DUMPED OUT
Chelsea sunk as old boy Luiz and PSG take revenge
CHELSEA crashed out of Europe last night, beaten on away goals after extra time by 10-man Paris Saint- Germain as accusations of cheating rained down on Jose Mourinho’s team.
A turbulent game sparked into life when Zlatan Ibrahimovic was harshly sent off in the first half.
Twice Chelsea led, only to be pegged back by PSG who scored with two headers from corners — including a great goal by former Chelsea defender David Luiz — to draw 2-2 on the night. Mourinho said: ‘When a team cannot defend two corners, a team doesn’t deserve to win. We couldn’t cope with the
Thibaut Courtois wanted to come, changed his mind and back-pedalled. by then it was too late. thiago Silva’s header was looping over his head and Chelsea were heading out of the Champions League. Deservedly, too.
Paris Saint- Germain were the better side here, played the best football, overcame the odds. that blend of class and cussedness reminded one of Chelsea, at their best. they were nowhere near that level last night, though.
they had the game won, twice. Firstly, in the 81st minute when Gary Cahill gave them a scarcely deserved lead, then six minutes into extra time when Eden hazard restored it from the penalty spot. both times, PSG came back — and with 10 men, too. they had as much possession as Chelsea despite having played with a numerical disadvantage for 90 of the 120 minutes. takes some doing, that.
there will be the usual inquest but for a moment shouldn’t we just praise PSG? Shorn of Zlatan ibrahimovic after 30 minutes, they were quite magnificent in the second half and showed enormous resolve throughout. it was an ugly game, and both teams share responsibility for that, but PSG had more ambition and scored the goal of the night, through David Luiz, which sent the tie into extra time.
as Chelsea fans will recall from that night in Munich, Luiz knows how to celebrate and he savoured every moment of this away-goals victory. Despite the £ 50million transfer fee his departure from Chelsea still feels like rejection, so this was revenge. if not on the club, then perhaps on Diego Costa, who fought him every step off the way — some of it picked up by the cameras, much of it not.
there was clearly ill-feeling over the dismissal of ibrahimovic, too, PSG convinced that Chelsea’s players — led by John terry — had a huge influence over referee bjorn Kuipers. their reaction to his tackle on Oscar was as extreme as the challenge itself — high, late and pretty nasty — and Kuipers had the red card out, while surrounded by blue. thiago Motta was then booked for pointing this out
it made for a spiteful game, always bubbling on the brink of eruption. For Chelsea, hazard was the sole shining light, with too many of his team-mates happy to engage on every other level bar creation. Not that PSG were blameless, or faultless — but they were better.
they could have won it in normal time had Edinson Cavani taken an opportunity in the 58th minute, and Chelsea looked tired and often mediocre by comparison. Courtois made the save of the night from thiago Silva in extra time but it only set up the corner from which the brazilian scored the fateful second.
until that moment, it looked as if Chelsea would go through against the run of play. they took the lead in extra time through a mystifying stroke of luck. thiago Silva challenged for a high ball, inexplicably with a hand raised as if tipping it over the bar. hazard stepped up, waited for goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu to move and slipped the ball past him, cool as you like. that is five penalties in eight Champions League games for Chelsea. they team that can’t buy one at home can’t stop scoring them in Europe.
that should have been it, except Chelsea are having increasing problems closing out games. Mind you, PSG are an attacking force to be respected. they never gave up and, in Luiz, had a talismanic figure almost possessed in his intensity. they’ve seen a few good headed goals in their time at Stamford bridge, yet even by the standards of Jimmy Greaves, Peter Osgood, Kerry Dixon and lately Didier Drogba and John terry, Luiz’s equaliser was something special.
it was the sheer pace that did it. Luiz lost branislav ivanovic with his run, yes, but it still needed converting and not even Courtois in Chelsea’s goal was ready for the power that was delivered, from mid-air. he barely moved, and certainly didn’t have time to dive. it hit the net like a long-range shot, dragging Chelsea into extra time.
Yet PSG were unlucky not to win in 90 minutes and had a 58th minute chance for Edinson Cavani gone in who knows what could have hap- pened. a Chelsea forward move broke down and Marco Verratti broke downfield. he fed the ball to Cavani who had burst through with Cahill caught surprisingly unaware. he charged toward Courtois, rounded him, and with the goal now empty shaped to shoot. Yes, the angle was tight, but this is one of the world’s finest forward players. he would be expected to score from there but hit the near post.
agonisingly, the ball spun off and across the face of goal, preciously close to the goal-line. back down the field, PSG players fell to the ground in frustration. Quite why, who knows? there was enough of that going on as it was.
Sometimes it was justified — Costa absolutely cleaned out Silva after 72 minutes — on other occasions, not. this was a badtempered match, the polar opposite of tuesday’s meeting of Real Madrid and Schalke. Jose Mourinho would no doubt sneer and call 4-3 a hockey score. Yet for all the wealth and excellence on display, some will sneer at this, too. Not until Ramires forced a save from Sirigu in the 79th minute did Chelsea have a chance worthy of recall. From that corner, they scored.
it was a poor clearance, headed back across goal by John terry. Costa had a swipe, missed and the ball skewed to Cahill. he shot through a crowd of players and, with nine minutes to go, Stamford bridge thought the job was done.
it should have been. With ibrahimovic out of the way it was advantage Chelsea. true, the striker was getting very little here, but still lost his cool quite spectacularly.
it was a 50-50 with Oscar and the ball was there to be won. the brazilian arrived first, however, and ibrahimovic hit him, hard. a rotten
GRAHAM CHADWICK tackle but a sending off? Maybe just short. Probably a booking and a three- quarters if such a thing existed, on the grounds that it looked more ill- timed than ill-intended.
Chelsea’s players were in no mood for clemency, though, and sprinted as a collective to Kuipers which made the tackle look 10 times worse. From there, both sides were spoiling for a fight.
in the aftermath, tackles and challenges grew in intensity and one should have resulted in a Chelsea penalty when Cavani tripped Costa. One can only imagine Kuipers had no view of the tackle through a crowd of players.
there was so much happening, on and off the ball, that keeping track of it all was a thankless task. Luiz looked to have elbowed Costa on the blind side in the first half and, if so, was lucky to stay on. there may have been previous, however, with Luiz felled earlier and claiming foul play. the brazilian had the last laugh, though, and one imagines wasn’t too proud to let that show.