reward while the home support pinched themselves at the simplicity of it all.
"After the first, complete control," said José Mourinho. "Easy: easy to pass, easy to control, easy for our supporters to enjoy, easy for me to be calm." He continues to insist the title is Manchester City's to lose: Manuel Pellegrini's team are now nine points behind in fourth with three games in hand, but each Chelsea victory heaps pressure on the challengers. There is no leeway for City any more, with the leaders unbeaten in the league in 14 matches stretching back to early December. They prevail even when they lose players in the warm-up these days. Fernando Torres tweaked his groin and hobbled away before kick-off, though Samuel Eto'o and Ba, the men who replaced him, scored three between them.
They were grateful for Spurs' generosity on that front. A team that had been constructed to compete vigorously, with Kyles Walker and Naughton doubling up on Eden Hazard down one flank and tacklers snapping into challenges aggressively in the centre, could take heart from a scoreless first half in which Chelsea had been frustrated, even nullified, if "not scared" according to Mourinho. The tactics may have appeared random, a "lucky dip" in terms of selection according to Gary Lineker, with Walker on the wing and Aaron Lennon cast as the playmaker, but they largely worked. Yet the manner in which Spurs wilted at the first hint of a game of catch-up undermined everything that had gone on before.
The mistakes by Jan Vertonghen and Walker for the first and fourth goals in particular defied belief, Sandro's clumsiness contributing to the hosts' third, with Younès Kaboul dismissed for conceding the penalty that provided the second. The French centre-half will miss next Sunday's derby against Arsenal, and Michael Dawson also hobbled out of this defeat early. Tim Sherwood has Benfica in the Europa League before then and resorted to asking journalists in his post-match press conference where they played as he seeks to make up the numbers. Normally that might have been said in mirth, but his mood had long since darkened by then.
It was the manner of Tottenham's capitulation that disturbed. The hour mark was approaching when Vertonghen, never entirely content at left-back, ambled on to possession only to slip as André Schürrle closed him down. That was slack, but the Belgian's worst error was to hook the ball back, while grounded, towards the centre with his right foot, his attempt to retain possession transformed into a perfect through-ball for Eto'o. The striker eased his finish beyond Hugo Lloris as Dawson slid in, then celebrated by staggering towards the corner flag holding his back, bent double at his ripe old age. Whether 32 or 35, as Mourinho had pondered out loud while unknowingly being filmed by Canal Plus, the Cameroonian is still a timely finisher.
"The best way to defuse the situation is to make fun, so it was a good [celebration]," said Mourinho. It is actually the veteran's birthday on Monday and he may still be celebrating this victory then. Spurs' composure drained with the concession, the referee Michael Oliver deeming Kaboul's faint grab at Eto'o, as the striker attempted to reach Hazard's delivery, worthy of a penalty and a dismissal. The Frenchman was apoplectic, his manager dumbfounded. Hazard's finish from the spot was merely emphatic.
Sandro, exposed as a makeshift centre-half, presented a loose ball to Ba in the six-yard box for the third before the most comical of the quartet of goals arrived in the final minute. Lloris's clearance was headed back towards the goalkeeper by Walker, with Ba stealing in to collect and convert. Sherwood sank into his seat as the net bulged, his own club's thoughts of a top-four finish in tatters, with the gap at four points but City have those three matches in hand.
Spurs' former technical co-ordinator is likely to play out the rest of the campaign with Louis van Gaal's name on everybody's lips as his successor-in-waiting. For Chelsea, success of a different kind may lie ahead.

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Telegraph:

Chelsea 4 Tottenham Hotspur 0
Ben Rumsby

Samuel Eto’o rolled back who knows how many years to putChelsea seven points clear at the top of the Premier League and make Jose Mourinho eat his words for what may not be the last time this season.
Eto’o turns 33 on Monday – or maybe 36 if Mourinho is to be believed – but he looked to be still in his prime after answering an SOS moments before kick-off and sealing victory with a goal and an assist for Eden Hazard’s penalty.
And the Cameroonian could not resist mocking his manager’s recent – supposedly off-camera – jibe about how old he really was, celebrating his 300th career goal by clutching the corner flag with one hand and his back with the other to simulate a pensioner and his walking stick.
“The best way to defuse the situation is to make fun of a funny situation, so it was good,” smiled Mourinho, recalling the doctored photographs of Eto’o which appeared in the wake of the manager’s criticism two weeks ago. “Some newspapers did great with Photoshop. Now they don’t need Photoshop. They have the real pic.”
Mourinho even suggested Eto’o could emulate Ryan Giggs by playing until the age of 40 after watching him use all his experience to punish a second-half Spurs display so inept that it may have torpedoed Tim Sherwood’s hopes of keeping his job as manager beyond the summer. Following a first half in which they threatened to end their 24-year wait for a win at Stamford Bridge, they gift-wrapped all four of Chelsea’s goals, including a late brace for substitute Demba Ba.
Mourinho summed it all up in one word: “Easy. Easy to pass, easy to control, easy for our supporters to enjoy, easy for me to be calm.”
In the world of Mourinho, the win kept Chelsea behind Manchester City on goal difference. But, at this rate, City will have to win all their remaining games to overhaul a side for whom the championship is looking more theirs to lose by the week.
The components of a title-winning side appeared in place: a largely settled back four, an immovable-object midfielder in Nemanja Matic and an irresistible attacking force in Eden Hazard.
There are options from the bench as well – although Chelsea would not have been expecting to call upon one before kick-off, Fernando Torres replaced by Eto’o after hurting himself in the warm-up.
Spurs, who were playing a radical system which involved Kyle Walker marauding forward from midfield, were playing a dangerous game with their high defensive line. But they began to justify Sherwood’s funky formation when Nabil Bentaleb screwed a shot harmlessly wide and a brilliant left-foot volley by Sandro forced a smart save from Petr Cech.
As Chelsea laboured towards half-time, Frank Lampard went right through the back of Sandro two-footed, his reputation perhaps ensuring yellow was the colour of the card produced by Michael Oliver. That was Lampard’s final act as Mourinho sent for Oscar for the second half, dropping Ramires back into midfield, but Spurs had the first chance after the break, Younes Kaboul nodding Gylfi Sigurdsson’s corner at Cech.
But then disaster struck. Two bookings in less than a minute did not bode well, Kyle Naughton for checking Hazard and Sandro for scything down Branislav Ivanovic. That was nothing to compared to the calamities which followed, Jan Vertonghen slipping over under pressure from Andre Schurrle and inexplicably raking the ball square for Eto’o to race onto and stroke through the legs of Hugo Lloris.
Four minutes later, a superb pass from the imperious John Terry – who confirmed once and for all after the game that his England days were over – found Hazard, whose cross Eto’o was denied reaching by a push in the back from Kaboul.
In the week Uefa failed to abolish the triple punishment, the inevitable followed: penalty, red card and suspension. Hazard piled on the pain from the spot.
Eto’o was given a well-earned rest for the final 14 minutes, during which Oscar should have made it 3-0 when he skied a pass from fellow substitute Willian. But Spurs appeared determined to help their rivals improve a goal difference that could prove decisive in the final analysis.
First, Sandro slipped trying to clear Oscar’s cutback, giving Ba the easiest of finishes; then, Walker headed the ball back to Lloris, failing to spot the lurking Ba, who rounded the keeper to tap home.

Match details
Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Cech 7; Ivanovic 7, Cahill 7, Terry 8, Azpilicueta 6; Matic 7, Lampard 5 (Oscar h-t); Ramires 6, Hazard 7, Schurrle (Willian 66) 7; Eto’o 8 (Ba 76). Subs Schwarzer (g), Kalas, Mikel, Salah.
Booked: Lampard, Azpilicueta.

Tottenham Hotspur (4-2-3-1):Lloris 7; Naughton 6, Dawson (Fryers 72) 6, Kaboul 5, Vertonghen 5; Bentaleb 6, Sandro 6; Walker 7, Lennon 6, Sigurdsson 6 (Paulinho 61); Adebayor 7.
Subs: Friedel (g), Chadli, Townsend, Kane, Soldado.
Booked: Bentaleb, Naughton, Sandro.
Sent off: Kaboul.

Referee: M Oliver (Northumberland).

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Times:

Chelsea 4 Tottenham 0: Spurs pay for mistakes

Jonathan Northcroft

PREMEDITATED goal celebrations are sometimes cringeworthy, but this wasn’t bad. Samuel Eto’o sprinted to the corner flag then suddenly hobbled, put his hand on his hip and bent double, as if he were a frail and crooked pensioner.
Jose Mourinho said he knew it was coming. Mourinho, of course, was inadvertently caught in a television recording questioning Eto’o’s age — his passport claims he turns 33 tomorrow and Mourinho suggested he might be older. And all season we’ve been musing how Eto’o is still good, but no longer the great he was. So what, the Cameroonian was saying — I’m an old man but I’m still the man. “The best way to diffuse things is to make fun of a funny situation,” Mourinho said.
Eto’o has a point. He has only been able to play in bursts for Chelsea, but what bursts. The striker’s surge of sudden influence upon this game turned it completely in Chelsea’s favour and prompted a collapse by Tottenham - “capitulation,” a seething Tim Sherwood called it. 4-0 was a remarkable scoreline, for at 0-0, with 56 minutes gone, Spurs were playing well enough to feed hopes of a first win at Stamford Bridge since 1990, 27 visits and 15 managers ago.
When he left the pitch, at 2-0, Eto’o’s fist was aloft like that of a champion boxer after a successful bout. He has won leagues in Spain and Italy and an English winner’s medal is on, with Chelsea now seven points clear at the top and nine points ahead of Manchester City. Mourinho persisted with his claim that City are still in the best position, given their superior goal difference and three games in hand. “I’d rather be them,” he said and warbled about securing “objective No 1,” top-four status – but he fooled nobody.
No wonder Sherwood was pained. His defenders, especially, threw it away. The normally composed Jan Vertonghen lost concentration, trying to control a pass with the inside of his heel. The touch was poor, Andre Schurrle pressed, Vertonghen slipped and panicked. While going down he knocked an aimless pass towards his central defenders but Eto’o seized it and remained calm, stroking a finish through the legs of Hugo Lloris from 18 yards. It was Eto’o’s 300th career goal and while it was only his seventh in the Premier League, it was his fifth – following a hat-trick versus Manchester United and strike against Liverpool – for Chelsea against major opponents.
One down became two down quickly for Spurs. After turning over possession and springing into attack, the way Mourinho teams do, Chelsea went down the left and Eden Hazard centred. Eto’o arrived just ahead of Younes Kaboul and was clever to keep his body between Kaboul and the ball. Kaboul leant in just enough for Eto’o to justify going over. Michael Oliver signaled the penalty and, regretfully, showed a red card, making Kaboul the latest victim of football’s ‘triple jeopardy’ anomaly. Hazard buried the spot-kick. “A soft sending off and not a penalty,” Sherwood said. Mourinho sniffed: “I complain about refs all my career, less now, but never when I lost 4-0.”
They say good managers also need to be lucky ones. Eto’o was only playing because Fernando Torres hurt his groin in the warm-up.
How Spurs went to pieces. Eto’o’s replacement was Demba Ba, who helped himself to two late goals after further defensive mishaps. At half-time Mourinho had introduced Oscar for a toiling Frank Lampard and after a cute exchange with Branislav Ivanovic, Oscar hared down the right and centred and Sandro slipped, leaving Ba to score through Lloris’ legs.
Then came craziness from Kyle Walker. Lloris cleared to him on the halfway line and, for reasons unknown, Walker headed the ball straight back where it came from. Lloris was stranded and Ba intercepted, passing into an unguarded net.
“Too often and again today we’ve capitulated against the big sides. I don’t want to be the only one who shouts at them, they need to dig each other out,” said Sherwood, admitting Spurs’ chances of the top four are now “slim.”
He had selected Aaron Lennon to play off and around Emmanuel Adebayor. Walker was in midfield and there was a fluidity and variety about Tottenham’s approach. Chelsea were uncomfortable for most of the first half but “they didn’t hurt us and when that happens you’re calm,” Mourinho said.
Hazard almost scored after four minutes after quick and clever passing by Schurrle and Eto’o played him behind Spurs’ back four. But despite rounding Lloris, Hazard shot wide. Nemanja Matic miscued a header from Lampard’s free kick and though Eto’o got into a shooting position following Nabil Bentaleb’s mistake, the angle was too difficult.
Spurs didn’t do enough with their early possession. In the 13th minute, when Gary Cahill committed himself to a jump with Adebayor and lost out, Bentaleb went into the box but his shot rolled well past Petr Cech’s far post. Sandro met a Cahill clearance with a beautiful left-footed volley but Cech, smartly, saved the dipping shot. Just after half-time Kaboul headed Gylfi Sigurdsson’s cross straight at Cech and Spurs were made to pay so brutally.
“We’re grinding out results like a Jose Mourinho team of old,” said John Terry. Vintage stuff – especially Eto’o.

