Overcomes Fenerbahçe (Chelsea 2 Fenerbahçe0 @ Bridge)

CHELSEA 2 FENERBAHCE 0 (AGG: 3-2)

Chelsea will play in the semi-finals of the Champions League for the fourth time in five seasons thanks to an early goal from Michael Ballack and a late one from Frank Lampard.
Once again, the Blues made sure the fans were kept on the edge of their seats as early superiority wasn't translated into more goals following a dream start. But having lost keeper Cudicini to injury and then seen Hilario repel Fenerbahçe's good spell, the Turks' resistance was finally broken with three minutes of normal time left.
There was just one change to the starting line-up from the side that lost in Istanbul six days ago.
That was in the front three where Kalou came in for Malouda. The selection meant another game for Michael Essien at right-back.
Fenerbahçe coach Zico decided to start with Kazim-Richards, a substitute scorer in the first leg with Mateja Kezman on the bench, the former Chelsea man believed to be carrying an injury. Roberto Carlos was again absent through injury.
If there were Chelsea nerves going into the game, they were soon extinguished as Ballack produced a reproduction of the start of the Olympiacos game here and scored before some had even settled into their seats.
Last round it was in the fifth minute, this time it was the third, the source a set-piece. Essien had been fouled on the right, Lampard swung the ball across and Ballack applied the perfect header at the near post, directing across the keeper. Chelsea were already ahead on away goals.
On seven minutes the Blues were so close to a second, Kalou unstoppable with a run on the left; Joe Cole's first time stab from the pull-back rebounding off the post.
There was a free header for Deivid on 14 minutes from a deep free-kick but he was horribly off-target. It was a warning that the set-piece defensive lapses that have afflicted recent weeks could still prove Chelsea's undoing.
On 21 minutes, Drogba was not too far away with an ambitious curled attempt from the edge of the area. Chelsea's explosive start had dipped in pace but the team were winning the ball high up the pitch and looking comfortable.
That sense that all was going smoothly was soon to be shattered. Cudicini appeared to pull a hamstring on kicking out a deadball and before long signalled he could not continue. Hilario, hero of a Champions League win here against Barcelona last season, entered on 25 minutes.
Worryingly, the team had not heeded the free-kick warning of earlier and from almost an identical scenario, Lugano was left all alone but fortunately headed wide of the near post.
On 32 minutes, Drogba unleashed with power from Joe Cole's lay-off but Volkan was in the right place to save.
With five minutes on the clock before the break, the in-form Kalou left Gökhan Gönül in his wake and combined with Lampard before shooting. Had Joe Cole gambled, the killer touch could have been his - but instead Volkan saved.
So yet again Chelsea went into the dressing room a single goal up and the end to the half was lacking compared with the start. Hopefully the second half would be more Man City than Istanbul.
In the second minute of the second half, Essien played up to Drogba who turned in a flash but once again picked out the keeper with his shot.
On 57 minutes, Chelsea made a second substitution - Kalou coming off, Belletti the man on with Essien moving forward, the widest player on the right. Fenerbahçe responded almost immediately by bringing on Kezman for Maldonado.
As the game entered the last 20 minutes, the momentum of the opening stages was becoming but a memory as the Turkish enjoyed just as much possession as the home team. Fortunately they were doing little with it to threaten.
A difficult chance was cleared Carvalho's way but falling, he skied his shot. Then Lugano let fly from 30 yards for Fenerbahçe but Terry was able to guide it behind.
Chelsea soon broke out with a man over - but Volkan just won the race with Joe Cole to reach Drogba's pass.
Drogba himself then took control at a free-kick 25 yards out and struck it well but Volkan saved at full-stretch.
On 81 minutes, Hilario responded with two saves of his own. The first a scrambled effort from Boral's shot; the second a very good stop from Kazim-Richards's drive. They were Fenerbahçe's first two shots on goal. They wouldn't come as close again.
Essien was booked for bouncing the ball in anger at a decision on 85 minutes and will miss the next European game.
He himself made sure that game would be the first leg of this year's semi final by out-foxing Verdeson with three minutes left on the box and finding Lampard. Frank wasn't about to miss from four yards out!
It had been tense for some time - but now the crowd could begin to enjoy the occasion.
Essien had the ball in the net in stoppage time but from an offside position. The third goal was not needed as the German referee brought the game to a close.
So it's Liverpool again at this stage of the competition. This time they come to the Bridge in the second leg.

