Thiago Silva's redemptive header leads PSG past Chelsea on away goals
At the final whistle, a sense of disbelief hung over Stamford Bridge.
When Chelsea had come away from the first leg with a 1-1 draw, it had seemed it was on its way through. When Zlatan Ibrahimovic was harshly sent off after half an hour, it had seemed Chelsea was on its way through. When Gary Cahill put Chelsea ahead with nine minutes remaining, it seemed Chelsea was on its way through. When Eden Hazard converted an extra-time penalty, it seemed Chelsea was on its way through.
And yet, at the end, it was Paris St-Germain who went through, having produced a performance of great resilience to advance on away goals from a 2-2 draw marred by gamesmanship on both sides and weak refereeing.
"When we lost Ibra, our best player, you say, `Keep it simple,'" teammate David Luiz said. "It was amazing tonight the spirit. Every single player gave everything."
Chelsea will wonder how on earth it failed to finish off a game in which it had a man advantage for 90 minutes, yet the truth is, it never seemed in command. The Blues were always vulnerable on the break and, particularly, to set plays. And this time, Chelsea could hardly complain that the refereeing had been against it.
"Our performance was not good enough," Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho said. "They were stronger than us. They coped better than us with the pressure of the game."
PSG probably had the better of the opening half hour before momentum was wrenched away as Ibrahimovic was sent off. Given he has never scored or even set up a goal against a Mourinho side, the temptation would be to portray his challenge on Oscar as the build-up of years of frustration, particularly as it means he now shares with Edgar Davids the distinction of being red-carded four times in the Champions League, but in reality he seemed unfortunate.
As the ball broke from a challenge, Oscar and Ibrahimovic both slid in for the loose ball. The Swede, seemingly recognizing that Oscar would get there first, half-withdrew, and ended up leading almost with his shins.
Oscar won the ball and Ibrahimovic did make contact with him, although surely not enough to justify either the Brazilian’s reaction or the way Chelsea’s players — all nine outfield players with the exception of the prone Oscar — surrounded the referee. It would be hard to argue Ibrahimovic, foolish as his challenge was, was any more reckless than Oscar.
Certainly, the late lunge by Diego Costa on Thiago Silva after 72 minutes, for which he was booked, looked a far worse challenge. The Spain international then shoved over Marquinhos in injury-time and inexplicably escaped a second booking.
Three months of Mourinho moaning about conspiracy has made the general mood at Stamford Bridge sulfurous. The tone was set in the pre-match press-conferences as Mourinho said his side hadn’t faced as dirty an opponent as PSG this season. Whether his politicking influenced head referee Bjorn Kuipers is impossible to know, but even the possibility shouldn’t be countenanced.
Kuipers, as though realizing he may have erred, then went through a spell when he made mistake after mistake, most notably failing to award a penalty when Costa was tripped from behind by Edinson Cavani. Kuipers had already by then lost control of the game, seemingly turning a blind eye to a running battle between Luiz and Costa in which each flattened the other once during the first half.
By the end of a game that saw seven yellow cards and a red there were minor flashpoints erupting all over the pitch, the advertising boards calling for "respect" seeming either sarcastic or a vain hope.
Before the red card, PSG had played with a sense of poise, if not controlling the game exactly, then at least holding Chelsea at arm’s length and looking the more threatening. In the second half, play tipped inevitably in Chelsea’s favor as PSG sat back and reduced its attacking ambitions to the occasional breakaway.
Just as the game seemed to be drifting to a predictable conclusion, though, Thiago Motta slipped a through-ball behind the Chelsea defense for Cavani, who rounded Thibaut Courtois and, from a narrow angle, struck the face of the near post. On such margins are ties won and lost.
Yet Chelsea remained sloppy, remarkably unable to make its man advantage count — to the fury of an increasingly animated Mourinho on the touchline —and the threat of a PSG goal was always lurking in the background. Courtois saved uneasily from Motta, fortunate that his fumble fell just far enough from Cavani that the forward had to check back.
Finally, with nine minutes remaining a corner fell in the box to Cahill, who rammed the ball in, but that wasn’t the decisive strike it appeared at the time. Laurent Blanc brought on Ezequiel Lavezzi and Adrien Rabiot, casting caution aside and was rewarded for his adventure five minutes later, Luiz heading in a right-wing corner.
Five minutes into extra time, Silva misjudged his jump and handled, giving Chelsea a penalty that Hazard converted. Luiz drew a backpedalling save from Courtois with an ambitious free-kick, and still Chelsea couldn’t kill the game. The keeper made an even better save with eight minutes remaining to keep out a Silva header, but from the corner that resulted Silva forced the ball over the line. It was an extraordinary denouement, but it had been a far from edifying night.