Star man: Samuel Eto’o (Chelsea)

Chelsea: Cech 7, Ivanovic 7, Cahill 6, Terry 6, Azpilicueta 6, Ramires 6, Matic 6, Lampard 5 (Oscar h-t, 6), Hazard 7, Eto’o 8 (Ba 76min), Schurrle 6 (Willian 66min)
Tottenham: Lloris 6, Naughton 5, Dawson 6 (Fryers 72min), Kaboul 6, Vertonghen 4, Sandro 6, Bentaleb 6, Walker 4, Sigurdsson 6 (Paulinho 61min), Lennon 6, Adebayor 6

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Mail:

Chelsea 4-0 Tottenham: Mourinho's relentless march towards the title continues as Spurs are shattered at the Bridge

By Joe Bernstein

When Jan Vertonghen gifted Chelsea their opening goal, the groans from Tottenham’s dugout would have been echoed in north London and the North-West.
There is less hope for Arsenal, Liverpool and even Manchester City to be champions. Chelsea lead the table by seven points and five of their next six opponents lie in the bottom half of the table.
‘Little Horse’ Mourinho can try to dampen expectations all he likes, but nobody is fooled. Chelsea are unbeaten in the League in 2014 and, as they showed on Saturday, once in front they are utterly ruthless.
For 56 minutes, the game plan set out by Tim Sherwood and Spurs to stifle Chelsea, with Kyle Walker surprisingly used as a winger and Aaron Lennon at No 10, had worked.
Then came Vertonghen’s double folly. First, the Belgian slipped as he tried to turn inside to stop Andre Schurrle closing him down. Then, in a desperate attempt to retrieve the situation, he stuck out a leg and succeeded only in playing the perfect pass for Samuel Eto’o.
The Cameroon striker, drafted into in the starting line-up minutes before kick-off when Fernando Torres injured his groin in the warm-up, finished easily.
His ‘old man’ celebration, poking fun at Mourinho’s recent comments questioning his official age of 32, lifted the atmosphere and transformed a close game into a Chelsea romp.
Spurs manager Sherwood, who refused to bite at Gary Lineker’s suggestion that he’d named a  ‘pick ’n’ mix line-up’, was peeved at referee Michael Oliver for giving a spot-kick after a tangle between Eto’o and Younes Kaboul.
But he saved most of his anger for his own players and their meek surrender after playing so well for an hour. ‘We have capitulated too often and again today,’ he said.
‘It is disappointing to see: 2-0 down to Chelsea you are not going to win the game, but you expect to see a little bit more gut and a little bit of feather-rustling.
I don’t want to be the only one who shouts at them (the players). I think they need to dig each other out. I am gutted, not about the result but on the capitulation the team have shown this season.’
Of Tottenham’s top-four hopes now, he replied: ‘Slim.’ He added: ‘It all went Pete Tong (wrong) after the first goal. I appreciate referees have a tough job and have to make a tough call but it could well have gone against us. I think it is a soft decision because I didn’t think it was a penalty.’
Interestingly, Sherwood believes City can still pip Chelsea and deny Mourinho a third Premier League title because of their extra firepower.
Less plausible was Mourinho’s assertion that he would rather be in City’s position — nine points behind Chelsea but with three games in hand and a superior goal difference.
‘If they win all their matches, they are champions. We can’t say the same so I would prefer to be them,’ he said.
After a goalless first half, Mourinho the master tactician did it again, hauling off Frank Lampard, who had been booked, and introducing Oscar, who narrowed the gaps between defence and attack.
The manager said: ‘We can say the first goal was a mistake but the way Eto’o read it was fantastic. After that, it was easy to  pass, easy to control, easy for me to be calm.’
Until Vertonghen’s blunder, Stamford Bridge was getting edgy as the fans feared a repeat of the 0-0 draw against West Ham in January, although on this occasion Spurs could not be accused of ‘19th-century tactics’ with Sandro and Kaboul forcing Petr Cech into good saves.
The fine finish from Eto’o between Hugo Lloris’s legs opened the floodgates however.
Just four minutes later, Kaboul felt aggrieved to be shown a red card though Eto’o had got goalside of him and there seemed to be contact.
Eden Hazard planted the penalty down the middle and Mourinho had little sympathy for Spurs. ‘I have complained about referees before, as you know, but not when I lost 4-0. It has to be more than that,’ he said.
With Sandro being used as an emergency centre-half and other players still in unfamiliar positions, it was little surprise when Chelsea boosted their goal difference late on.
Substitute Demba Ba could not miss from four yards when Sandro fell in front of him. Even more bizarre was the final goal, Lloris and Walker attempting a ridiculous ‘one-two’ that fell kindly for the Senegal striker.

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Mirror:

Chelsea 4-0 Tottenham: Blues run riot in second half to extend lead at top of Premier League

Anthony Cavane

When one of your star strikers is injured in the warm-up there is normally an air of trepidation in the stadium.
But Fernando Torres’ late withdrawal from the Chelsea side yesterday evening allowed Samuel Eto’o to start – and the former Barcelona and Inter Milan striker responded with a match-winning display.
Eto’o scored the opening goal and won a penalty – leading to a harsh sending-off for Younes Kaboul – as the Blues cashed in on some woeful Tottenham defending to open up a
seven-point gap between them and the chasing pack, who were inactive this weekend.
“I told Samuel that he would score – I thought it was his destiny,” said boss Jose Mourinho. “He is so clever in the way he reads the game.”
Manchester City might have three games in hand – and a superior goal difference – but there is no doubt that Mourinho’s men are in the driving seat.
He is still playing down Chelsea’s title chances but believes this win has virtually guaranteed them a top-four spot.
“That was our first objective and we have achieved that,” he said. ”Now we must guarantee a top-three place and automatic qualification for the champions League.”
Cameroon striker Eto’o was clearly not expecting to be involved in this game.
But as soon as he heard he was in, he grabbed what looked like smelling salts from the bench and started sniffing it. Fired up by this – and perhaps also by Mourinho’s loss of faith in his veteran and mocking comments about his age – Eto’o had one of his best games for the club.
Spurs did not deserve to lose by four goals but they couldn’t handle Eto’o in this crunch derby.
In the opening minutes he put through in-form winger Eden Hazard for a one-on-one with Hugo Lloris.
The Belgian might be in sensational form this season, playing a pivotal role in the Blues’ rise to the Premier League summit, but he missed a golden opportunity to net his 14th goal of the campaign.
Commendably he stayed on his feet after Lloris had steamed off his line – but could only hit the ball into the side netting. Chelsea then missed two half-chances when Nemanja Matic headed over the bar and Eto’o dragged a shot wide.
Frank Lampard, playing in his 400th league game for Chelsea, then fired in a fierce shot that was headed away by Michael Dawson.
Spurs made a bright start to the second half. First Jan Vertonghen’s cheeky chip over Petr Cech floated over the bar, then Kaboul headed a corner straight into the keeper’s hands. Cech also made a fine save to deny Sandro, whose volley looked destined for the net.
Spurs were looking comfortable on their bogey ground – they had not won at Stamford Bridge for 24 years – and might even have nicked that long-overdue win.
But in the space of a crazy five minutes they lost the plot and the Blues struck twice.
Vertonghen slipped and his attempt to pass back to Lloris fell nicely fell into the path of Eto’o who struck the ball into the far corner.
Then Eto’o went down in the box after contact with Kaboul and referee Michael Oliver pointed straight to the spot.
It looked a soft penalty and Kaboul hardly deserved to be sent off. But up stepped Hazard to send Lloris the wrong way – and it was game over.
With a few minutes remaining, two more appalling bits of defending by 10-man Spurs allowed Chelsea to finish the game with a barely believable scoreline.
Both goals were gifted to Demba Ba, who had come on for Eto’o. First Sandro slipped up, allowing the Senegal striker in to coolly slot the ball through Lloris’ legs (left).
Then Lloris cleared to Kyle Walker, who bizarrely decided to head the ball back towards his keeper – and Ba nipped in to complete Spurs boss Tim Sherwood’s misery.
Mourinho’s unbeaten home league record now stands at

75 games. His Chelsea have also picked up more points at home than any other Premier League side this season.
Mourinho had challenged Sherwood before the game to show he wanted the Spurs job long term. But Sherwood’s position beyond the summer is surely in doubt despite having signed an 18-month contract in December.
It does not get any easier for his side who now face Arsenal and Liverpool in the Premier League and have a Europa League quarter-final against Benfica.

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Express:

Chelsea 4 - Tottenham 0: Little horse is galloping clear after Spurs' defensive disaster

Colin Mafham

SAMUEL ETO’O thought he was going to have an afternoon on the bench but ended up firing Chelsea seven points clear at the top of the Premier League.
He stepped up to the plate when Fernando Torres pulled up in the pre-match warm-up to defy all the talk that he might be getting a bit long in the tooth.
Depending on who you listen to, he could be anything between 31 and 39 years of age, but he rolled back the clock yesterday at precisely the right time for Chelsea.
Let’s be honest, Chelsea weren’t exactly looking like champions or four goals better than Spurs before Eto’o – with a little help from Lady Luck – came to their rescue.
And they are going to take some catching now. Seven points is a mighty big lead at this stage of the season.
All that apart, a small group outside the ground beforehand put things into perspective with placards urging Roman Abramovich not to back Russia in the Ukraine conflict.
He probably didn’t even know they were there, but it served to give a reminder that while 40,000 were enjoying a day out at Chelsea yesterday, a few million more were having to ponder their very existences elsewhere.
It’s probably fair to say that Spurs were doing something very similar when Eto’o put Eden Hazard clear early on, but uncharacteristically the Belgian put the ball into the sidenetting with the goal at his mercy.
A Chelsea goal then really would have put the cat among the pigeons because Spurs barely got out of their own half for the first 15 minutes.Jose Mourinho’s men clearly meant business. Yet, young Nabil Bentaleb had a few home hearts in mouths when Spurs did come out of their shell. A bit more accuracy with his shot might well have upset the applecart.
And when the midfielder went close with a rasping drive soon afterwards the Chelsea faithful got the message that this was not going to be a walk in the park after all.
With an imperious Michael Dawson begging the question of why does Roy Hodgson never pick him for England, Spurs settled into their stride sufficiently to knock Chelsea out of theirs for a while.
And while Emmanuel Adebayor was having an ever-increasing influence on proceedings, Andre Schurrle, a hat-trick hero for Chelsea just seven days ago, had a nightmare first 45 minutes yesterday.
Half-time probably couldn’t have come soon enough for the German – or his manager for that matter. You had to wonder how long Mourinho, who apparently gave his players a 30-second roasting last week, spent on his interval team talk this time.
Whatever he said, it still didn’t prevent Younes Kaboul testing Petr Cech soon after the restart. The second half did not look then as if it was going to be any easier for Chelsea than the first, especially as Schurrle didn’t appear to benefit from his cup of Bovril, or whatever, either.
Chelsea, Jose Mourinho, Gary Cahill, News, Champions League, Tottenham, Tim SherwoodJan Vertonghen's slip gifted Eto'o his first goal [GETTY]
But, as so often happens, it was a stroke of luck – or misfortune in the case of Jan Vertonghen – that broke the deadlock on 55 minutes. The big Belgian slipped under pressure and, in his desperation to retrieve the situation, he only succeeded in playing the ball straight into the path of Eto’o.
The Cameroonian didn’t need to be told what to do to score his 300th club goal in an already prolific career. He was there again three minutes later when Kaboul sent him sprawling right under the nose of referee Michael Oliver.
There was no hesitation about the penalty award. No doubting that Kaboul was going to be sent off. And there was no mistaking either the manner in which Hazard made it 2-0 from the spot.