Uefa champions league CHELSEA v FENERBAHÇE (Tue 8th April..@Bridge )

One thing we know about this match with clarity: Chelsea have to win it. The Turks, leading 2-1 from the first leg in Istanbul, need only a draw to progress.
The surrendering of a goal lead caused misery for Chelsea and its followers on the night, but that one successful strike could prove pivotal. Twenty teams have overcome a first-leg deficit to reach the next round in the Champions League's knockout stages.
Looking specifically at the quarter-final stats is not especially reassuring though. In the Champions League era only one in five of sides that lost the opening match have come back to win the tie overall - one in 20 of which were on the rule that away goals count double.
Chelsea have only overturned an opening-leg defeat once, but what an inspiring example to remember: the epic 4-2 win over Barcelona at Stamford Bridge after the controversial 1-2 defeat in the Nou Camp back in the Round of 16 in 2004/05.
Mateja Kezman, who now plays for our opponents, set up Chelsea's opener that famous night with a brilliant through pass to Eidur Gudjohnsen, who coolly eluded Juliano Belletti (now a possible starter for the Blues) before scoring.
The away goals rule was not required that night. Skipper John Terry's special late header made the aggregate score 5-4 and left Stamford Bridge throbbing.
Underdogs Fenerbahçe are no Barça, of course, though they clearly have a similar South American influence, and a shrewd head coach in Artur 'Zico' Coimbra. His side remained top of the Turkish Super League at the weekend, despite the absence (supposedly through injury) of goalkeeper Volkan Demirel, who kept Chelsea at bay so ably last week.
Fenerbahçe are aiming to reach their first ever semi-final in this competition, and will have noted that great rivals Besiktas won 2-0 at the Bridge four years ago. That was in the group stage, and the then champions of Turkey scored two breakaway goals in five minutes against the run of play.
Zico will not be inspired with confidence by his side's travelling form. Over their last seven away games in the Champions League proper they have drawn two and lost five, including a 6-2 whacking from Manchester United in 2004.
Perhaps aware that he needs to use all his experience to help his players, Zico has publicly criticised his London opponents' style of play. 'Chelsea became a more defensive team after José Mourinho left,' he said this weekend.
'They used to know exactly what they wanted. They used to mark in the opponents' half of the pitch, apply pressure and show high levels of confidence. Now I see Chelsea more restricted to defence, waiting for the moment to counter-attack.'
This could be perceived as another calculated comment by the wily South American straight out of the Sir Alex Ferguson school of psychology, one designed to rile his opponent and provoke an opposite reaction that plays into Zico's hands.
Knowing that Chelsea have the away goal and could progress by scoring once and shutting out his side, those words are a taunt to the Blues to come out and attack. Their last-round performance in the 2-3 defeat in Seville showed that the Turkish champions are happiest in an open game where defence is not the priority.
He knows, too, that Avram Grant has frequently expressed his ambition to see flamboyant football, and that it has not always been forthcoming in his time at Stamford Bridge.
Zico tried something similar before the first leg. The Brazil '82 legend claimed in the pre-match press conference that his side would go for all out attack. On the back of that suggestion, he was no doubt hoping that Chelsea - fast starters scoring quick goals in recent matches - would expect an onslaught and begin the match cagily.
As it was, the team from the banks of the Bosporus were content to congest the midfield, their flying full backs (one Vedersen run apart) hardly in evidence, while a confident and fluent Chelsea cut through them with crisp passing movements.
The Turks barely got going in the first hour and but for poor final passes and finishing the Blues would have had more than back-tracking striker Deivid's 13th-minute own goal to show for their domination.
If his psychology is a little transparent, the Fenerbahçe manager's in-play tactics can be excellent. As last weekend's impressive 2-1 Super League comeback against off-form grinders Kayserispor showed, his ability to reshape a game with substitutions and instructions in the Chelsea game was not a one-off.
In fact the two matches were remarkably similar. Turkey's fifth-placed side opened the scoring on the leaders' home ground and it wasn't until after Zico's first personnel change that Fener looked likely to score. Just as against Chelsea the switch was made on 54 minutes and the man coming on was striker Colin Kazim-Richards - though against Kayserispor he replaced left-back Roberto Carlos, on his return from injury.
Wearing a change strip of yellow and white stripes, white shorts and socks, the Canaries' breakthrough came ten minutes later - as against Chelsea - when the under-pressure visitors conceded a penalty that was converted by impressive Brazilian playmaker Alex.
The hosts' vital winner came in the sixth minute of injury time from supersub winger Semih ?entürk, who had replaced Mateja Kezman on 70 minutes - again, much like the Chelsea match.
The key change in our Champions League encounter arrived at the same point, when Zico switched from a 4-5-1 or 4-4-1-1 formation to a 4-4-2 with the arrival of Kazim-Richards as Kezman's partner. Like Kayserispor, Chelsea failed to deal with the additional threat.
It is unlikely that Chelsea could be stung by the same familiar moves again. Does Zico have other options up his sleeve? In any case, had either Ricardo Carvalho or Michael Ballack dispatched their very good goalscoring opportunities shortly before Fener's first goal, the story of the night would have been very different.
The onus is on London's 'overdogs' to prove that result was a one-off, and we know from that famously roaring Barcelona night that the Bridge crowd can always play its part.
In Istanbul, Chelsea had subdued the Sükrü Saracoglu for an hour, but the Turkish team were buoyed up by the sudden, deafening increase in volume from Fenerbahçe fans once they had equalised. Tonight those supporters will be the (hopefully inaudible) minority.
Half of Turkey, the local saying goes, is always made happy by a Fenerbahçe result - their supporters and enemies being of equal measure. If Chelsea can send the Canaries-hating Turks delirious tonight, we will play the second leg of the semi-final at the Bridge for the first time since Monaco in 2004.
We know that our semi-final opponents would be one of tonight's combatants, Liverpool or Arsenal, with all the history enshrined in our previous European encounters. In many ways it's been a difficult season, but a memorable way to finish it still lies ahead.

