Late Ballack strike sees Blues through
Ballack's neat finish put the Blues through
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Tuesday, 06, Mar 2007 10:42
A late strike from Michael Ballack helped Chelsea come from a goal down on the night to knock Porto out of this year's Champions League.
An early goal from heralded Portuguese youngster Ricardo Quaresma had put the Premiership champions under pressure but a somewhat fortunate equaliser from Arjen Robben and Ballack's late goal turned around a potentially damaging result.
After a tightly-contested 1-1 draw in the Estadio do Dragao two weeks ago, few expected the return leg to be a walkover for the Blues and the early running proved just that.
Porto, who came out in an attacking formation because of their need to score to cancel out Chelsea's away goal, looked comfortable from the off and were rewarded for their efforts after just 15 minutes.
Quaresma latched onto Silva Paulo Assuncao's pass, which ripped open the home defence, to slide the ball under the advancing Petr Cech.
Chelsea responded by throwing men forward in the first half but with little effect as the visiting team held firm and the Blues mounted little threat.
However after a stern talking to from manager Jose Mourinho, facing the team he led to Champions League glory in 2004, Chelsea exploded out of the blocks after the break.
It took a poor piece of goalkeeping from the Porto goalkeeper Helton - Brazil's first-choice shot-stopper - to gift the home side their equaliser.
Arjen Robben lined up from outside the area but his poorly-hit shot looked like an easy save until Helton fumbled the ball behind him and over the line to spark wild celebrations at the Bridge.
For the next 20 minutes it was all Chelsea as the home team looked to press home their advantage.
When no winning goal looked to be coming, the game seemed to be drifting towards extra time, until some excellent approach play from Didier Drogba and Andriy Shevchenko unlocked the defence.
The Ukrainian's knock-down for the unmarked Ballack was put in by the German captain as he swivelled and finished superbly.
Despite some late pressure from Porto and four minutes of added time, the Premiership side survived and take their place in the last eight of the competition.