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

Star:

Chelsea 4 - Tottenham 0: Samuel Eto'o shines as the Blues thump Spurs

By Harry Pratt

SAMUEL ETO’O has won league titles in both Spain and Italy.
Now the Cameroon ace, in the twilight of his glittering playing days, looks odds-on to add the Premier League trophy to that impressive haul.
Yesterday Eto’o scored the 300th goal of his career to put table-toppers Chelsea en route to their 20th league victory of the campaign.
Until the 56th minute strike from the ex-Barcelona and Inter Milan striker, Jose Mourinho’s Blues had struggled to break down gritty Tottenham.
For a long time it seemed the visitors might even end 24 years of failing to leave Stamford Bridge with three points.
Yet just three minutes later Younes Kaboul was sent off for a professional foul on Eto’o, Eden Hazard converted the resulting penalty and it was game over.
All this from a player who wasn’t even in the original starting line-up. Fernando Torres limped out injured to be replaced by Eto’o.
After his intervention there was even time for sub Demba Ba to make it a rout with a late double.
All of which leaves Mourinho’s troops a magnifi cent seven points clear of Arsenal and Liverpool, who have a game in hand – and NINE ahead of Man City who have three games in hand.
Yes, it might be an unrealistic picture at this moment, with too many ifs and buts to come.
But it’s hard to imagine a Jose Mourinho side chucking away such a big advantage.
Despite the fact that an in-hisprime Gary Lineker had been Tottenham’s last match-winner at this most inhospitable ground, Tim Sherwood’s men arrived in good heart – and form.
But the Spurs boss was furious afterwards.
“You can’t legislate for the capitulation,” he said.
“You can’t have that. You need to show a bit more guts and not want to be someone’s mate all the time.
They need to drag it out of each other. It hurts me and I won’t forget about this when we hit the motorway – but some might.
“It’s not a penalty and not a sending off but the game was finished after that. We’ve got the Europa League on Thursday and we owe the fans a performance.
We let them down again on the big occasion.”
Sherwood’s line-up was full of surprises and defensive players, including fit-again England rightback Kyle Walker in midfield.
That seemed a wise move early on when it was all Chelsea.
When Hazard found himself one on one with Hugo Lloris in the third minute, he seemed certain to score.
But on this occasion the brilliant Belgian had the Bridge faithful shaking their heads in disbelief.
For, having done the hard part of skipping around the French keeper, Hazard, with an open goal at his mercy, failed to keep his right-foot drive on target.
The look on Mourinho’s face said it all when turning away to mouth a few expletives at the glorious wasted chance.
His mood nearly nosedived a whole lot further ten minutes on when Spurs should have broken the deadlock.
The dangerous Emanuel Adebayor fed unmarked Gylfi Sigurdsson but the Icelandic ace was unable to test Petr Cech from ten yards out.
At half-time, there was no debate who was the happier manager.
Yet within 12 minutes of the second half, the pendulum had swung Mourinho’s way.
Firstly, Eto’o calmly stuck in his milestone strike, pouncing on Jan Vertongen’s weak backpass after the Belgian defender had slipped.
And then before Spurs had a chance to take stock they were two down when ref Michael Oliver awarded a penalty, judging that Kaboul had fouled Chelsea hitman Eto’o.
If a penalty, Kaboul’s dismissal was correct – but yet another example of why the treble jeopardy rule is rubbish.
The Brazilian’s challenge was neither dirty nor deliberate.

To be fair to Spurs they probably didn’t deserve that on the balance of play. But, let’s face it, they gifted Chelsea both those goals and you can’t afford to do that.
And if going two down and being reduced to 10 men wasn’t bad enough Spurs’ day got even worse when the inspirational Dawson limped off.
Then Demba Ba, a late substitute for Eto’o, rubbed salt in already painful Spurs wounds with two goals in two minutes at the death. And death really was the operative word here.

MAN OF MATCH: SAMUEL ETO’O – His two-goal intervention changed the whole course of the game.

CHELSEA: Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta; Ramires, Matic; Schurrle (Willian 65), Lampard (Oscar 45), Hazard; Eto’o (Ba 76).
TOTTENHAM: Lloris; Walker, Kaboul, Dawson (Fryers 71), Vertonghen,  aughton; Lennon, Bentaleb, Sandro, Sigurdsson; Adebayor

Fulham 3-1

Independent:

Fulham 1 Chelsea 3
Andre Schürrle stars as Chelsea pull four points clear
German’s rapid hat-trick extends the Blues’ lead at the top of the Premier League to four points

By GLENN MOORE

The scoreline may suggest otherwise, but this was another afternoon when Chelsea ground their way to three points, stirring neither the blood nor the soul. A 16-minute hat-trick by Andre Schurrle was enough to stretch their Premier League lead to four points courtesy of Arsenal losing in the Potteries, but there remains a sense that Jose Mourinho's Chelsea Mark II, like the first edition, are efficient rather than thrilling. Facing the league's bottom club it was not until first-half injury-time they even had a shot on target.
Any team with Eden Hazard and Oscar in it will always produce watchable moments, and it was the Belgian who provided what sparkle there was with another bewitching performance. He laid on two of Schurrle's goals and Fernando Torres should have converted a spectacular rabona (crossing with the 'wrong' leg).
In mitigation Fulham could point to the absence of Brede Hangeland who was forced off early on after clashing heads with Kieran Richardson. His replacement, the promising Dan Burn ,was at fault for all three goals. Hangeland went to hospital and Fulham were awaiting news on him after the match. They could also draw some hope from their general competency, which is an improvement on most of their season, but they will need inspiration as well as perspiration to earn the wins required to survive. Creating that has always been harder than instilling work-rate.
One of Mourinho's gifts is making creative players work hard. Another is drawing attention from poor performances and onto himself. He did this again revealing he had not said a word at half-time, but instead absented the dressing room leaving his team to stew. He was, he said, so disappointed with the first half ten minutes would have been insufficent to make all his points.
“The start was really bad for us, a really bad first half,” he said. “Fulham had big motivation because they need the points to stay in the Premier League but we spoke of this before, we cannot let them have more motivation than us. In the first half that was not the case. But in the second half my team changed the intensity of their game. It was a game of two halves, the second half we were brilliant.”
Chelsea have had a demanding week but Mourinho's pre-match complaints about this fixture's scheduling on Saturday afternoon having played in Istanbul on Wednesday night cuts no ice. He could have freshened his team up with players of the quality of Ashley Cole, David Luiz, Samuel Eto'o, John Obi Mikel and Mohamed Salah. Instead he made just two changes, Nemanja Matic and Oscar replacing Frank Lampard and Willian. Magath made more a trio, the most perplexing of which was the replacement of Lewis Holtby with Clint Dempsey who has been a shadow of his former self since returning to Fulham on loan from Seattle.
For all the talk of Fulham being tough opposition for Chelsea the home side had only won one of the previous 35 derbies. They may have brought off a shock had they scored first, and they did have chances to do that. In the second minute Pajtim Kasami beat Branislav Ivanovic on the left but Dempsey jumped just too early and the cross skimmed off his head, and over. In the 21 minute Kasami won possession, Kieran Richardson broke, but after his cross found Dempsey the American was unable to get his shot off. Shortly before the interval a free-kick routine that suggested training has not just been about lapping the pitch ended with
Kasami drilling a low shot, but it was a straightforward save for Petr Cech. A minute before the break, came the best chance, Dejagah's cross reaching an unmarked Sidwell at the far post. The midfielder has been in scoring form this season, but he blazed wide.
Chelsea had been desperately poor. One kick from Cech ran all the way through to Martin Steklenburg, another punt forward, from Ivanovic deep inside his own half, did the same. So when, at one point, Mourinho lambasted Torres the striker could justifiably have asked what he was supposed to do with a series of long balls given he was competing with the giant Burn. Torres should, though have done better when Steklenburg delayed a clearance so long Torres blocked it, then won the loose ball, but shot wide.
In injury-time Chelsea stirred and Steklenburg made a sharp save from Torres' volley. They returned from the break sharper, smarter, steelier. Six minutes into the period Shurrle ran behind Burn onto Hazard's long pass and coolly converted. After Torres failed to do Hazard's rabona justice the German skipped off Burn again, this time onto a short Hazard pass. Two-nil. Burn, his mind doubtless in turmoil, was then beaten by Torres in the air, the striker also feeding Schurrle for his third (Richardson dozing this time). He became the third German after Fredi Bobic (Bolton) and Jurgen Klinsmann (Tottenham), to score a Premier League treble.
Fulham kept battling and John Heitinga tapped in after Cech misjudged a corner. The 'keeper then did well to hold a deflected shot from Giorgos Karagounis. Fulham subsequently twice got in good positions on the right, but Sascha Reither over-hit his cross, then Ashkan Dejagah failed to deliver the ball at all. It was that sort of match. Chelsea though, had Hazard, and Schurrle.

Fulham (4-4-1-1): Steklenburg; Reither, Heitinga, Hangeland (Burn, 15), Richardson; Dejagah, Parker (Karagounis, 80), Sidwell, Kasami (Holtby, 62); Dempsey; Bent.
Substitutes: Stockdale, Riise, Kvist, Rodallega.

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Cech; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta; Ramires, Matic; Oscar (Mikel, 78), Hazard, Schurrle (Luiz, 86); Torres (Ba, 82).
Substitutes: Schwarzer, Cole, Willian, Lampard.

Referee: M Clattenburg
Man of the match: Hazard
Match rating: 5

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

Observer:

Chelsea beat Fulham with hat-trick by 'forgotten man' André Schürrle
Dominic Fifield

They had been craving an instant impact from a German in these parts, though Fulham might now suggest the scriptwriters rather muddled their thinking. André Schürrle, a peripheral figure at Chelsea, on his third start since New Year's Day, emerged from the visitors' initial lethargy to settle this derby and propel his side four points clear at the top of the Premier League table.
His hat-trick, scored in 17 second-half minutes, was devastating, a lesson in ruthless finishing to remind Felix Magath that the crushing weight of this division is heaped upon Fulham.
Chelsea had previously seen only flashes of this quality from the man prised from Bayer Leverkusen for £18.7m last summer, but displays such as this illustrate the true strength in depth to their attacking options, even with the lack of strikers in the ranks. They are imposing when those creative spirits behind the frontman ally bite with invention, the interplay between Schürrle and Eden Hazard too much for Fulham.
The German's movement has always been clever but it was his finishing that truly caught the breath. In slamming home his third goal in that madcap period just after half-time, when the hosts utterly disintegrated as a defensive force, Schürrle doubled his tally for the season.
"It's something I expect from him," said José Mourinho. "He's in a learning process in relation to the Premier League, up against teams who fight. It's difficult for him to play 90 minutes for us, doing things he's never done in his life, but what I expect from him is cold blood. In front of goal, he's not the kind of guy where the goal becomes very small. He normally scores. He sees the keeper's reaction, he can score with right or left, and is a good finisher. This is what I expect from him."
Schürrle performed here, albeit only after that dismal opening period, when Fulham had the bustling energy and the visitors had been dreadful, all over-hit passes, slack tracking and laboured movement. That midweek trip to Istanbul clearly had an effect, even with tweaks made to the starting lineup. Mourinho had been so disgusted he had refused to speak to his team at the break, apparently for the first time in his career, ensuring the onus was on his players to mount their own revival. Hazard and Schürrle stepped up thereafter, with Nemanja Matic more influential in the centre, and quality duly told.
Their opening goal exposed Fulham's frailties. Schürrle, having collected a throw-in from Branislav Ivanovic and found Hazard, was allowed to dash, unchecked, into the home half to collect the Belgian's return pass. The home substitute Dan Burn was flummoxed by a clever header across field, which bought the forward space in which to charge, and he finished calmly through Maarten Stekelenburg's legs.
"I've seldom seen a goal like that first one, where Schürrle runs the whole field and nobody tackles him," Magath said. "He can run 90 metres without contact? I have never seen this before." The absence of Brede Hangeland, who had departed after a clash of heads with Kieran Richardson, was keenly felt.
The goal settled Chelsea. Hazard bamboozled Fulham with those trademark outrageous flashes of skill, and Fernando Torres went close to converting a staggering rabona – a cross sent over with his right foot wrapped around the back of his standing left leg – and the home side were suddenly exposed. They could not quell Hazard's threat and when he was allowed to advance into enemy territory his pass was perfect for Schürrle, having eased off Burn, to score a second across the exposed Stekelenburg.

