
Champions League Tuesday Review
Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan dumped Chelsea out of the Champions League while CSKA Moscow beat Sevilla in the other match.
It was a victorious return for Mourinho to Stamford Bridge - the site of so many of his past triumphs.
The Special One put out a surprisingly attacking team with Goran Pandev, Diego Milito and Samuel Eto'o as Inter approached the game with an attacking mindset.
It was Chelsea however who went close first - Michael Ballack's drive from outside the box skipping past Julio Cesar's right post in the 11th minute. Defender Maicon put in a superb block soon after to deny Didier Drogba.
Chelsea vs Inter Milan Player Ratings
The visitors showed they had not come just to defend - Sameul Eto'o horribly mistiming his header on the far post after John Terry had misjudged the flight of the ball.
Carlo Ancelotti's men had two decent penalty shouts before the first half ended. First Thiago Motta bought down Branislav Ivanovic and then Walter Samuel literally wrestled Drogba to the ground from a Chelsea corner. The referee did not uphold either appeal however and the game was still nicely poised after the first 45 minutes.
Inter asserted themselves in the second half and it took some sensational defeding by Yuri Zhirkov to deny Pandev after the striker looked like he was through on goal.
As Chelsea marauded forwarded in search of that crucial goal, they left gaps behind them and Inter's midfield began picking out through ball with increasing frequency.
Eto'o collected one such superb ball from Wesley Sniejder in the 78th minute and held off the attentions of Branislav Ivanovic to squeeze the ball past Ross Turnbull's near post with a cool finish from the outside of his right foot.
Chelsea never looked like scoring the two goals needed to take the match into extra time and in fact, it was Eto'o who went close again - Turnbull producing a superb save after the striker was in on goal.
A miserable night for the Blues culminated in the sending-off of Drogba who raked his studs down Motta's calf in retaliation for the defender holding on to him.
1-0 on the night and 3-1 on aggregate. Jose Mourinho had delivered the knockout punch to his beloved Chelsea.
In the night's other match CSKA Moscow went through courtsey of a Andres Palop clanger. The Sevilla keeper fisted the ball into his own net from a Keisuke Honda free-kick to give the Russian side a 2-1 advantage on the night.
Sevilla took the upper hand from kick off when Luis Fabiano shot straight at the keeper from six yards out. It was the Russian side however, that took the lead against the run of play in the 39th minute.
Honda held up the ball well at the edge of the box before slipping it to Tomas Necid who opened his body nicely to slot the ball past Palop.
Sevilla were back no level terms almost immediately though when a long ball bounced over the defence and Diego Perotti was on hand to poke the ball into the net.
The joy was shortlived however, as Honda's powerful left-footed free-kick from far out swung a bit and caught Palop out of position. The keeper could not get his hands behind the ball completely and it bounced into the roof of the net.
Sevilla ran out of steam soon after and CSKA had no trouble closing out the match to reach their first ever Champions League quarter final.
Match Reports and Reactions
Chelsea 0-1 Inter Milan (1-3 on aggregate)
"We were the best team by far"
Ancelotti: "Congratulations to Inter"
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