Champions League: Mourinho’s Inter see off Chelsea

Posted by Alex Homer on Mar 17th, 2010 in Football, Sport | 0 comments

jose mourinho chelsea manager 170310

José Mourinho’s return to Stamford Bridge saw his Inter side knock Chelsea out of the Champions League on Tuesday, with a 3-1 aggregate win over two legs.

Didier Drogba’s late red card for a petulant stamp on Thiago Motta’s foot highlighted Chelsea’s frustration on the night when Samuel Eto’o’s goal after 79 minutes gave Inter a 1-0 win.

The respect with which Mourinho (pictured when Chelsea manager) is remembered on the Fulham road led to exaggerated hype before the game.

And if the prize of progression into the last eight of Europe’s premier football tournament was not mouth-watering enough, The ‘Special One’ had football fans around the world drooling when his teamsheet revealed he would field three strikers, despite holding a 2-1 aggregate lead.

Through Eto’o, Diego Milito and Goran Pandev, the former Chelsea boss planned to stretch the Blues’ defence to such an extent on the counter-attack, they would have to gamble with extra personnel forward for their equalising goal.

A blistering first half was the only possible result but Carlo Ancelotti’s team did not appear to have read Mourinho’s script as first Michael Ballack shot wide before Nicolas Anelka had a close-range effort cleared by Thiago on the line.

Inter’s defensive duo of Lucio and Walter Samuel came into their own after the break however, restricting Chelsea’s highlights to a speculative 53rd minute long-ranger from Florent Malouda.

And as Chelsea threw on attackers in substitutes Joe Cole and Salomon Kalou, Wesley Sneijder bypassed an over-committed defence with his chipped through ball to Eto’o, who outmuscled Branislav Ivanovic and beat keeper Ross Turnbull at his near post.

After he was denied a penalty, when Samuel hauled him down in the box, Drogba may have been justified in his later temper.

Stamping on Motta, Drogba showed a lack of professionalism when Mourinho’s tactics showed Chelsea lacking Champions League pedigree.

Elsewhere, Andres Pelop’s goalkeeping error put CSKA Moscow into the last eight as Keisuke Honda’s free kick wrapped up their 3-2 aggregate win over Sevilla.

Tomas Necid latched onto Honda’s assist to give the Russians the lead in the first half but Sevilla responded through Diego Perotti’s tap-in, before Pelop’s attempted punch only deflected Honda’s set piece into the top corner.

Premier League

James Milner kept Aston Villa’s dreams of European football alive as his second-half strike saw Villa to a 2-1 win over Wigan, after James McCarthy netted an own goal and Gary Caldwell headed the Latics’ equaliser.

Share This Article