Kante stars as Chelsea seal place in last four

N’GOLO Kante’s tireless midfield performance steered Chelsea to a first Champions League semifinal in seven years despite the Blues’ 1-0 quarter-final second-leg loss to Porto last night.

Mehdi Taremi’s stunning overhead kick in second-half added time put the squeeze on Chelsea, but the Blues still progressed to the semifinals 2-1 on aggregate.

They will now meet either Real Madrid or Liverpool in their first semi-final since losing out to Atletico Madrid in 2014.

Mason Mount and Ben Chilwell’s first-leg goals proved decisive in the end, with Chelsea coasting for much the second leg in Seville

Taremi’s late acrobatics planted a seed of doubt, but Porto produced too little, too late – and Chelsea deservedly moved into the last four.

France World Cup-winner Kante was not even meant to start in Spain, but was pressed into last-minute service after a minor injury to Mateo Kovacic.

Kante has only just shaken off his latest hamstring injury and boss Thomas Tuchel wanted him to feature off the bench at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium.

The 30-year-old midfielder cemented Chelsea’s dominance in the tie with a stunning showing at both ends of the pitch, in a performance to delight the regimented Blues.

Tuchel’s men are now able to jet back to London and turn immediate attentions to Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City and former Paris St Germain manager Tuchel’s first concern will be to gauge whether linchpin midfielder Kante is capable of starting at Wembley.

The Blues will desperately want Kante to start against Pep Guardiola’s quadruple chasing City, and will doubtless pull out all the stops to make that happen.

Blues boss Tuchel was delighted with the application shown by his team.

He told BT Sport: “Maybe on the television it was not so nice to watch but at the sideline it was a very intense game.

“After a tough start, with every minute we did it better and better. We defended very, very well, we deserved absolutely a clean sheet, we had the better chances – not a lot, but better chances, better half-chances.” n PARIS St Germain knocked holders Bayern Munich out on away goals despite losing the second leg of their quarter-final 1-0 at Parc des Princes.

Mauricio Pochettino’s men had edged a thrilling first-leg clash 3-2 in Munich, and saw Neymar denied by the woodwork twice before Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting bundled the Germans in front on the night with a close-range header just before half-time.

Bayern, though, could not find another away goal as the Ligue 1 side, who had Mbappe’s late effort ruled out for offside, progressed.