The hat-trick was secured while Fulham still quaked at the brutality of it all, Torres beating the beleaguered Burn in the air and then spinning a pass into space. Schürrle, played onside by Johnny Heitinga, eased on to the ball and dispatched it gloriously with his right foot. Displays like this remind Chelsea that they secured a gem from Bayer Leverkusen last summer. He will have more to offer in the run-in.
Fulham must find some inspiration of their own in their final 10 matches to avoid the drop and – even with nothing more than Heitinga's consolation upon which to cling, after the visitors dithered at a corner – they can be mildly encouraged by their initial industry.
There had been balance to their opening period, even if glimpses of goal were fleeting. Burn failed to make contact from point-blank range and Steve Sidwell blazed high when well placed. Clint Dempsey nodded wide in the opening three minutes. "But today nothing happened," said Magath. "Nobody expected us to win, but we did not play like a relegated team in the opening 45 minutes."
There are more winnable contests than this in the weeks to come, not least at Cardiff on Saturday. The German can still have his impact. Fulham must hope it is as memorable as that made by his compatriot.

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

Telegraph:

Fulham 1 Chelsea 3
By Jason Burt, at Craven Cottage

This was a first for Jose Mourinho. He did not speak at all to his players at half-time. Not a single word. Such was his low opinion of their stunningly flat performance. It was the first time, he later said, he had ever felt moved to behave like that during his long, illustrious, enlivening managerial career.
But then Mourinho always retains that capacity to surprise; ever the showman. “It was silent. Like that,” he explained. “Normally I give them two or three minutes for them to advise, to clean or change boots or shirts.
“After that they know that I will start talking. They were there, ready and waiting for me, but I was not ready for them. I decided not to speak because, if I started to speak about the first-half, I’d need more than the 10 minutes of half-time. I decided not to speak, they showed they were very intelligent.”
Who gave the team-talk? “I left. I don’t know,” Mourinho said, adding that he had gone and stood outside until the players were called back to the pitch.
“Yes (it was the first time I’ve done that), in Chelsea, for sure. In my career, perhaps also. I haven’t had many first halves like this one. Very, very bad.”
Actions speak louder than words and Mourinho’s behaviour provoked a response withChelsea gaining the victory that, suddenly, takes them six points clear of Manchester City, having played two games more, a gap that could grow to nine before City play again in the league, and four points ahead of Arsenal who have played the same number of matches.
It felt decisive and Fulham, the league’s bottom team, will desperately hope it is not decisive for them also.
A German was victorious in Felix Magath’s first home game in charge but it was André Schürrle who took the honours – scoring a hat-trick and showing the “cold blood”, as Mourinho put it, that he expects in front of goal.
It was only the third hat-trick by a German in the Premier League (after Jurgen Klinsmann and Fredi Bobic, back in 2002 for the latter) and there was a chill also from Magath when strangely asked whether he had congratulated his countryman. “I send André congratulations,” he said. “But it was unnecessary.”
There is hope. “I cannot expect us to win against the leading team in the Premier League,” Magath reasoned.
“No one expected us to ... there is hope. We played well for the first-half and we need to do that for 90 minutes and we will win.”
But it will be back to the training ground for Fulham’s players who engineered their own downfall – as much as Chelsea raised their game with Eden Hazard the standout performer despite Schürrle’s hat-trick – through some woeful defending.
They will also fret about the condition of captain Brede Hangeland who departed during the first-half and was taken to hospital, apparently concussed.
Magath identified Hangeland’s absence as crucial to the eventual collapse; Mourinho leaned more towards his players waking from a stupor in which they “walked” through the first-half as they struggled to recover from having played less than 72 hours earlier in Istanbul in the Champions League.
Mourinho was right. Maybe it was the lactic acid in his players’ legs.
Maybe it was Magath’s steely organisation of Fulham. But for 45 minutes this contest was a turkey direct from Turkey. It meandered, almost lifeless, sleepy by the Thames in the bright spring sunshine.
Something had to give – as Mourinho demanded.
There was a fine save, from a Fernando Torres cross-shot, by Maarten Stekelenburg and a bizarre tangle between the two players after the Fulham goalkeeper blundered, but nothing else.
And then Schürrle scored. He flicked on Branislav Ivanovic’s throw-in and set off at pace to run onto Hazard’s clever chip forward. But it owed much – as did his other two goals – to Kieran Richardson switching off and suddenly Schürrle was bearing down on goal to easily beat Stekelenburg with a low shot.
“I have seldom seen such a goal,” said an incredulous Magath. “He ran 90 metres without any contact. I have never seen that before.”
He was shaking his head again soon after. This time Hazard, who had already executed a wonderful ‘rabona’ cross (where the kicking leg is wrapped around the back of the standing leg) to deliver a headed chance to Torres, which he fluffed, again created space to superbly slide a pass through to Schürrle.
He took it in his stride and sent his low shot back across Stekelenburg and into the net.
The hat-trick came when a goal-kick by Petr Cech was headed on by Torres and Richardson was again caught out, watching, allowing Schürrle to run in behind and fire a shot into the corner. It was that routine and it was over.
Fulham clawed a goal back when, from a corner which Cech allowed to run across his goal, Darren Bent turned the ball back for Johnny Heitinga to poke it over the line, but it was barely a consolation. Fulham’s plight is increasingly acute with just 10 games to go and a four-point gap to claw back.
They have improved dramatically but the fear is where will the goals come from? Also can they really hope to overhaul three of the teams above them?
Chelsea, meanwhile, are top of the pile and it is starting to look ominous for their rivals.
“I’m there now but if City win the two matches they’re top,” Mourinho argued. “The gap is a fake advantage.
“We have four points more than Arsenal, the same number of matches. I’m there for now, but if City win the two matches they’re top. We have four points from Arsenal and Liverpool, but not yet on City.”
It was another showman’s line. Just like that half-time stunt.

MATCH DETAILS
Fulham (4-4-2) Stekelenburg 5; Riether 4, Heitinga 5, Hangeland 5 (Burn 16, 6), Richardson 4; Kasami 5 (Holtby 62, 6), Sidwell 6, Parker 6 (Karagounis 80), Dejagah 6; Dempsey 6, Bent 5. Subs Stockdale, Riise, Kvist, Rodallega. Booked Dejagah, Kasami

Chelsea (4-2-3-1) Cech 5; Azpilicueta 6, Terry 6, Cahill 7, Ivanovic 5; Matic 6, Ramires 7; Hazard 8, Oscar 6 (Mikel 78), Schurrle 8 (Luiz 87); Torres 5 (Ba 79) Subs Schwarzer (gk), Cole, Lampard, Willian. Booked Ramires

Referee Mark Clattenburg
Attendance: 24,577

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

Times:

Fulham 1 Chelsea 3: Blues increase gap at top with Schurrle hat-trick

Ian Hawkey

AT THE half-time break, Jose Mourinho kept his own counsel. After a week in which his off-the-record laments about a sketchy roster of strikers were broadcast, and, here, a 45 minutes in which his complaints about travel schedules tiring his players appeared to have acted as self-fulfilling prophecy, perhaps that was the best policy. “I said nothing,” reported Mourinho of his interval strategy.
Silence evidently worked, because the Premier League leaders upped several gears, defeating Fulham thanks to a hat-trick from Andre Schurrle. “He is a good finisher,” acknowledged the manager of the German.
Chief creator and galvaniser, though, had been Eden Hazard, who lifted Chelsea against a Fulham side that started soundly but then lost momentum. At first, the Premier League’s bottom club seemed eager, ready and even able to exploit any tiredness in their visitors, Mourinho’s squad having arrived back from Istanbul before dawn on Thursday after their Champions League game.
There was indeed doziness apparent in the first period, although one principle offender in that respect would be the Fulham goalkeeper, Maarten Stekelenburg. Taken unaware by a charge towards him while teeing up a routine clearance by Fernando Torres, the striker’s alertness created the best first-half opening for Chelsea.
If Torres had shown initiative, some of his teammates looked drained. Branislav Ivanovic in particular struggled against the combinations Fulham sought to work between Pajtim Kasami and Kieran Richardson down their left. Kasami’s cross picked out Clint Dempsey, and Kasami’s low free kick, from 25 yards, also drew a sound stop from Petr Cech.
Fulham had caused Chelsea concerns, but they also suffered early setback. Brede Hangeland, coming off worse from a clash of heads with Richardson, left the field after barely quarter of an hour, replaced by Dan Burn. “We missed our leader without Hangeland,” reckoned Felix Magath, the Fulham manager.
Burn would soon be undone by the sharp-witted Hazard and the fleet-footed Schurrle. Hazard’s breakthrough pass to anticipate Schurrle’s run from the right, was inspired. Schurrle, appreciative of his colleague’s intuition, finished cleanly.
Chelsea’s second was created by the same pair. The game safe, the German set his sights on a third. It came four minutes later, Torres winning an aerial duel with Burn, Schurrle picking up the dividend.
Fulham pulled a goal back, Johnny Heitinga prodding in after a corner had stubbornly stuck in Cech’s danger zone.

Star man: Eden Hazard (Chelsea)
Fulham: Stekelenburg 6, Riether 6, Hangeland (Burn 16min 6), Heitinga 5, Richardson 6, Dejagah 6, Parker 7 (Karagounis 79min), Sidwell 6, Kasami 7 (Holtby 62min), Bent 6, Dempsey 6

Chelsea: Cech 7, Ivanovic 6, Cahill 7, Terry 7, Azpilicueta 7, Ramires 7, Matic 7, Schurrle 8 (David Luiz 87min), Oscar 7 (Mikel 78min), Hazard 8, Torres 7 (Ba 82min)

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

Mail:

Fulham 1-3 Chelsea: Jose's silent treatment does the trick for hat-trick hero Schurrle
By Rob Draper

To the long list of Jose Mourinho’s mind games, we now have to add the silent treatment.
It seems that his Chelsea team were spooked into a performance by a half-time walk-out by their manager.
Rather than address their shortcomings in what was a lamentable first half from Chelsea’s point of view, Mourinho simply walked out of the dressing room, allowing his players to stew in their own failings.
‘Normally I give the players two or three minutes to arrive, to change boots or shirts and after that they know that I start talking,’ said Mourinho.
‘And they were there, ready for me. But I was not ready for them. I decided not to speak — because if I start speaking about the first half I would need more than 10 minutes.
‘I think they showed they are very intelligent — without words, you understand what is in the mind of a person, especially if you know the person. I think they understood the first half was really poor and they transformed it into a fantastic second half.’
Chelsea looked lame, tepid and uninspired for 45 minutes. The designated creative midfield players all were utterly ineffective, none more so than Andre Schurrle. In fact, Felix Magath’s managerial debut at Craven Cottage had started surprisingly well. And then came Mourinho’s intervention.
Eden Hazard was transformed from indifference to excellence and he, in turn, brought out the best in Schurrle. And in transforming the game with a 16-minute hat-trick, the German sent a clear message on an afternoon that Arsenal lost and Manchester City did not play. Even when Chelsea appear to be faltering, they will find a way to get back into their stride and of such recoveries are title winners made.
For Fulham, it looks bleak. Cardiff next week will be a vital game but by the time the next reasonable run of fixtures comes, in April, it will surely be too late to survive. Magath, of course, remains optimistic.
‘For sure there is hope,’ he said. ‘You cannot expect we win against the leading team, so today nothing happened. We have to go to Cardiff and it would be better if we win the first game.’
He could point to significant first-half chances for Clint Dempsey, Dan Burn and Steve Sidwell that might have opened the scoring. Burn was three yards out when he failed to get a touch; Sidwell eight yards out when he blazed over.
But for Magath the transformation was more a result of Fulham’s failures than Chelsea’s inspiration. He was right that losing Brede Hangeland after a clash of heads with his team-mate Kieran Richardson on 15 minutes was a cruel blow.
‘After half-time we forgot to defend,’ said Magath. ‘I have seldom seen such a goal as the first one. Schurrle runs over the whole field and nobody tackles him. I cannot imagine we would have made such mistakes with Brede. He is the head of the team.’
And Magath was also right that no one could have anticipated the 16-minute maelstrom that transformed the game. Hazard was the instigator of the revival — perhaps he feared the silent treatment from Mourinho more than most, as in the first half was he was abject.
But from a knock-back from Schurrle on 52 minutes, the Belgian delivered an exquisite pass, allowing Schurrle a clear run on goal. Sprinting away from Burn over 20 yards, Schurrle did not disappoint.
Hazard seemed unburdened, for there was now an absurd playfulness to his creativity. A cross for Fernando Torres, executed by crossing one leg behind the other and striking the ball with the backward leg, was an utter delight.
He was now dominating areas in which he could barely get a kick in the first half. On 65 minutes, given too much space outside the box, he dinked through another clever pass for Schurrle, and, from close range this time, the German finished again.
Three minutes later the hat-trick was complete. A long ball was won in the air by Torres, who played in Schurrle, who sprinted away from Johnny Heitinga and finished decisively.
‘I expect this from him,’ said Mourinho of Schurrle. ‘Cold blood. He is in front of the goal and he’s the kind of guy who finishes. He can chip, he can score with the right foot and the left foot and this is what I expect from him.’
Fulham would respond. A corner found Darren Bent at the far post and he prodded the ball across goal for Heitinga to turn in on 74 minutes. But their early optimism had long since been deflated by then. By now Chelsea were well into their stride and about to go four points clear at the top of the table.

