Scrappy

It was probably the three most undeserving points for Chelsea this season, but at this stage we will take it. The game against Swansea at the Liberty Stadium turned out to be one of the most poor performance from Chelsea in the entire season. Even though Swansea went down to 10 men very early in the game losing one of their CB Chico Flores but Chelsea made them look like a 12-13 man team. Frankly for the entire length of the match it seemed like we were playing a man down.
The stadium with the least capacity in the Premier League created lots of noise and were probably helping the team like that very much. But that does not explain the mess Chelsea were creating for themselves. Demba Ba who finally got his just third start in the league this season ultimately turned out to be Chelsea's savior, their match winner again. Ironical but Ba has kept Chelsea's hope alive in two competitions in the span of a week. But all that was proved in this game was Chelsea are in desperate need for a striker. Mohamed Salah who started another game for Chelsea was not too bad like some people were saying. He actually was pretty good with the ball and made a few incisive runs to get into goal scoring positions but he seemed to have forgotten his striking boots somewhere. His finishing was below par yesterday. Ramires, what to say about him, he played 45 minutes, I would want to erase those 45 minutes from my memory. He was horrible, to say the least. He seriously needs to get his act together again, Chelsea need every player performing well in these last few games of the season in both the tournaments. Eto'o who came on at half time also was similar to Salah, he just doesn't want to score away from Stamford Bridge it seems, missed a couple of sitters to be honest. The defense didn't have much to do but another clean sheet will help their confidence even more. Petr Cech didn't have much to do but he was asked a couple of questions by the Swansea attack and he was up to it. Made a few very good saves and saved Chelsea from embarrassment. Nemanja Matic, for me the best player for Chelsea yesterday. He was outstanding yet again. He stood like a solid wall in front of the defense and was very good with his forward passes one of which led to the Demba Ba goal, giving Matic his fourth assist in four matches. He has been as expected a superlative signing for the Blues.

It was a pretty poor performance but over the years we have seen Champion teams getting full points from these sort of games to go on and win the title. These three points and the Liverpool victory over Manchester City at Anfield made sure we are still very much in the title race and we are not going away so easily. Win all our remaining four games and hope for Manchester City to slip up in one, that's all that's needed to win the Barclays Premier League once again.

WHAT A TEAM

What a team, what a manager, what a night, what a performance. From being on the verge of getting knocked out of this year's UEFA Champions League after coming in to the 2nd leg with a 2 goal deficit Chelsea made it's famous comeback again.
Having lost the 1st leg 3-1 at Paris they had all to do at the Bridge yesterday. Making a comeback against a star studded team like Paris Saint Germain is never easy but everyone at Chelsea believed they could do it. They believed cause they have a very good team, an out of this world home support and the best tactician in the world managing them, the Special One, Jose Mourinho. He believed in his team, he believed in his players and they didn't let him down. What makes this victory even sweeter is that Chelsea did it without their best player of the season Eden Hazard who got injured very early in the game. But his substitute Andre Schurrle stood up to the challenge and delivered when it mattered most scoring the first goal of the tie. Stamford Bridge was at it's intimidating best ever since that goal as the chant 'we have done it before' echoed round the stadium. Indeed we have done it before and we did it again. Cavani and Lavezzi who have faced this sort of a comeback at Stamford Bridge 2 years back as well must really hate the place now. Starting the second half with a one goal lead Chelsea went all out for the elusive second goal but the crossbar denied them a couple of times. Time was running out for the Blues and Jose Mourinho started making some bold changes. From having no strikers starting in Paris the Blues had three finishing the game at the Bridge. And ultimately it was our most underused striker of the season who scored a typical strikers goal in the dying moments of the match to take Chelsea through to the final four of the competition. Everyone was ecstatic after Ba scored the goal, Jose Mourinho was at his best again, he ran all the way to the corner flag where the players were celebrating and started giving instructions to the players on how to defend in the final few minutes. He of course isn't allowed to do that but he's Jose Mourinho, he does whatever he wants.
When the ref blew the final whistle it was the happiest moment for me as a Chelsea fan this season. We had made an impossible comeback again, you just can't write Chelsea off from the Champions League, we never give up. The master tactician's tactics had paid off, he is in the semis again, Jose Mourinho had vowed victory in his pre match press conference and he got victory. John Terry in his post match interview stated the fact that how well the manager had prepared the team for this match. He said they had worked on situations where they might have to play three strikers together, which they had to. He said they had prepared themselves to play in different manners taking into consideration the scoreline. Fact proven, Jose Mourinho is simply the best.
Every single Chelsea player performed superbly yesterday, all of them, but David Luiz I feel was class apart. He was here, there, everywhere. He controlled the midfield superbly and wasn't found wanting even once. Must also mention Petr Cech's save in the last minute. Many including me had criticized the way he conceded the third goal in the 1st leg but his last minute save from Marquinhos' shot was brilliant. Chelsea dominated the entire game as the match stats show. They were simply too good.

The only bad part about yesterday's game was Eden Hazard's injury, he is the best and most important player for us. Hopefully we will have him back soon tormenting opposition defenses. We will need him big time in the upcoming matches. As for now it's time to celebrate being in the final four of the best club football competition in the world and wait to find out who our next opponents will be. Bring on anyone, we are well on our way to Lisbon.

Ground to make up

Chelsea have some serious ground to make up if they want to go through to the semi finals of this year's UEFA Champions League. Having lost the first leg to PSG at Paris 3-1 it won't be less than a miracle if Chelsea manage to pull off to a result next week at Stamford Bridge which will help them go through. That away goal which came through a Hazard penalty can very well prove to be a pivotal goal in this tie.
As predicted these two teams went at it right from the word go and PSG took a very early lead. Chelsea took a little time to settle into the game but once they did they played some pretty good attacking football against a quality PSG side. This led to the penalty being awarded for a foul on Oscar by his international teammate Thiago Silva. Hazard as always calmly converted the spot kick to get a crucial away goal for the Blues. No team dominated the game, both had their parts to play throughout the 90 minutes and they played it really well. Even when Chelsea went behind by an own goal from David Luiz they didn't back down from playing some quality football. 1-2 away would have been a pretty good result against a strong PSG side but the sucker punch came from pretty much the last kick of the match. Javier Pastore who had come on as a substitute scored a goal from a very tight angle. Well I feel Petr Cech should have saved that shot cause he had his near post covered but somehow the ball managed to hit the back of the net.
Chelsea missed the services of Samuel Eto'o a lot and they will need him fit for the second leg at any cost. The "false 9" wasn't too effective and Fernando Torres was at his poorest best again when he came on in the second half. That guy is seriously low on confidence. Petr Cech had a seriously abysmal game, he could and should have saved both the second and third goals. But he's human, he's a quality goalie, just that sometimes mistakes happen.
Best central midfielder cup tied, best striker in the squad fighting against time to recover from his injury, Ramires suspended, Chelsea seriously have loads of things to workout if they are to manage a good result next Tuesday at the Bridge. But as Jose Mourinho said, even Paris knows it's not over yet. Lets hope we can do 2012 all over again. Lets hope we beat PSG comprehensively and go through to the semi final. And if not, we'll see you next year greatest football club competition in the world.