-
Didier Drogba - Source: Reuters -
Related
A 78th-minute goal by Samuel Eto'o and an accomplished defensive
display gave Inter Milan a deserved 1-0 win at Chelsea on Wednesday
that sent them into the Champions League quarter-finals 3-1 on
aggregate.
The Italians, who had fallen at the first knockout stage for the
last three seasons and were led by former Chelsea coach Jose
Mourinho, took the initiative from the start and Chelsea were never
able to get control of the game.
Inter had missed the three best chances of the match before Wesley
Sneijder sent Eto'o free and the Cameroon striker scored with
aplomb as Inter fly the flag for Serie A as the only Italian team
into the last eight.
Chelsea, who had reached the semi-finals in five of the last six
years and last lost a home Champions League game four years ago,
were desperately short of invention and barely troubled goalkeeper
Julio Cesar as Mourinho enjoyed another night to remember at
Stamford Bridge.
Inter opted against trying to sit back and defend their first-leg
lead and produced an energetic display in a first half that
featured more appealing, complaining and theatrical over-reacting -
from both sides - than constructive football.
Long time
Mourinho's tactic to start with three strikers - Eto'o, Diego
Milito and Goran Pandev - seemed to catch Chelsea out and it took
the Londoners a long time to get a hold on the game.
However, solid Inter defending, with centre backs Lucio and Walter
Samuel in dominant form, and a sharp block by Cesar to keep out an
Nicolas Anelka flick ensured it was goalless at halftime.
Inter actually had the best chance of the half when Eto'o,
seemingly surprised that a deep cross reached him after another
mis-timed John Terry leap, sent a stooping header wide from five
metres out after 34 minutes.
Inter began to pile on the pressure midway through the second half
and a clever backheel by Sneijder sent Pandev through but a
terrific covering tackle by Yuri Zhirkov saved the day.
Four minutes later Milito sprung the offside trap but shot wide
with just stand-in keeper Ross Turnbull to beat while Thiago Motta
headed over the bar from a free kick.
Chelsea were showing nothing at the other end and it was no real
surprise when the impressive Sneijder looped a ball over the home
defence and Eto'o, who had not scored in eight games since
returning from the African Nations Cup, advanced on Turnbull and
drove the ball confidently past him.
Turnbull did well to deny Eto'o again in injury time but by then it
was all over for Chelsea, who had been reduced to 10 men by a late
red card for Didier Drogba after a clash with Motta.
Meanwhile in the other match on Wednesday, a well-struck free kick
from Keisuke Honda gave CSKA Moscow a surprise 2-1 win at Sevilla
to send the Russians into the Champions League quarter-finals for
the first time in 17 years.
After a 1-1 draw in Moscow, goals from CSKA's Tomas Necid and
Sevilla's Diego Perotti had the sides tied at 2-2 on aggregate at
the break before Honda's 55th-minute strike flew in off Sevilla
goalkeeper Andres Palop.
A surprise victory for the Muscovites put them into the last eight
for the first time since 1992-93 and ended Sevilla's hopes of
making their debut in the last eight.
