Chelsea Vs Paris St-Germain (analysis and match news)

  

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
 Chelsea Vs Paris St-Germain
Date: Wednesday, 11th March
Kick off: 19:45 GMT
Venue: Stamford Bridge
        FT 120' +3
     Aggregate 3-3
               Ibrahimovic 31'
Cahill 81'
                 David Luiz 86'
Hazard 96' (pen)
                 Thiago Silva 114'


Match news:
▪The Sweden striker's dismissal equalled Edgar Davids's all-
time record of Champions League red cards with four(4)

Match news:
With the first leg tied at 1-1, Chelsea came into this leg with an advantage of an away goal, courtesy of an Ivanovic header at the Parc de Princes.
And with Jose Mourinho claiming his team's training section had been harder than Paris Saint-Germain's previous game against Lens the Portuguese would surely curse his pre match antics as the French side progressed rather on away goals this time around at the end of 210 minutes of football action.

    With every statistic against them proceeding into the game, things couldn't have gotten much worse for PSG when their star talisman was sent off after just 30 minutes of action after a sliding tackle involving Oscar. Even with that PSG didn't relent but looked the team most likely to walk away with qualification.
   
    They played with purpose and sizling pace and did not for once look the team with a man short. It was only a matter of time that the goals would come for them. Dominating larger spells of the encounter, they were rather unlucky that Edison Cavani's shot hit the post after rounding Thibaut Courtios. Chelsea then took the lead on the opposite end from a rather scrappy goal from a Garry Cahill's shot after a poor clearance and a missed shot by Diego Costa in the 81st minute.
   
    That lead will not last long though as PSG will pull level after five minutes of Chelsea taking the lead through a headed goal by David Luiz in the 86th minute. That header proved decisive as it moved the game to extra time.
   
    Six minutes into the extra time, and with the introduction of Didier Drogba, Chelsea took the lead for the second time on the night after Thiago Silva handled the ball in his own box following a poor clearance and Eden Hazard converted the resulting spot kick. At that point it looked all but set that PSG will once again for the second season in a row would be knocked out of Europe's Elite Competition. But Thiago Silva made amends for his blunder as he produced a moment of magic.
     After a rather spectacular diving save from Thibaut Courtios, the giant belgian was caught back walking in an efort to save a well placed header from the Brazilian International into the far right side of his goal post. With the tie all leveled on the 114th minute, qualification looked bleak for the Londoners. At the end of the match, Laurent Blanc walked onto the pitch with all smiles as his opposite number, Jose Mourinho, had a look on his face that summed up how the night had panned for his team.
   
    With the chants of the sensational travelling fans and qualification into the last eight secured, the entire Paris Saint-Germain will have a relaxing flight from London to Paris as they have buried their demons of yester year. Perhaps it will also be easy to say that the sending off of Zlatan was a blessing in disguise as the magic was produced by their pair of central defenders rather than their centre forwards. Or maybe Mourinho is not at all that special...

posted by SportsQuarters-Gojehs Jay