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

Mirror

Fulham 1-3 Chelsea: Schurrle bags a hat-trick to extend the Blues' lead at the top of the table
Dave Kidd

It's not often a player scores a ­hat-trick inside 16 minutes and everybody leaves the stadium drooling over one of his team-mates.
But Eden Hazard is a footballer who thinks six impossible thoughts before breakfast – and then sets about executing them in a Premier League match.
The Belgian’s technique has always been gorgeous yet now his workrate is impressive and his confidence appears limitless.
Jose Mourinho may have given his team the silent treatment at half-time – he was so disgusted with their first 45 minutes, he refused to speak to them.
But Hazard’s second-half display was further proof of how he has raised his game under the Special One.
Andre Schurrle doubled his Chelsea goals tally to blow away fragile Fulham with a ­hat-trick in little more than a quarter of an hour.
Yet with two of the assists, and the outstanding moment of the match, Hazard was the real star of the show.
Between the German’s first and second goals, Hazard surged down the left, shaped to cross with his left foot, wrapped his right foot around the back of it and sent a pinpoint centre to Fernando Torres at the back stick, which the Spaniard somehow failed to convert.
This particular party trick is known as a ‘rabona’. It is usually employed by ­showboaters but Hazard’s intent was deadly serious and his execution perfect.
Everyone inside Craven Cottage wished they had a ‘live pause’ facility so they could rewind the action and ensure their eyes had not deceived them.
Chelsea are now four points clear at the top of the table and, should they finish the job, as Mourinho’s teams tend to do, they will not be the most thrilling of Premier League champions.
But in Hazard they have one fantasy ­footballer, capable of dropping jaws and smacking gobs.
Deadly duo: Hazard made the bullets for Schurrle at the Cottage

Schurrle’s performance was schizophrenic. In the first half he delivered the worst ­free-kick seen in the Premier League this season and one of its worst corners too. In the second half, his finishing was simply lethal as he handed his fellow German Felix Magath a beating on his first home match as Fulham boss.
Fulham have been shambling towards the Championship all season and, even though Magath has cajoled decent first halves out of his side in his first two matches, they won neither and do not look a side capable of taking the necessary five or six wins from their final 10 games. Yet for 45 minutes, Magath’s men had snapped at heels, tackled with force, harried and hustled the league leaders, who looked sluggish after their midweek trip to Istanbul.
Mourinho was right to be furious with his charges, even though Torres might have scored twice before the break, once capitalising on a dreadful attempted ­clearance form Maarten Stekelenburg and then forcing a fine save out of the Dutchman.
Clint Dempsey, on his final appearance of an unsuccessful loan spell, headed wide early on and Steve Sidwell drilled another off target. But the key moment of Fulham’s first half came when Brede ­Hangeland had to be withdrawn after suffering concussion in a clash of heads with team-mate Kieran ­Richardson.
It was to prove decisive when Schurrle started a move deep inside his own half. The ball found Hazard, who played a searching through-ball for the blond German to outpace substitute Dan Burn and score.
“I have never seen a player run 90 metres to score without anyone trying to tackle him before in my career,” fumed Magath. He has had quite some career and it truly was that bad a goal from a defensive perspective.
Then came Hazard’s wonder cross, before the Belgian beat John Heitinga and slipped Schurrle through with a well-weighted pass for the German to fire inside the far post.
Torres provided the third with some fine hold-up play and Schurrle was clinical again.
“This is what I expect from Schurrle – cold blood in front of goal,” said Mourinho.
Heitinga stabbed home a ­consolation goal but Fulham were well beaten – and look to be heading for the ­Championship.

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Express:

Fulham 1 - Chelsea 3: Andre Schurrle treble sinks Cottagers
Jim Holden

FULHAM have put their faith in the tough Teuton taskmaster Felix Magath to save their season, but he was left powerless by a display of ruthless German efficiency and cute Portuguese psychology.
Efficiency came from Chelsea striker Andre Schurrle who struck a superb hat-trick inside 17 minutes in the second half to keep Chelsea firmly on top of the Premier League table and Fulham stuck perilously at the bottom.
The psychology, of course, was the department of Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, who revealed he gave his team the silent treatment after a hopeless first half to motivate them.
Yet the match was won by Schurrle. Each of his goals was converted with composure and precision, running onto clever passes from Chelsea team-mates and finding the net with low shots. Out on the touchline Magath could only watch with envy at the quality of his compatriot.
The Fulham side on his first match at Craven Cottage were well organised and thoroughly determined – but in the end there is no substitute for sheer class.
Chelsea had that with Schurrle – and with their orchestrator in chief Eden Hazard, whose probing, prompting and deft footwork was a delight.
Indeed, the moment of the match wasn’t one of the goals but a sensational cross-legged centre with his wrong foot from Hazard that was simply sublime and would have created another goal but for last-ditch defending. The trick, apparently, is called a ‘rabona’. You will never tire of watching it on TV replays.
Chelsea’s victory puts them four points clear at the top of the table after defeat yesterday for Arsenal, although Manchester City, six points adrift, have two matches in hand.
That left Mourinho delighted, but he remains cautious about the battle with City, the strongest title rivals.
The Chelsea manager preferred to talk about his half-time tactic, saying: “I was silent in the dressing room. I walked in and then I walked out. I didn’t say one word.
“I have never done this before in my career, but I haven’t had as many first halves like that in my career.
“It was very disappointing, the worst of our season. I would have changed 11 players if I could.
“But the second half was one of the best. My players are very intelligent and they understood what was needed. I didn’t say anything to them after the game either. What could I say then?”
The first half was mostly bland but for one curious incident when Fulham keeper Maarten Stekelenburg dallied on a clearance and kicked the ball straight at Fernando Torres.
Chelsea’s £50million striker collected the loose ball but contrived to shoot hopelessly wide of goal.
Torres had the only worthwhile effort of the half, his angled shot tipped away by Stekelenburg in stoppage time after Fulham captain Brede Hangeland was hurt in an aerial clash with team-mate Kieran Richardson.
Fulham look improved under their new manager Magath, but fashioned little before the break save for a low free-kick from Pajtim Kasami.
Hazard was the spark as Chelsea took complete command after the break and he drifted into spaces and danced past opponents. It was his pass that set Schurrle running clear in the 52nd minute and free to score.
It was a goal of thrilling dynamism.
Schurrle’s second came in the 65th minute, and once again was created by the wizardry of Hazard, who conjured another delicate but destructive pass into the Fulham penalty area which left the German clear to shoot home left-footed.
Four minutes later Torres had time to collect the ball and play a forward pass that sent Schurrle on the run again to complete his hat-trick.
Fulham did grab one goal back, for whatever consolation that held. A corner flew across the area, Darren Bent pulled the ball back and Johnny Heitinga stabbed home. It provoked no alarm among the celebrating Chelsea fans in this one-sided local derby. Their team was never going to lose.
Magath was phlegmatic afterwards, saying: “There is hope for us with the way we played in the first half today, but we have to do that for 90 minutes. Once the first goal was scored it was difficult for the team.”

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

Star:

Fulham 1 - Chelsea 3: Hat-trick hero Andre Schurrle extends the Blues Premier League lead
A GERMAN ruled at Craven Cottage – but unfortunately for Fulham it was not new boss Felix Magath.

By Paul Hetherington

His fellow-countryman Andre Schurrle scored a stunning hat-trick in 17 second-half minutes for league-leaders Chelsea to wreck Magath’s first home match in charge.
Schurrle’s first strike arrived in the 52nd minute after he had bee sent clear by Eden Hazard.
That comfortable finish was soon followed by another easy conversion in the 65th minute, from the former Bayer Leverkusen hitman, this time from close range with an inspired Hazard again providing the assist.
And four minutes later, Schurrle rifled home right-footed after Fernando Torres had first won the ball in the air before supplying the pass to his rampant team-mate.
Those goals gave Chelsea their 100th London derby victory since the introduction of the Premier League.
But for bottom-of-the-table Fulham, it is now eight league games without a win.
Yet Fulham were actually close to giving Magath a flying start to his managerial life at the Cottage.
After just three minutes Pajtim Kasami crossed from the left after a strong run but Clint Dempsey couldn’t control his header.
The American’s effort flew across the face of the goal and wide to Chelsea’s relief.
Fulham could then have fallen behind in the West London derby in the 14th minute, when Dutch keeper Maarten Stekelenburg – for the second time in the opening stages – made a hash of an attempted clearance.
Torres charged down the ball, only to shoot across the goal.
Fulham were immediately forced into an early change when a groggy Brede Hangeland left the field to be replaced by Dan Burn. The Fulham skipper had earlier been hurt in a nasty clash of heads with team-mate Kieran Richardson.
And it was Burn who had Fulham’s next chance but he failed to connect properly with a free-kick delivered from the left by Ashkan Dejagah.
Despite powerful performances from Blues centre-backs John Terry and Gary Cahill, Chelsea still managed to look uncertain at the back at times.
Petr Cech had to save smartly from a Kasami drive, after a well-worked free-kick.
Fulham, Chelsea, Andre SchurrleJOY AND DISPAIR: Chelsea celebrate Schurrle's second as Fulham contemplate another defeat [AP]
Then Steve Sidwell shot high and wide when the hosts carved out another opportunity.
But Spaniard Torres almost put his team ahead in first-half added time but his well-hit effort was turned over by Stekelenburg.
And the £50million striker should really have increased Chelsea’s lead seven minutes after Schurrle’s first goal.
Hazard produced an outrageous reverse cross from the left but Torres failed to hit the target with his downward header as Burn intervened.
Chelsea, though, took a proper grip on proceedings before Johnny Heitinga forced home a corner in the 74th minute for Fulham’s consolation goal.

Galatasaray 1-1

Independent:

Galatasaray 1 Chelsea 1  Fernando Torres goal halts collapse of the English
 
Striker gave the Blues an early lead but John Chedjou ensured the Turkish side will head to Stamford Bridge level on the scoresheet

Sam Wallace

The great English collapse in the Champions League has finally been halted, although even Jose Mourinho's team will have some work to do to go through when Galatasaray return to Stamford Bridge.
 
There is every chance that come the quarter-final draw next month, Mourinho's Chelsea will be the last men standing from the richest league in world football. They escaped Istanbul with a draw and that precious away goal from Fernando Torres and in three weeks' time they will be favourites to finish the job against Roberto Mancini's team in London.
Even so, as Real Madrid demolished Schalke in their first leg tie in Germany, there was a reminder that some of the other powerhouses in this competition are finding life much easier. Mourinho's former club were 6-1 winners at the Turk Telecom Arena when they played here in the group stages in September, although that was the only time that Galatasaray have lost at home in any competition so far this season.
Chelsea had the chances to put this tie beyond the reach of Galatasaray, whose defensive weaknesses were exposed in the first half. At times even the tumultuous noise created by the home fans was quelled if not silenced. With the tie Chelsea's to win, they allowed Mancini's team back into the game and tie.
Galatasaray's Italian coach rectified an imbalance in midfield and the Cameroon international John Chedjou came up with the equaliser. In that moment, Chelsea could be accused of letting their concentration slip. Otherwise this was a creditable performance. Much more astute than their opponents in the first half, Chelsea were then forced to rely on all their defensive doggedness after the break.
Mourinho admitted as much when he said that his team remain unable “to kill opponents”. They had their chance, especially with Torres eight minutes after the break, but Mourinho lamented that “the last decision, the correct pass, the right movement is something that is not right at the moment.” For Torres there was only faint praise for the “very acceptable season” Mourinho says he is having.
There was to be no goal for Galatasaray from Didier Drogba to spark the conflicting emotions in the former Chelsea man. But then, he always was a lot more lethal at Stamford Bridge. The striker was substituted by Mancini before the end, and if Galatasaray are to do anything in London, then he will be crucial. Mancini said that his players now believe they can do it, doubling his side's chances of progressing from his pre-match prediction to “40%”
It was a first half masterclass from Chelsea complete with the early goal to unsettle their opponents and then a high-tempo hustle in midfield that closed down the options for Galatasaray at every turn.
Mourinho picked a team with a few surprises in it. Torres was starting his first game since 11 January and his first since his return from the knee ligament injury picked up in the home win over Manchester United. He has not been trusted in a game of this magnitude for a while.
There was no risk taken with David Luiz who was not on the bench. Andre Schurrle started in the three behind Torres. The German has started just two games in the FA Cup since before Christmas. In midfield, Frank Lampard was given the place alongside Ramires with Nemanja Matic cup-tied and John Obi Mikel on the bench.
 