MANCHESTER CITY 0 CHELSEA 2

A third straight league win successfully places pressure on Middlesbrough-bound Man United for tomorrow after an own-goal and a Salomon Kalou strike sealed three away points.

After the events of the last week, Avram Grant will be pleased to see his side produce a second-half display that bettered the first; Kalou's goal scored after the break. Richard Dunne's mistake, the second own-goal in our favour in four days, had presented an early lead.

Grant was also be satisfied with a successful afternoon having rotated his players.

In this busy period mid-Champions League tie, there were seven changes to the Chelsea side including a completely different front three from Turkey.

Anelka lined-up flanked by Wright-Phillips and Kalou. In midfield, Mikel came in for Makelele and Essien moved forward from right-back to take the place of Michael Ballack.

There was no Carvalho so Alex came back for his first start since Sunderland in mid-March. Belletti was right-back but the game came too early for Cech.

It was a subdued opening five minutes, although Chelsea did show signs the short passing game was in good order - as was proved quite conclusively when the ball was worked down the middle on six minutes, then spread wide by Essien for Anelka.

The Frenchman went for the return pass but Essien was not needed. City captain Dunne panicked and prodded the cross past his own keeper. A goal up so soon, it was a very quiet City of Manchester Stadium.

On 11 minutes, Chelsea caught the home side pressed forward and broke, first through Essien, then Anelka, but the challenge came before the shot could be unleashed and Chelsea had to settle for an ultimately fruitless corner. However with the defence looking alert, it had been a good opening passage of play.

Johnson had a shooting chance for the home side after a miscontrolled chest by Belletti but blazed over. Petrov went considerably closer with a 35-yard power drive after 16 minutes and then Benjani was allowed a free header from a Petrov chip but was off-target. Man City were being allowed a foothold into the game.

It took a timely challenge from Onuoha to keep Anelka at bay after a well-judged Lampard pass and then the England midfielder tried his luck and went wide of the near post as Chelsea picked up the reins again.

City came strong again on 29 minutes, a good ball behind the defence to Benjani was crossed for Ireland to shoot, Belletti diving in to turn it wide. Seconds later, Petrov curled in a shot that Cudicini did well to tip over at full-stretch.

Before long, Ashley Cole was high-kicking off the line after City had bundled the ball through a crowd.

It was Chelsea's turn to attack once more but Kalou was wastefully high with his effort after an Anelka burst had teed him up nicely.

Three minutes before the break, Onuoha was the game's first booking for a crude chop on Wright-Phillips just inside the Chelsea half.

For the third game running Chelsea took a single-goal lead into the changing room at half-time although we had given the home side more hope than their play had perhaps warranted. On the other hand, errors from Eriksson's team were laying them open to further goals for the visitors.

After six minutes of a second half in which City were coming onto Chelsea too much, a dangerous Wright-Phillips cross excluded, Grant made an early change. Wright-Phillips was the player to be withdrawn, Joe Cole his replacement.

Just over a minute later, we at last had the insurance of a second goal - Essien and Kalou combining twice before the former slipped a little ball through and Kalou successfully stepped past the keeper to find the empty net.

