With six minutes of extra time remaining we were going through. Eden Hazard had restored the lead in the 96th minute from the penalty spot, after David Luiz’s header near the end of normal time had cancelled out a Gary Cahill strike.
That opener in a tight contest had come in the 80th minute but the aggressive side from the French capital were also stubborn opposition. It was their skipper Thiago Silva who headed in the crucial second away goal.
Chelsea were on the end of another incorrect refereeing decision in the first half when Diego Costa was fouled in the penalty area by Edinson Cavani but no spot-kick was given. PSG by that stage were down to 10 men. Zlatan Ibrahimovic was shown a straight red card for a bad foul on Oscar.
Team news
Nemanja Matic replaced Kurt Zouma in midfield in the only change from the side which won at West Ham a week ago.
That meant Oscar continued behind Diego Costa with Ramires and Eden Hazard the flank players. There was a familiar look to the defence lined up in front of Thibaut Courtois.
David Luiz played in midfield for PSG in the first leg but with Thiago Motta fit and selected in the centre of the park, the former Chelsea man returned to central defence with Marquinhos moving to right-back to make room. Alongside Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Edinson Cavani in the visitors’ front three, Javier Pastore was preferred to Ezequiel Lavezzi.
First half
Most were expecting this match between two sides who grew to know each other well last season, and in the first leg three weeks ago, to be a tight encounter, and so it proved.
Chelsea were tested very early on with Marco Verratti pushing a ball through to Cavani who allowed it between his legs as he turned to face Courtois. That gave John Terry the fraction of a second he needed to hack the ball behind for a corner.
Hazard then left Pastore trailing as he went on an early surge up at the Shed End and there were early words too from the Dutch ref for Thiago Motta, for cutting across Cesc Fabregas’s run. Paris St-Germain tackles were rightly under scrutiny following the foul-laden first leg in the French capital.
There was a threat in the way both teams were moving the ball quickly in the opposition half but only in flashes were either getting men behind the other’s defence. We reached the midway point of the first half with the keepers yet to be tested.
Moments earlier Chelsea had almost cut through with a sweeping passing move on the break with Hazard, Oscar and Ramires involved, but a questionable offside flag halted the Blues as a pass went astray.
PSG failed with a counter-attack of their own when Pastore over-hit his ball into the box. The game was soon to spring into life.
On 29 minutes Chelsea were denied what would have been a free-kick in a very promising position when the ref wrongly waved play on when Hazard was tripped. Ramires then almost surged his way through having collected a loose pass but was tackled by last-defender-back David Luiz.
On 30 minutes came one of the game’s big moments. A ball was loose in midfield and Ibrahimovic flew into Oscar with an out-of-control challenge, catching him on the ankle. The Swede had to see red and unlike against Burnley, this time the ref applied the correct punishment. Thiago Motta too was booked in the aftermath.
PSG looked briefly rattled and David Luiz barged down Fabregas in the French team’s half at the expense of a free-kick. However Oscar was next in the book for what the ref decided was kicking the ball away, when in reality he was sending it back to where a free-kick should have been taken.
The visitors were a man short but the Blues could not relax and Terry did well to reach a dangerous cross just ahead of Cavani at the far post.
Matuidi was cautioned on 39 minutes for stopping Hazard breaking from the Chelsea half by pulling at the Belgian and David Luiz a minute later committed a red card offence and he was lucky. His elbow that floored Diego Costa wasn’t seen by the officials.
Three minutes later there was further injustice for Diego Costa who went on a scintillating swerving run through the defence, only stopped by the chasing Cavani tripping him. But no penalty was given! Chelsea were rightly furious.
PSG escaped with the tie still 1-1 going into the interval.
Second half
Willian for Oscar was the one half-time switch before the tie continued in familiar fashion with Cavani upending Hazard. Willian caught PSG cold by whipping the free-kick low towards the near post, with Sirigu having to dive and punch it away.
Another free-kick from the freshly introduced Brazilian ended with a Cahill shot being blocked. At the other end our England defender made a very important slide to divert over a shot from the sprinting Maxwell. Ramires was booked early in the half for a late tackle on Thiago Motta.
Just before the hour came an escape. The Blues defence was caught square and high up the pitch by a pass out to Cavani. The Uruguayan had the pace to stay ahead and took it past Courtois but poised to score, he only hit the post instead. The retreating Blues pair of Terry and Azpilicueta were in with a shout of clearing off the line had it been on target.
Chelsea were asked to do more defending as PSG moved well off the ball. Pastore should have been flagged offside but was allowed to test Courtois with a shot. Our keeper made a smart save.
Diego Costa was booked for a 73rd-minute late challenge on Thiago Silva with David Luiz also cautioned for getting involved. A third yellow in the space of two minutes followed when Verratti left a foot in high on Hazard, who suffered at the studs of the Italian in the first meeting.
The tie continued along a tense knife-edge. Willian and Ramires combined for one of the sharpest moves of the half with the latter only denied by a good save at the near post. It was temporary respite for the French champions as they failed to clear the corner that followed. Diego Costa didn’t connect when he had the chance to shoot, but Cahill next to him most certainly did. He smashed his half-volley into the Matthew Harding End net.
We had a 2-1 lead in the tie with 10 minutes to go but one goal at the other end would still deny the Blues victory, and after Courtois had made a good save from substitute Lavezzi and then tipped a cross over his bar, that moment arrived.
The corner was struck to the near post and David Luiz’s header was unstoppable. An extra 30 minutes would be needed to decide this tie.
Extra time
Drogba was introduced for Ramires for the restart and the Blues presence in the PSG box increased. It was from a challenge made by an earlier tall substitute, Zouma, that the penalty which restored the lead came.
The shorter Thiago Silva tried to jump for a dropping ball with our young Frenchman but with his arm straight up too. A definite penalty when the ball hit his hand and Hazard duly and coolly rolled the penalty home.
Our Player of the Year almost nipped the ball past the keeper for another shot soon after but ran out of room.
However a goal at the other end would swing the tie back completely in PSG’s favour and David Luiz struck a free-kick very well from a long, long way out but in reality, it was never going to beat a keeper of Courtois’s quality. It didn’t.
It needed a good challenge from Marquinhos to stop Diego Costa scoring after a good Chelsea move. ‘Diego, Diego’ encouraged the Stamford Bridge crowd.
The Blues, stretching the 10 men, were looking on top. Diego Costa shot wide soon into the second period of extra time but then the visitors won a corner, the source of their earlier goal.
This time it was their other Brazilian international centre-back who got a firm header on it but Courtois pulled off a fantastic one-handed save. It was at the expense of another corner though which was met by the same forehead. This time it looped up and over Courtois for the decisive second away goal.
Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Courtois; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry (c), Azpilicueta; Fabregas, Matic (Zouma 83); Ramires (Drogba e-t), Oscar (Willian h-t), Hazard; Diego Costa.
Unused subs Cech, Filipe Luis, Cuadrado, Remy.
Scorers Cahill 81, Hazard pen 96.
Booked Oscar 37, Ramires 51, Diego Costa 73.
PSG (4-3-3): Sirigu; Marquinhos, David Luiz, Thiago Silva (c), Maxwell; Verratti (Rabiot 86), Thiago Motta, Matuidi (Lavezzi 86); Pastore (Van der Wiel 116), Ibrahimovic, Cavani.
Unused subs Douchez, Camara, Digne, Bahebeck.
Scorers David Luiz 86, Thiago Silva 114.
Sent-off Ibrahimovic 32
Booked Thiago Motta 33, Matuidi 40, David Luiz 73,Verratti 74.
Referee Bjorn Kuipers from the Netherlands.
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