Special night for Mourinho

LONDON

He calls himself the ‘Special One’ and on Tuesday night Jose Mourinho and his Inter side produced a special performance to book their place in the last eight of the Champions League at the expense of Chelsea.

As for the Blues, they descended into anarchy in the closing minutes of the match as the agony of yet another shattered European dream became too much to bear. Didier Drogba was sent off for appearing to stamp on Thiago Motta’s foot and John Terry harangued the referee for refusing to award his side a penalty.

But Chelsea can have few complaints after they were outplayed at Stamford Bridge by a composed Inter side. Mourinho had warned Blues’ fans after the first leg that he was relishing a return to the ground where he enjoyed three successful seasons as manager because it was a “lucky” stadium for him.

That luck still held as Chelsea had two appeals for penalties rejected at the end of a dramatic first-half. Alex claimed he was impeded by Motta and then Drogba seemed to be manhandled to the ground by Walter Samuel as he waited for a corner. But neither was given and, combined with first-half misses from Michael Ballack and Nicolas Anelka (whose shot was cleared off the line by Motta), Inter went into the break perhaps sensing this was to be their night.

They certainly came out in the second-half fired up with self-belief and Chelsea left-back Yuri Zhirkov was twice called into action to deny Samuel Eto’o and Goran Pandev before they had a chance to test rookie ckeeper Ross Turnbull in the hosts’ goal. Just after the hour mark Inter almost took the lead when Milito wasted a one-on-one with Turnbull, but on 79 minutes came the crucial goal that silenced Stamford Bridge.

Eto’o’s clinical finishing

Wesley Sneijder, a menace throughout, chipped a perfect pass over the head of the Chelsea defence and into the path of Eto’o, who controlled it with one deft touch and then poked it past the advancing Turnbull with the outside of his foot.

Ironically, it was Eto’o who was responsible for the last of Chelsea’s home defeats in Europe, way back in February 2006, when the Cameroon hitman scored the winner for Barcelona. That time it was Mourinho in charge of the Blues, but four years on, he was the one to profit from Eto’o’s clinical finishing.

“I celebrated a lot in the dressing room when the game was over. It was a big victory for my team,” said Mourinho, whose touchline celebrations were muted in comparison to his normal antics. Mourinho had no doubt his team deserved the win, saying Inter were “superior” in every department but denied he felt a sense of revenge against the club that sacked him nearly three years ago. “I’m very happy because I won... As a professional, that’s the best feeling you can have.

‘I’m not happy because my ex-players or Roman lost, or that Chelsea supporters go home sad. I’m not happy about their unhappiness. But that’s life. Yesterday I exchanged a few SMS’ with John Terry and I told him that one of us would be sad today.” For Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti the pressure will be on him to ensure the club win the Premier League title after the Blues failed to reach the last eight of the Champions League for the first time in five years.

Yet he was magnanimous in defeat, saying: “I think Inter deserved to win this game. They are very solid. This is the reality. We have to stay focused now on the other competitions, but I think that we could have played better than this.” As usual it was the ‘Special One’ who had the last word, coming up with a quote to send the headline writers home happy. Yes, he said, of course he still retained a great affection for Chelsea and its fans, but on this night, “I was the enemy. And the enemy won.”