The first thing to say about Chelsea was that they looked hungry. They were ready to chase down every Galatasaray break-out from midfield and close down relentlessly. No-one more so than Willian who is becoming Mourinho's favourite soldier and the Brazilian helped to shut down the threat that Wesley Sneijder posed on Chelsea's right side.
The creation of the goal came chiefly from the impressive Cesar Azpilicueta who won the ball in his own half and fed it inside where it went from Eden Hazard to Schurrle and back to the overlapping Azpilicueta who had made up some distance down the left. He picked out the run of Torres who had far too much space in the area and rolled the ball into the goal nicely.
Mancini's team had been leaving gaps through their defence for the whole half and Chelsea ran through them at will. They counter-attacked with pace and, despite having just 43 per cent of the possession in the first half, managed easily more attempts on goal than their opponents. They almost scored in the fourth minute when Fernando Muslera, the Galatasaray goalkeeper cleared the ball straight to Willian and only just managed to head the resulting attempted lob clear.
For much of the first half, Mancini's team just defended too high. As for Drogba, he was forced to survive on very little with John Terry paying him close attention. That was an intriguing battle between the two old team-mates and Terry certainly won the first half. He did get lucky just before the interval when the Spanish referee Carlos Velasco Carballo disallowed a Galatasaray equaliser.

It is possible that Petr Cech had already stopped before Burak Yilmaz blasted the ball past him from the right channel. Either way, Carballo stopped the match and Terry was booked for delaying play by holding onto the ball when another had been thrown onto the pitch to restart the game.
Mancini had switched to 4-5-1 after half an hour of the game. Yilmaz was brought back into midfield and Yekta Kurtulus on for Izet Hajrovic which had a more stabilising effect in his side. They came back into the game after the break although there was one scare when Torres burst through the middle on 52 minutes.
He did not score his second of the game but it was not one of those moments of Torres despair. Rather it showcased almost everything that was good about him, once at least. Taking Hazard's pass he burst between two defenders, stayed on his feet as one tried to bounce him off the ball and got his shot on target. It would have been a brilliant goal were it not for Muslera's excellent save.
At the other end, Galatasaray were asking more pertinent questions of their opponents. Drogba urged his side on, and at times he seemed to have little patience for his former Chelsea team-mates, telling Petr Cech not to delay a free-kick at one point.
Drogba's header on 63 minutes should have been nudged in by the Galatasaray captain Selcuk Inan but somehow he managed to strike the post. Within a minute, they had their equaliser. A corner from the left from Sneijder eluded both Azpilicueta and Terry and the centre-back Aurélien Chedjou met the ball from a few yards out.
It had the effect of getting the home crowd back on side. Cech had to throw himself at a strike from the Brazilian Alex Telles. In the end, Galatasaray ran into that old Chelsea determination not to give in that has served them so well in Europe. It certainly has been missing of late in their three fellow English competitors in the Champions League.

Galatasaray (4-4-2): Muslera; Eboue, Chedjou, Balta (Kaya, 45), Telles; Hajrovic (Kurtulus, 30), Melo, Inan, Sneijder; Yilmaz, Drogba (Bulut, 80).
Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Cech; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta; Ramires, Lampard; Hazard (Oscar, 90), Willian Schurrle (Mikel, 66), Torres (Eto'O, 68).

Referee: C Verlasco Carballo (Spain)
Booked: Galatasaray Inan Chelsea Terry, Schurrle, Ramires, Cech

Man of the match: Azpilicueta

Petr Cech - 6/10
Branislav Ivanovic - 7
Gary Cahill - 6
John Terry - 7
Cesar Azpilicueta - 7
Ramires - 6
Frank Lampard - 6
Willian - 6
Andre Schurrle - 6
Eden Hazard - 6
Fernando Torres - 7
Samuel Eto'o - 5


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

Guardian:

Chelsea's draw at Galatasaray shows their Champions League limitations

Dominic Fifield at the Ali Sami Yen Spor Kompleksi

This tie lacks the dread that will accompany the other three English clubs going into their respective return legs and Chelsea have retained a sense of authority with Stamford Bridge to come. But events in Istanbul probably exposed their challenge for what it is. José Mourinho publicly considers his team outsiders to win this competition and, in failing to kill off Galatasaray at the first attempt, his players probably proved him right.
Profligacy, not for the first time this season, cost them on the banks of the Bosphorus and a tie that should have been settled early remains on edge. Aurelien Chedjou's equaliser just after the hour, bundled in at a corner as Chelsea's defence momentarily froze in the face of the first real hint of concerted home pressure, has offered the Turks unlikely hope.

Chelsea may have departed with a draw, the like of which Manchester City, Arsenal and Manchester United could only dream of, but this still seemed like a missed opportunity.
The worry is that it also had a familiar ring. The wastefulness conjured up memories of The Hawthorns earlier this month or the Britannia stadium in December. West Bromwich Albion and Stoke City had rallied to recover points from those games and Chelsea have had near-misses in other games where dominance did not yield a healthy advantage. Gala should have been buried in the opening exchanges, so open and vulnerable were they as the visitors poured through their ranks on the break, but they were able to revive themselves once the Chelsea boot had been removed from their throat. John Obi Mikel and Samuel Eto'o even had to be summoned from the bench in the latter stages to help Chelsea cling on to what they had.

Chedjou's volley from close-range had whipped the locals into a frenzy, the centre-half untracked at a corner with Gary Cahill distracted by Didier Drogba and indecision gripping John Terry and, for once, Petr Cech. Seconds earlier Chelsea had creaked just as alarmingly when Drogba was allowed to nod down and across goal, where Selciuk Inan darted in at the far post and prodded on to the woodwork from a yard out.
In that respect Chelsea could be grateful for a draw, with Cech denying Emmanuel Eboué and Alex Telles before the end, and the rather frenzied finale suggested that the momentum was all Turkish. "After our second half, the players probably understand we can go through," said Roberto Mancini. "It will be difficult but that second half was really important for us."
Galatasaray's late injection of hope was deceptive, however. Chelsea need only remind themselves of how comfortable they had been for the first hour to give themselves heart. A certain trepidation had prompted Hakan Balta and Chedjou to push far too high up the pitch early on, leaving tantalisingly wide open spaces at their back. With Eboué and Telles also too eager to gallop upfield, almost blindly at times, Chelsea could nick possession deep and spring at will. Headed clearances by their centre-halves suddenly became penetrative through-balls, and the visiting trio of creative midfielders relished the regular opportunities to burst into space on the counter.

Mourinho's selection had made that possible, the decision to pick Fernando Torres for a first start since 11 January justified by his slippery running where Eto'o might not have prospered so readily. André Schürrle, too, appeared fresh and eager on only his second start since New Year's Day. Eboué had been hopelessly out of position when the German collected from César Azpilicueta nine minutes in and, having glided into the Turkish half, liberated the marauding full-back inside his marker. The Spaniard charged towards the byline and drew out Fernando Muslera before pulling back for Torres to convert first-time into a gaping net. It was his sixth goal in his last five Champions League starts and a reminder that this team do have striking options.
It still felt like a novelty given the scoreless performances endured by the other English clubs in their respective first leg defeats. Indeed, it was the first goal scored by a Premier League club in any European competition since 12 December, when Roberto Soldado scored against Anzhi Makhachkala. But Chelsea should have had others. Willian might have capitalised on Muslera's scuffed clearance but saw his lob deflected over the bar by the goalkeeper's leap and header. Ramires, too, should have scored but lifted a shot from Schürrle's pull-back high and wide. Then an Eden Hazard pass sent Torres beyond Chedjou and the substitute Semih Kaya but his low shot was turned aside by Muslera.
That save seemed to increase in significance, given that it would have been hard to envisage Galatasaray coming back from two goals down. A draw, therefore, was frustrating and Mourinho wore that seen-it-all-before expression through his post-match duties. He warned that an awkward second leg awaits next month, yet Chelsea remain the most likely of the English contingent still in this competition to progress into the last eight. Whether they can progress much further while still letting opponents off the hook remains to be seen.

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

Telegraph:

Galatasaray 1 Chelsea 1

By  Henry Winter, Football Correspondent, Istanbul

Chelsea recorded a first for a Premier League team in 2014, a goal in Europe, but they left the deafening Turk Telecom Arena with a sense of frustration as well as reverberating eardrums.
Chelsea should really have built on Fernando Torres’s early goal but they suffered a lapse in concentration, a rare mistake by John Terry, and yielded to pressure from a Galatasaray side who responded well to Roberto Mancini’s tactical tweaks.
Jose Mourinho admitted afterwards that he was vexed that his team had failed to kill Galatasaray off. Torres had an excellent chance to make it 2-0 but the well-established fact remains that Mourinho’s team lack a prolific striker, leaving them vulnerable to any defensive errors.
These are infrequent, such has been the excellence of Terry and Gary Cahill, but Terry failed to react to Aurélien Chedjou’s run to meet Wesley Sneijder’s inswinging corner and Galatasaray had their deserved equaliser.
For all Chelsea’s annoyance, they still look well placed to progress to the quarter-finals, certainly far better placed than the Premier League’s other representatives, none of whom managed to score in their first legs.
Chelsea secured an away goal, take Galatasaray to their Bridge fortress, although Mourinho called on Chelsea fans to try to make it as noisy as Galatasaray’s gleaming new home. There was one point during the second half, during an extended spell of Chelsea possession, that the whistling of the Galatasaray fans was so piercing that one observer resorted to earplugs.
Mancini again played down Galatasaray’s chances but this was a success for him. His team were initially playing with fear, far too open defensively, and clearly the former Manchester City manager should take responsibility for that but he reacted astutely, changing personnel and the balance of the team.
He had hoped for a heavyweight performance from Didier Drogba against his old team-mates but the striker was largely subdued, perhaps overwhelmed by emotion but also well-marshalled by Terry and Cahill.
Branislav Ivanovic seemed to have responsibility for Drogba at corners and executed the role with occasional wrestling tricks.
Chelsea fans present spread out a huge banner of Drogba on adjacent seats and joined in the applause when the player who won them the 2012 Champions League was taken off by Mancini. The fear, of course, is that Drogba is saving up all his emotion and energy for an outpouring on his homecoming to the Bridge on March 18 but Terry and Cahill will be ready.
They knew their roles, their parts in Mourinho’s tactical design. In many ways this was a classic Chelsea away performance; they had 44 per cent possession, committed 18 fouls, and managed only 360 passes (to Galatasaray’s 490). They managed only one attempt on target in the second half.
Their occasional gamesmanship tested the patience of referee Carlos Velasco Carballo. Terry’s ball-throwing stunt to stymie a quick Galatasaray attack was particularly cynical and worthy of the ensuing yellow card. But Chelsea still came away with a good result which could have been even better.
For an hour it had all been reasonably comfortable for Chelsea.
After all the love-in for Drogba, and all the inquest into Mourinho’s comments about his present strikers, Torres seemed in the mood to seize the headlines. He was in quick on Galatasaray’s centre-halves, Chedjou and Hakan Balta, often tracking back, even dropping into midfield at one point to cover after Chelsea’s medical staff conducted some running repairs on Ramires’s nose.
Torres has endured much criticism since his £50?million move to the Bridge but he has contributed some important goals and this was his sixth in his last five starts in the Champions League.
The goal after eight minutes came via a classic Chelsea counter, pressing hard, winning the ball, and then striking quickly into raggedly-defended territory. André Schürrle was starting because of his pace and hunger for closing down opponents, fouling occasionally, earning a booking eventually, but his physicality and energy clearly unsettling the Turks.
Schürrle collected the ball on the left and released César Azpilicueta behind Emmanuel Eboué. Azpilicueta, again keeping Ashley Cole on the bench, ran into the box and cut the ball back for Torres, opening up his body, to side-foot home. They must have been tempted to unleash some fireworks over 30 Gloucester Place. The last Premier League player to score in Europe had been Roberto Soldado for Tottenham Hotspur on Dec 12.
It was a fine Chelsea attack, and nerveless finish from Torres, but it was naive defending from Galatasaray, who gave the visitors so much inviting space to run into behind their brittle back four.
Eboué’s positional nous has not improved since moving to Turkey. Galatasaray’s high line was dangerous enough; what made such tactics almost suicidal was Mancini’s decision to play almost four up at times, leaving Felipe Melo and Selcuk Inan overrun in midfield.
This was vintage Mourinho Chelsea; stifle and counter, absorb the punches and hit back hard and fast. Schürrle was everywhere, driving down the left and then the right, putting in a cross that the battered Ramires swept over.
So open at the back, Galatasaray looked better going forward. At times.
Sneijder, shimmying in from the left, combined with Burak Yilmaz but the inexperienced Izet Hajrovic shot over. Mancini had seen enough, withdrawing the largely anonymous Hajrovic for Yekta Kurtulus, a central midfielder replacing a winger, so stiffening midfield. Galatasaray now had better shape and more belief.
Terry cut out an Eboué cross. Petr Cech pushed away an Alex Telles shot. Terry then tried to stop that quick Galatasaray throw-in by lobbing a ball which he had caught rebounding back off the “Respect” hoarding after making a clearance. Galatasaray had been getting on with the game, even putting the ball in the net through Burak Yilmaz. Cech had raised his hands, noting that the referee was stopping the game.
Chelsea could easily have added to their lead. Willian and Schürrle set up Torres, who was thwarted at the last moment by Balta.
Shortly after the restart, Torres ran through, bringing a good save from Fernando Muslera.
Chelsea were running up a series of bookings for Ramires, Schürrle and Cech for time-wasting. They almost conceded a goal when Drogba headed back across from Sneijder’s delivery, and Selcuk Inan somehow hit the post rather than the back of the net.
Galatasaray’s increasing enterprise was rewarded when Chedjou made the most of Terry’s diffidence. It could have been worse for Chelsea but Cech saved from Telles. Chelsea, though, rightly remain favourites to reach the last eight.

