mercredi 16 mars 2011

Goalless draw sends Chelsea into last eight

Chelsea reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the sixth time in eight seasons after they drew 0-0 with FC Copenhagen at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday to advance 2-0 on aggregate.

Both sides hit the woodwork and Chelsea missed a series of chances to score but in the end had to settle for the two goals scored by Nicolas Anelka in the first leg in France.

Chelsea join Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur to make it three English sides in Friday's quarter-final draw.

Much of the talk in the build-up was about Fernando Torres and this game offering him the perfect opportunity to score his first goal for the club since he joined them from Liverpool in January.

But manager Carlo Ancelotti decided to leave the Spain striker on the bench and started with Anelka and Didier Drogba in attack instead, while Branislav Ivanovic partnered John Terry in the centre of defence in place of the ineligible David Luiz.

And Chelsea began as if they intended to put on a show, with Frank Lampard given a great chance inside the first five minutes but he shot wide.

Drogba had an effort from distance well saved by Copenhagen goalkeeper Johan Wiland while the Ivory Coast striker then set up Ashley Cole, who in turn fed Yuri Zhirkov but the Russian also sent his shot wide.

Minutes later, Zhirkov set up Frenchman Nicolas Anelka and Wiland had to make a fine save to deny him a certain goal.

Copenhagen were not offering much but just inside the half-hour mark they almost took the lead when Dame N'Doye left Petr Cech for dead with a superb free kick, only to see if rebound off the post.

Zhirkov then fired another attempt wide from Chelsea but early in the second half they almost achieved the breakthrough when John Mikel Obi headed a fine chance onto the bar from a corner, after a flick by Nicolas Anelka.

Ancelotti finally brought Torres on for Anelka in the 68th minute but the only chance the former Liverpool man had was a shot that was deflected wide.

In the end, Chelsea saw out the remaining minutes with ease to take their place in the last eight, keeping alive their hopes of winning the competition for the first time in their history.

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