Shortly after, Anelka had his own chance to go round the keeper to score but on this occasion, Hart won the contest. Then Lampard clipped a ball over perfectly for Anelka who headed well, only to see it bounce down off the crossbar and then scooped away by Hart before it spun over the line.

City were forced into a change on 59 minutes, Onuoha falling nastily and carried off with a dislocated shoulder; Jihai Sun coming on.

Now Chelsea looked in good control. Anelka was a yard away from picking out Lampard with a left-side cross.

On 72 minutes, Essien once more split the defence but Anelka was crowded out. The same striker then had every right to feel aggrieved when wrongly flagged offside as Joe Cole's ball was setting him for a clear run on goal. On several other occasions, the offside law had correctly caught him out.

Anelka's hopes of scoring against his former side ended when he shot strongly but straight at Hart with three minutes left on the clock.

At the other end, the team in bright yellow had rarely looked in trouble since the break, the dangerous shooting of Petrov limited to the odd off-target free-kick and an effort deep in stoppage time that was gathered comfortably by Cudicini.

A third straight win inside this stadium puts us just two points behind the other side from Manchester ahead of their Sunday action.

REACTION: MORE PRESSURE POINTS......More

Manchester City V Chelsea(Sat 5th April...@City of Manchester Stadium)

Let's cast our minds back to happier days: this season's 6-0 thrashing of Saturday's opponents shortly before Hallowe'en at the Bridge.Okay, if their goalkeeper Joe Hart had wider shins it might not have been such a horror show for him, and if Spanish left-back Javier Garrido is ever to play that irresponsibly again, we would like to book the performance for this weekend please.
Back then high-flying City had become the first side in six years other than Arsenal or Manchester United to arrive at the Bridge in a higher league position than Chelsea. But the Blues' football flowed, the Sven's men were overwhelmed, three different strikers scored, as did two midfielders, and the all Portuguese-speaking defensive backline (including Paulo Ferreira at left-back) looked impermeable.So much for the pleasure zone. As we get to the business end of the season, consistent defensive frailties are emerging that Sven Goran Eriksson will be looking to exploit.He would feel more confident of doing so was City's recent scoring record so poor. They have only scored in two of their last six games, and the last time a striker scored from open play for the Swedish manager was in the Manchester derby back on 10 February.
Since that remarkable 2-1 triumph at Old Trafford, City have won just a single match. The team they beat, 2-1 at Eastlands, was Tottenham. Spurs had just been turfed out of Europe; City still felt they could qualify for next season's overseas campaign. But Eriksson's skilfully assembled team has fallen away since.
Their most recent performance was a 1-3 defeat by relegation-haunted Birmingham City, who were also reduced to ten men by the sending-off of Franck Queudrue. The Mancunians' midfield of Dietmar Hamann and Gelson was ineffectual and their centre-backs, Nedum Onuoha and Richard Dunne, found Brum striker Mauro Zarate's pace and sharpness too hot to handle that day.
'If we want to speak about Europe,' warned the Swede, 'we can't lose as many balls as we did today. We must be better than that with Chelsea coming to Manchester next.'
While the stories that emerged from his England dressing room suggest Eriksson is more likely to read the matchday programme than the riot act in the dressing room, he has publicly suggested City would accept an offer to enter the Intertoto Cup - football's equivalent of picking the mother-in-law up at the airport.
That early season competition would mean curtailed holidays for the players and preseason training in June.
Favouring a 4-4-2 formation, with Micah Richards injured Eriksson has kept a pretty consistent defensive starting line-up each week - Hart in goal, the Croatia right-back, Vedran Corluka, Onuoha, Dunne and Garrido. He generally likes to make one or two changes in midfield and upfront each week to maintain freshness.
With the influential Martin Petrov suffering from flu and highly-rated youngster Michael Johnson not having started since his injury against Bolton, Chelsea should face veteran holding midfielder Hamann, despite his discomfort when harassed by Birmingham's deep-lying forward last weekend, and the more mobile box-to-boxer Gelson.
City will expect much from left-sided set-piece danger Elano and his right-sided counterpart Stephen Ireland, as well as the pacy, awkward Benjani. The Zimbabwean scored Pompey's first-ever Premier League goal against the Blues last season. Other frontline options include the experienced Darius Vassell and misfit Emile Mpenza.
City enjoyed a 100 per cent record in their first nine home games before drawing with Lancashire neighbours Blackburn the day after Boxing Day; they've lost twice, drawn four times and won once at the City of Manchester Stadium since.
As Arsenal lock horns again with Liverpool in the early kick-off and United visit Middlesbrough the following day, there is an opportunity to make inroads this weekend. Chelsea, with more than a shortened time on the beach to play for, must put Turkey behind them and bring home all three points.