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Mail:
Galatasaray 1-1 Chelsea: Slack defending costs Mourinho's men victory as Chedjou cancels out Torres' first-half opener

By Martin Samuel

It is five goals in five Champions League matches for Fernando Torres. It should have been six, though. That’s the problem.
Never satisfied, some people. Give the guy a break. Isn’t his record in Europe alone evidence of his quality? Scored against Bayern Munich earlier in the season, scored in the Europa League final against Benfica last year.
Put Torres on a plane and he comes alive. The player who has often appeared so ineffectual in the Premier League since arriving at Stamford Bridge finds his confidence again at the sniff of a passport.
And, yes, some of that is true. Inescapably, though, Chelsea paid £50million for Torres’s services. And what they had hoped to get for that outlay was a striker who made nights like this a formality, who turned one into two and uncertainty into inevitability. Torres failed to do that in Galatasaray’s Turk Telekom Arena. Given the perfect opportunity to take the match, and the tie, beyond Galatasaray’s reach, he blew it.
Chelsea will now return to Stamford Bridge, if not on a knife-edge, then certainly vulnerable. An away goal could turn the occasion on its head, just as this evening would have shifted calamitously had Petr Cech not made an outstanding late save from a shot by Alex Telles with 15 minutes remaining. That would have given Galatasaray the win, but would they have recovered to even score had Torres put them two behind? We will never know.
What we can say, however, is that after Torres missed in the 52nd minute, the home side threw themselves at the challenge with renewed vigour and the final 35 minutes belonged to them. By the end, Chelsea were the likelier losers. They will be wary next match, even if they might have taken 1-1 before kick-off.
The modern Galatasaray is certainly not hell. More like heck. No trials by fire, more skirmishes and inconveniences. The crowd still make a big noise, and Chelsea had more players booked than is helpful — including John Terry — but heck hath no fury like the old ground, where visitors were as likely to get a beating from the local constabulary as the starting XI, as Manchester United discovered.
Chelsea are the only English team to win a Champions League tie here, so they would have known the value of clinging to the early lead, or adding to it. They had enough chances, at least, particularly in the first half when several strong counter-attacks should have amounted to more. Needing a 1-0 home win to progress, they should still do it, of course. There is expected to be English representation in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, but this match now has tension that few expected after Chelsea took the lead on nine minutes.

This team may be built from the back in the tradition of Jose Mourinho’s best, but they are perhaps the most European of the Premier League clubs in the way they break. Not even Liverpool counter as fast as Chelsea.
Galatasaray’s new home is vast and a seat near its top affords the perfect view of Chelsea’s strength on the rebound. Back to front, box to box, they are startlingly fast, in the manner of the best continentals. The absence of Oscar, whose form has dipped of late, made no difference. Eden Hazard and Willian — in particular — are the key to this, with an able supporting cast of Ramires, Andre Schurrle and Cesar Azpilicueta.
Considering he is playing out of position, the importance of Azpilicueta’s excellence to Chelsea’s season cannot be overlooked. Without him, Mourinho would have Ashley Cole on the left and while that is no great hardship, the manager must have seen something in him this season that represents a slight dip in standards.
Azpilicueta, a right back, provided the solution and has arguably been the player of the season in that position. He was crucial to Chelsea’s early goal here — the one that momentarily sucked the noise from the throats of the voluble locals.
Emmanuel Eboue, late of Arsenal, made the mistake that set up the counter-attack, but after that it was down to Azpilicueta’s sheer pace and presence of thought having won the ball, going straight at Galatasaray and continuing his run almost to the byline.
Mystifyingly, this act of invasion drew Galatasaray goalkeeper Fernando Muslera — Roy Hodgson can only hope he is as flaky against England for Uruguay at the World Cup — meaning that Azpilicueta had simply to square the ball for Torres, who slotted it expertly past two defenders.
As if sensing the worth of this reprieve, Galatasaray regrouped and hit Chelsea with a sustained assault, which grew in intensity, forcing a goal.
In the 54th minute, in winning a challenge with Burak Yilmaz, Gary Cahill almost struck the ball into his own goal, but it was from set-pieces that Galatasaray most threatened — unsurprisingly with Didier Drogba in the attack.

It was Drogba’s presence that forced their second best chance of the game, his header from a short corner finding Selcuk Inan at the far post, yet somehow he contrived to hit woodwork when so much net beckoned.
But a goal was coming and from the next corner, taken by Wesley Sneijder, central defender Aurelien Chedjou found Terry and Cech in strangely docile mood, and headed the ball home. It was just the sort of goal Chelsea so rarely concede.
The first goal scored by an English club in European competition in 2014 — at the sixth attempt, incredibly — could have been accompanied by two more before half-time. Muslera was again the culprit, with a mistimed clearance that flew straight to Willian and left him stranded on the edge of the penalty area. Willian chipped but the Uruguayan improvised, a header deflecting the ball just wide of the far post. An impressively unconventional resolution, even if the chaos was of his making.
Then, in the 27th minute, another break — Schurrle on the right this time, beating his man and finding Ramires, who should have done better with a shot that flew over the bar. In his defence, Ramires had just returned to the field having sustained a blow to the face in an aerial challenge. A large white plaster was stuck horizontally across his nose. Maybe his eyes were still watering.
It was between then, and Galatasaray’s 64th-minute equaliser, that Chelsea let the advantage slip. There were a few culprits but Torres was the main one. In the 52nd minute, he was put through by Eden  Hazard, chasing clear with two Galatasaray men in pursuit. They applied pressure, but, even so, his finish was ordinary and tipped round by Muslera.
Football — bloody heck, as Sir Alex Ferguson did not say.

Galatasaray (4-3-1-2): Muslera 6; Eboue 6.5, Chedjou 7, Balta 7 (Kaya 46min, 6), Telles 7;
Selcuk Inan 6, Melo 6.5, Hajrovic 5 (Kurtulus 31, 6.5); Sneijder 7; Drogba 7 (Bulut 80), Yilmaz 6.
Subs not used: Ceylan, Gulselam, Colak, Sarioglu.
Goal: Chedjou 64

Booked: Inan

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Cech 6, Azpilicueta 7.5, Cahill 6, Terry 6, Ivanovic 6.5, Hazard (Oscar 90), Lampard 5.5, Ramires 6, Willian 7, Schurrle 7 (Mikel 67, 6), Torres 7 (Eto'o 68, 6).

Subs not used: Schwarzer, Cole, Ba, Kalas.
Goal: Torres 9
Booked: Terry, Schurrle, Ramires, Cech

Man of the Match: Azpilicueta

Referee: Carlos Velasco Carballo (Spain) 7
Attendance: 51,000
Ratings by SAM CUNNINGHAM

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

Times:

Galatasaray 1 Chelsea 1
Chelsea in driving seat despite missed chances to finish tie against Galatasaray

Matt Hughes Deputy Football Correspondent, Istanbul

José Mourinho has been promoting himself — shock, horror — as a defender of English values all season, so it would be fitting if he were left as the Barclays Premier League’s sole flag-waver in the Champions League quarter-finals.
The Chelsea manager was left frustrated last night as his side squandered a hard-fought lead after spurning several chances, but will still expect to overcome Galatasaray .
Mourinho would have been happy with this outcome beforehand, as he demonstrated by going on the defensive after Aurélien Chedjou’s 67th-minute equaliser, but should have returned to London with one foot in the last eight. The Portuguese has also been telling anyone willing to listen that his developing side should be regarded as outsiders for the biggest prizes, and on a night when his former club, Real Madrid, scored six away from home against Schalke, his new charges demonstrated precisely why.
This game was Chelsea’s for the taking after Fernando Torres had given them the lead in the ninth minute, but they paid the price for their profligacy and some poor defending that John Terry, in particular, will want to forget. There is a slightly soft underbelly about this Chelsea side that they may get away with domestically, because of the transitional state of the Premier League, but which will be punished in the Champions League with a ruthlessness that they seem incapable of mustering at present.
Mourinho’s first Chelsea team a decade ago would have finished off the job, particularly with Didier Drogba in prime form, although that comment should not be seen as a slight on Torres, who looked surprisingly sharp on his first start since January 11.
The Spain forward seemed determined to prove a point after Mourinho’s complaints about his strikers and shaded his personal duel with the former team-mate who so overshadowed him at Chelsea, although the turning point of the game came with the chance he missed at the start of the second half that would have put the visiting side two goals ahead, when he shot tamely at Fernando Muslera, the goalkeeper.
In the first half, Chelsea looked capable of scoring every time they attacked as Willian, Andrea Schürrle and Eden Hazard stretched the Galatasaray defence. Roberto Mancini admitted that his players were overwhelmed by fear in the opening period, but the Italian was also culpable, setting out with a high defensive line that Chelsea cannot have witnessed since André Villas-Boas was their manager. As a result, Galatasaray often resembled sitting ducks in the face of Chelsea’s inevitable counter-attacks and were repeatedly exposed.
Chelsea’s opening goal was a case in point, and its genesis will not have surprised any watching Arsenal fans, as it resulted from Emmanuel Eboué giving the ball away after recklessly venturing too far forward. The Ivory Coast defender was caught in possession by César Azpilicueta and Schürrle took full advantage, showing the presence of mind to give the ball back to his team-mate down the left rather than carrying the ball forward himself. The Spain full back also kept his head, as he has done since supplanting Ashley Cole , by advancing into the penalty area before calmly picking out Torres, who timed his run to perfection to shoot into an unguarded net.
Torres’s goal was the first by an English club in Europe since Roberto Soldado scored for Tottenham Hotspur in the Europa League on December 12, but for all his travails in the Premier League he remains potent at this level, and has scored six goals in his past five Champions League appearances.
Chelsea could have taken the lead even earlier, the industrious Willian chipping the ball over the bar in the fifth minute , and created enough chances to have put the game to bed before half-time. Ramires shot over the bar after Schürrle had played him in from the right and Azpilicueta found himself in a dangerous position on the edge of the penalty area after being released by Hazard. Galatasaray created plenty of chances themselves, however, with Selcuk Inan striking the far post at close range from Drogba’s header , and they equalised two minutes later. Chedjou was left unmarked to volley in Wesley Sneijder’s corner. Gary Cahill had his hands full with Drogba, but Terry should have followed the run of the Cameroon international.
Mourinho reacted immediately by replacing Schürrle with John Obi Mikel in a clear statement of defensive intent, which paid off as Chelsea saw out the final 20 minutes . While Mourinho’s claims to support fair play and the sanctity of officialdom should be taken with a pinch of salt, he can be relied upon to take his remaining responsibilities in the Champions League with extreme seriousness.

