Inter 2-1 Chelsea
Mourinho would of been pleased to come out on top over his former side.
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By Matt Hallam. |  |
Wednesday, 24, Feb 2010 09:53
By Darren Plant.
Chelsea will need to overcome a one-goal deficit if they are to progress in the Champions League after falling to a 2-1 defeat to Inter at the San Siro.
Diego Milito struck early on to give Inter the lead, but after dominating the remainder of the first half, Chelsea struck five minutes into the second half.
However, Esteban Cambiasso rifled home a stunning left foot effort to give his side the slight advantage after an enthralling match in Milan.
All the talk before the match was of Jose Mourinho facing Chelsea for the first time since his departure from Stamford Bridge in 2007, but just three minutes after the time for talking was over, Inter took the lead.
Samuel Eto'o passed the ball into Wesley Sneijder, whose dummy allowed the ball to fall for Milito. He found himself one-on-one with John Terry, and after cutting inside the Chelsea captain, he fired past Petr Cech at his near post.
That early setback shook Chelsea, but they gradually eased themselves into the match, and the lively Salomon Kalou tested Julio Cesar with a shot from the edge of the box.
Just before the quarter hour mark, Didier Drogba nearly produced a stunning equaliser fro his side, but his 30 yard free kick rattled the underside of the crossbar.
Inter were defending their 18 yard box well, but Chelsea were creating opportunities from distance and Michael Ballack drilled an effort on goal that Cesar was forced to punch clear.
Drogba was enjoying some joy by dropping a yard deeper of the Inter centre-backs, and he saw two volleys fly either side of Cesar's posts.
Despite Chelsea's near total domination since falling behind, they were extremely fortunate not to find themselves further behind. Sneijder did well to engineering a crossing opportunity on the left hand side of the penalty area, and he delivered a low cross for Eto'o, who completely mis-kicked his shot from eight yards.
As the game entered first half injury-time, Chelsea could feel justified to feel aggrieved at being denied a penalty. Kalou found himself clear of the Inter defence, and as he closed in on goal, Walter Samuel clipped his heels as he was about to shoot, but after going down, the referee waved play on.
However, that was soon forgotten five minutes into the second half when he equalised for Chelsea. Branislav Ivanovic embarked on a mazy run and he laid the ball off to Kalou, who curled a shot around couple of defenders and into the bottom corner.
They didn't stay on level terms for long as four minutes later, Inter regained the lead. The ball fell to Cambiasso on the edge of the area, and after his first shot was blocked, he hit a superb left foot half-volley into the bottom corner, leaving Cech with no chance.
Things went from bad to worse for Cech as he seemed to suffer a major injury to his knee when catching a high ball, and he was replaced by Hilario.
Despite that huge blow, Chelsea responded with the best move of the match. Drogba and Nicolas Anelka combined, and the French striker found himself on the left hand side of the penalty area, where he pulled the ball back to Frank Lampard, but his first time shot was kept out by Cesar.
The game endured somewhat of a lull as the game approached the final moments, but there was always the anticipation that a tie-defining moment was around the corner.
However, Inter ensured it was a scrappy ending, with Chelsea only coming close through Ivanovic in injury-time, and the tie looks evenly poised as the teams head to Stamford Bridge in three weeks time.