Thursday, November 8, 2012

Chelsea 3-2 Shakhtar Donetsk

Victor Moses snatched a dramatic late 3-2 win for Chelsea
deep into stoppage time at the end of a pulsating night at
Stamford Bridge.
The former Wigan player, only introduced with 10 minutes
remaining, rose at the near post to powerfully head home
a corner with the last action of the game.
Earlier Shakhtar Donetsk had twice pegged Chelsea back,
Willian cancelling out goals from Torres and Oscar.
Blues boss Roberto Di Matteo refused to shy away from
the importance of tonight's game from the moment the
final whistle went in the reverse fixture - which Chelsea
lost two weeks ago - branding it must-win.
That made his decision to leave John Terry on the bench -
albeit for match-fitness reasons - a massive gamble, with
the holders having shipped 10 goals in the four games
their captain had missed during his domestic racism ban.
Shakhtar never looked back after racing into an early lead
in the first meeting, but they saw the tables turned thanks
to Pyatov, whose attempted clearance from Yaroslav
Rakitskiy's backpass was closed down by Torres and
careered into the net.
The visitors were level in the ninth minute when Willian
fired home Fernandinho's cutback after a crucial slip by
Ryan Bertrand.
Torres was looking more interested than he had in the
defeat in Donetsk, twice going close to nodding in brilliant
Branislav Ivanovic crosses but, otherwise, Shakhtar were
in complete control.
Chelsea fans began calling for Terry but they were soon
celebrating their side going ahead completely against the
run of play thanks to the madness of Pyatov and genius
of Oscar. Pyatov came charging out to head Juan Mata's
harmless 40th-minute cross clear but the ball fell straight
to Oscar, who produced a sublime 40-yard half-volley that
sailed over the goalkeeper and into the net.
Stung by the injustice of being behind, Shakhtar took less
than two minutes to equalise again after the restart with
another stunning move, Fernandinho's defence-splitting
pass and Darijo Srna's cross allowing Willian to stroke
home.
Mikel was rightly denied his first goal for five years by an
offside flag but Chelsea had genuine cause for complaint
16 minutes from time when a flying Ramires was
convinced he had been bundled over in the box by Srna
but referee Carlos Velasco Carballo was unmoved.
Moses came on for Oscar and Willian cleared Gary Cahill's
dangerous header as Chelsea poured forward but they
were almost caught out on the break, leading Luiz was
booking late on and nearly a winner for Henrik
Mkhitaryan. But in the 94th minute, Chelsea won a corner
which an unmarked Moses nodded in seconds before the
final whistle.


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