Chelsea 3 – 1 Basel

Thursday 2^nd May 2013:

Chelsea 3 – 1 Basel

The possible return Jose Mourinho was the subject of the pre match pub chatter. The special one’s name was chanted in the stadium as the fans continued their Benitez out campaign – that’s manager of the month Benitez. Chelsea had one foot in the Amsterdam final after the 2-1 first-leg win and the team sheet mirrored that. Mata and Oscar being rested for the visit to Old Trafford in 3 days time. This proved that securing Champions League football for 2013/14 was as important as getting our grips on a second successive European trophy.

Chelsea looked solid for the first half hour with Frank Lampard having the best chance for the blues, agonisingly scuffing a shot onto the woodwork. Lampard is only 2 goals away from Tambling’s record and I fancy him to be Chelsea’s all time leading goal scorer by the end of the season. Things took a turn for the worse before the break. After the half hour mark Chelsea looked like a different team, the gap between defence and midfield seemed huge. Basel threatened twice only to be denied by the superb gloves of Petr Cech.  Then on the stroke of half time the goal deservedly came and the tie was wide open again. 

Concerns brewed at halftime as Basel were back in the tie and Chelsea were looking poor. However, these concerns were not to last long. Basel’s keeper had a shocker in the first leg and I stated in the pub before the game that we should install a shoot-on-sight policy. 50 minutes on the clock and a tame shot is parried in the path of Torres who slots home the equaliser. 2 minutes later and a tame shot by Moses is parried into the path of ... Moses. 2-1, Game over.

Although the semi final tie was over, the entertainment was yet to come. Some neat football on the edge of the box and a Lampard lay-off put the ball straight in the path of an accelerating David Luiz. The flamboyant Brazilian put the side of his left foot through the ball, curling it straight into the top corner past a motionless Basel keeper. Ten keepers would not have kept that one out; the ball started 5 yards wide of the goal before curling in. One of the best goals I have witnessed at the Bridge. Basel still managed a shot against the crossbar but it was all in vein and Chelsea progressed comfortably into the Europa League final. Our opponents will be Benfica in the Amsterdam Arena. Hopefully we can be the first club to hold both the Champions League and Europa League trophies at the same time.