STILL FULL OF HOPE

Fenerbahce 2-1 Chelsea

Michael Ballack and Didier Drogba still believe Chelsea can progress further in the Champions League when we host Fenerbahçe at Stamford Bridge.
Speaking after the 2-1 defeat in Istanbul, the two Blues said they were disappointed in the result but still had faith that Chelsea could learn from the experience and secure the win needed next week.
'It's a very disappointing result, but I believe we can still go through after the next game,' said Drogba.
'But the result is not a good result for us so we will want to work on it and see what didn't work against Fenerbahçe,' added the Ivorian.
'We are disappointed, because we had a big chance to win and we had the game taken out of our hands,' explained Ballack.
'In the first half we controlled the game but we gave them a chance to come back and we are very disappointed. We played well in the first half and then it wasn't so good.
'We had two good chances made for Didier to score the second goal but we were not concentrated enough, but we will have another go next week,' added the German.
As Chelsea failed to snatch our chances on goal, Fenerbahçe came back when substitute Colin Kazim-Richards broke through the offside trap to knock the ball beyond Carlo Cudicini, levelling the scores in the process.
'He gave them what they wanted, so lucky for them they scored,' said Drogba about his Turkish counterpart.
After that, with the home fans boisterously declaring their support for the Turkish side, Fenerbahçe went on to secure the win when Deivids made up from his earlier own-goal by scoring a wonder goal.
'It is our fault we gave it up. But it was a good game,' said Ballack.
'We controlled the first half but then a long ball changed the game and a shot from 25 metres, and so we have to wait and see in the re-match.
'We are strong enough at home but we have to concentrate.
'Fenerbahçe are a strong team even after the 1-0. They play seven or eight players up front.
'They can score away from home, so we will have to concentrate, but everything is in our hands and I am looking forward to next week,' added the number 13.
It isn't only Drogba and Ballack who are remaining positive about next week's match, Cudicini is also upbeat about hosting Fenerbahçe, although he also understands what will need to be done if we are to win the fixture.
'Sometimes you need to close the game and it can happen like it has happened this season, where the opposition get the chance and they score,' said the keeper.
'It happened against Fenerbaçhe and then of course with the supporters and the atmosphere we conceded the second one which of course makes things complicated.
'But we have shown today that we have everything to play for like we did in the first half, so we are confident and I think we can beat them at the Bridge,' he added.
REACTION: YOU NEED TO BE AWAKE ALWAYS......More

Uefa champions league fenebache vs Chelsea (Wed 2nd April @ Sükrü Saracoglu Stadium)

As arrivals at airports go, it could hardly have been more different.

The Chelsea squad arrived in Istanbul late on Monday evening to a warm and low-key reception.

Back in 1999 during the club's first Champions League campaign, for what was our only previous game in Turkey, the players were theatrically greeted by banners declaring 'Chelsea, welcome to the inferno' plus flares, rocks, coins, spit and chanting Galatasaray fans.

It was described at the time by grinning captain Dennis Wise as 'Fantastic' as he refused to be intimidated.

Eight-and-half years on and there was no need for any such bravado from John Terry and company as today's squad were applauded through the airport by a small gathering - a special hand reserved for former Fenerbahçe player Nicolas Anelka.

There were plenty of TV cameras pointed and even a few bouquets handed over - a smiling Avram Grant one of the recipients of flowers.

And then it was onto coaches and quietly away.

The team had flown into the Asian side of the city and although staying the European side of the Bosphorus, will be crossing back for the game and flight home.

The location of Fenerbahçe's Sükrü Saracoglu Stadium means on Wednesday night, Chelsea will be competing for the European Cup on a pitch in Asia.

As with the previous Champions League away match in Athens, the distance plus a two-hour time difference necessitates travelling two days prior to the game for a suitable schedule.

On Tuesday early evening, Chelsea will train on the turf that will hold the quarter-final first leg.

The Blues arrive to take on opposition whose confidence will not have been harmed by events at the weekend. Fenerbahçe beat local rivals Besiktas 2-1 for a two-point lead over Galatasaray at the top of their domestic league.

They too have a Brazilian named Alex - this one a midfielder - and it was he who did the damage, the first of his two goals set-up by Colin Kazim-Richards.

While the beginning of this season's visit to the Turkish capital bore little resemblance to 1999, Chelsea will be hoping the conclusion is very much the same. The Blues on that occasion returned to London 5-0 winners.