Galatasaray (4-4-2): F Muslera — E Eboué, A Chedjou, H Balta (sub: S  Kaya, 46min), A Telles — I Hajrovic (sub: Y Kurtulus, 31), Felipe Melo, Selcuk Inan, W Sneijder — Burak, D Drogba (sub: U Bulut, 80). Substitutes not used: U Ceylan, C Gulselam, Emre, S Sarioglu. Booked: Inan.

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): P Cech — B Ivanovic, G Cahill, J Terry, C Azpilicueta — Ramires, F Lampard — E Hazard (sub: Oscar, 90), Willian, A Schürrle (sub: J Obi Mikel, 66) — F Torres (sub: S Eto’o, 68). Substitutes not used: M Schwarzer, A Cole, D Ba, T Kalas. Booked: Terry, Schürrle, Ramires, Cech.
Referee: C Velasco Carballo (Spain).

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

Mirror:

Galatasaray 1-1 Chelsea: Fernando Torres scores away goal but Turkish giants claw back Blues
 
By Martin Lipton

Jose Mourinho's side took an early lead in Istanbul, but their Champions League last-16 tie remains in the balance
He warned everyone, even if it upset the men he diminished.
But Jose Mourinho knows the biggest threat to Chelsea’s ambitions is contained within their own ranks.
The Portuguese does, indeed, have a team but not a striker, lacks the sort of man who makes the difference. And in the final analysis, it is that shortcoming, that absence of quality, that could deny Chelsea the silverware they crave.
As he was caught admitting by that eavesdropping French camera crew in Switzerland last week, Fernando Torres, Samuel Eto’o and Demba Ba are not good enough.
Any remaining doubt, surely, was ended amid the fervent ferment of the Turk Telekom Arena, as Chelsea conspired to breathe life into a tie that should have been over already.
A goal up inside nine minutes, as Torres converted a simple chance, impossible for any striker to miss, Chelsea were shredding Roberto Mancini’s men on the counter.
But chances went begging, time and again, Torres, on his first start in seven weeks, missing the best of them. Breaks with four and five against short-handed defences were not converted, as the final pass was missing – perhaps because the Spaniard was not making the right runs.
Those are the runs top strikers, the likes of Edinson Cavani, Radomel Falcao, Robert Lewandowski, Diego Costa, Sergio Aguero or Wayne Rooney make as a matter of course. Chelsea, as Mourinho inadvertently revealed in Nyon, do not have that quality, or anything like it.
They are like a bird with an injured wing, have been all season, in those defeats at Everton, Newcastle and Stoke, the draw at West Brom, even the win at Norwich. And after Didier Drogba finally broke free from the shackles locked on him by John Terry to awaken the storm winds of the Bosphorus, Chelsea were made to pay by defender Aurelien Chedjou.
Leaving the Cameroonian a virtually open goal six yards out from a Wesley Sneijder corner was an act of almost criminal negligence by Mourinho’s men.
Then again, as Mourinho did his best not to mention Roberto Mancini’s name, he rued his team’s failure to capitalise on their classic counter-attacking dominance. Mancini said his side had played with "too much fear" in the opening phase but that, surely, was a consequence of Chelsea’s start.
Willian, otherwise excellent both off the ball and on it, should have scored inside four minutes when a hurried clearance by Uruguayan World Cup keeper Fernando Muslera landed at his feet 35 yards out, the Brazilian failing to loft the ball over the stranded gloveman.
Five minutes later, though, that seemed unlikely to matter, the goal developing with a remorseless inevitability from the instant Cesar Azpilicueta robbed former Arsenal man Emmanuel Eboue on half-way.
Galatasaray, with no answer to Chelsea’s poise, were chasing shadows as Azplicueta slipped to Eden Hazard, kept running to meet the recalled Andre Schuerrle’s ball into the hole Eboue had vacated, and pulled back for Torres to slide home.
Evidence, too, of why Ashley Cole has become the forgotten man of SW6, his future clouded in doubt. Azpilicueta has been exceptional.
With Drogba dropping deep to try and influence proceedings, Sneijder peripheral, the home fans loud but fearful, Chelsea should have taken advantage. Ramires shot over but too often there was a failure to convert brilliant positions into a decisive attempt on goal. Torres, played in by Hazard at the start of the second half, should have finished it but having shaken off his marker, allowed Muslera to turn behind.
Galatasaray, still unhappy that a Bukan Yilmaz "equaliser" - with the second ball on the pitch after some Terry cynicism – had been rightly chalked off, began to believe. Skipper Selcuk Inan, three paces out, nudged against the outside of Petr Cech’s right-hand upright from Drogba’s nod down.
The warning was unheeded, the Blues absent without leave from the next corner, delivered into the danger area by Sneijder, with Chedjou barely believing the space he had to volley home.
Cech’s fine late save from left-back Alex Telles ensured Chelsea remain the favourites to go through. But compared to the goal threats that Barcelona, Bayern and Real Madrid have at their disposal, Chelsea are well short. And that may prove telling.

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

Express:

Galatasaray 1 - Chelsea 1: Fernando Torres flies the Blues' flag

CHELSEA kept the Champions League flag flying for English football as they snatched a precious draw in the hotbed of Istanbul – but they knew it should have been more.
By: Tony Banks

After three first-leg defeats for England’s other clubs in the round of the last 16, Chelsea at least ground out a result and are strong favourites to make it into the quarter-finals – probably on their own as far as the Premier League is concerned.
But after Fernando Torres, one of the strikers manager Jose Mourinho was bemoaning this week, gave them an early lead with his sixth goal in five Champions League starts, Chelsea wasted a hatful of good opportunities to bury this tie.
They were punished when Aurelien Chedjou capitalised on sloppy marking at a corner to equalise after 64 minutes. But Mourinho will surely feel this should be enough to take into the second leg.
The rest of the round as far as English football has been concerned had been pure carnage. Three games played by three of the Premier League’s finest, three defeats, no goals scored, six conceded.
So virtually anything bar a disaster that Chelsea could manage in the Turk Telecom Arena last night was bound to be an improvement.
And with Galatasaray going into the tie with manager Roberto Mancini saying that Chelsea had an 80 per cent chance of progressing, home hopes hardly seemed high on the Bosphorus.
Mourinho is bidding to become the first manager to win the Champions League with three different clubs. Old rival Mancini has never made it past the quarter finals.
It was far from the old, infamous Ali Sami Yen stadium, the renowned “Welcome to Hell” arena. The Telecom Arena is a modern, gleaming edifice on the outskirts of Istanbul – but there was still plenty of noise, plenty of the usual fanaticism.
And there was 35-year-old Didier Drogba, Chelsea’s hero of that epic night when they won the trophy in 2012 and now up against them in the orange and red of Turkey’s champions – and with 10 goals in 27 games this season.
In contrast, into Mourinho’s team for his first start since January 11 came Torres, one of the goal-shy strikers he embarrassingly and inadvertently bemoaned in public this week. Eight goals to his name.
The Turks almost gifted Chelsea a goal in the third minute, as goalkeeper Fernando Muslera’s kick dropped straight to Willian, but his effort towards an empty net was deflected just wide.
But six minutes later they were ahead as Cesar Azpilicueta galloped onto Andre Schurrle’s pass and squared for Torres to stab home.
English’s football’s first goal of the round – in fact the first in Europe for seven hours 58 minutes.
The Drogba-John Terry battle between the two old friends was a no-quarter-given, bare-knuckle contest. But there was no question who was winning.
Chelsea should have added to their score when Schurrle broke down the right and crossed, but Ramires lifted his shot over the bar.
Galatasaray replied as Izet Hajrovic shot, but Petr Cech saved comfortably. But the Chelsea keeper then had to move smartly to tip Alex Telles’ low cross round the post.
Burak Yilmaz then had the ball in the net, but the Galatasaray players and crowd were furious as referee Carlos Velasco disallowed it having stopped play to book John Terry for throwing the ball away at a throw-in.
Chelsea’s sheer pace on the counter attack was catching the Turks out, but all too often the final ball was the wrong one, and while it was only 1-0 there was always an edge to the game.
Another chance on the break went begging as Uruguayan keeper Muslera tipped Torres’ shot round the post.
Felipe Melo headed over as Galatasaray tried to impose some control, although Chelsea, driven on by Terry, looked in command. But then Drogba for once won the battle in the air and nodded down, and somehow Melo manged to hit a post from point-blank range.
Then from a corner carelessly given away, Wesley Sneijder curled the ball into the area and centre-back Chedjou was totally unmarked as he scored.
Now the nerves showed, as Willian lost the ball on the edge of his own area and Telles forced Cech to superbly tip his shot over the bar.
Mourinho threw John Obi Mikel on to shore things up, but it was a tight and tense last 20 minutes, when it should all have been calmness and serenity.

GALATASARAY: (4-4-1-1): Muslera; Eboue, Chedjou, Balta (Kaya 46), Telles; Hajrovic (Kurtulus 31), Melo, Inan, Sneijder; Yilmaz, Drogba (Bulut 80).
Booked: Inan. Goal: Chedjou 64.
CHELSEA: (4-2-3-1): Cech; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta; Ramires, Lampard; Schurrle (Mikel 67), Willian, Hazard (Oscar 90); Torres (Eto’o 68).
Booked: Terry, Schurrle, Cech, Ramires. Goal: Torres 9.
Referee: C Velasco (Spain).

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

Star:

Galatasaray 1 - Chelsea 1: Fernando Torres puts the Blues in pole position
FERNANDO TORRES edged Chelsea closer to the Champions League quarterfinals last night.

By Scott Coleman

The Spaniard struck after just nine minutes, steering home a right-foot shot from a fine cut-back by Cesar Azpilicueta.
And despite a 64th-minute equaliser from Aurelien Chedjou, after some slack defending, Jose Mourinho’s men will fancy their chances of reaching the last eight in the second leg.
Before last night, English clubs had suffered carnage in the round of 16.
Three games played by three of the Premier League star teams, three defeats, no goals scored, six conceded.
So Chelsea were trying to end the embarrassment in the Turk Telecom Arena in Istanbul.
“Five minutes later Mourinho’s side were ahead anyway, as Azpilicueta galloped on to Andre Schurrle’s pass and squared for Torres to score”
And with Galatasaray going into this tie with manager Robert Mancini insisting that the Blues had an 80 per cent chance of progressing, home hopes hardly seemed high on the Bosphorus.
Mourinho has his heart set on making it to the semis for the eighth time in 10 seasons, and to become the first manager to win the Champions League with three different clubs.
Galatasaray chief Mancini, an old rival, had never made it past the quarter-finals.
But also lurking in wait was Didier Drogba, Chelsea’s hero of that epic night when they won the trophy in 2012, but now up against them for the first time.
Despite his veteran status at the age of 35, he still went into this match with 10 goals in 27 starts this season.
In stark contrast, Mourinho opted to give goal-shy Torres his first start since January 11 after netting just eight times in all competitions.
The Turks almost gifted Chelsea a goal in only the third minute, as goalkeeper Fernando Muslera’s raced from his area but his kick dropped straight to Willian.
But the Muslera redeemed himself with a superb leap to deflect the Brazilian’s chip towards the gaping net with his head.
Five minutes later Mourinho’s side were ahead anyway, as Azpilicueta galloped on to Andre Schurrle’s pass and squared for Torres to score. It was English’s football’s first goal of the round – in fact, their first in Europe for seven hours 58 minutes.
There were no holds barred in the Drogba versus John Terry battle at the centre of the Chelsea defence. And it was the centre-back who was clearly coming out on top.
Chelsea should have added to their score when Schurrle broke down the right and crossed, but Ramires then lifted his shot over.
Galatasaray replied as Izet Hajrovic shot, but Petr Cech saved comfortably.
But the Czech international then had to react smartly to tip a low effort from Alex Telles round the post.
Burak Yilmaz thought he had fired in an equaliser from a narrow angle after a quick throw.
But the goal was disallowed because Terry was still holding the original ball, which he threw down as he tried to get back to defend. The decision was made even more strange when the Chelsea star was booked. he home fans.
The Turks pressed in the second half and Selcuk Inan somehow hit the post from point-blank range after Drogba had knocked it down.
But they did level in the 64th minute.
A Wesley Sneijder corner was swung in from the left and it dropped over Terry, leaving Chedjou with a simple side-footed volley from six yards.
And Galatasaray almost won it when Willian was robbed 25 yards out and Cech had to stretch to turn over a piledriver from Telles.

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