Champions League, Chelsea 1-1 Valencia

Drogba gives Chelsea Hope!

Didier Drogba kept Chelsea's Champions League challenge alive with a second half equaliser to earn a 1-1 draw against Valencia on Wednesday. Drogba came to Chelsea's rescue after David Silva's stunning strike had put Valencia in control of a hard-fought quarter-final first leg clash at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea opened brightly enough but left-back Ashley Cole rushed a cross which eluded both Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou as it flashed across the six-yard box. In the ninth minute, Kalou hit the crossbar from the edge of the penalty area after Roberto Ayala had blocked Andriy Shevchenko's path to goal with a crude challenge.

Ayala's block went unpunished by Belgian referee Frank De Bleeckere despite Chelsea's appeals for a penalty. Two minutes later Villa squandered a chance when he failed to hit the target from close range after escaping the shackles of the Chelsea defence.

Valencia missed another good chance to take the lead in the 21st minute when Joaquin's shot found David Silva unmarked in the penalty area. Silva only had to touch the ball goalwards to beat Cech but mistimed his kick completely and the Blues escaped again!

Silva made up for his misfire right on the half hour mark though with a simply awe-inspiring goal. Silva picked the ball up ten yards inside the Chelsea half, sprinted forward on the left side and let rip with what can only be described as the sweetest of shots from 35 yards.

The ball took a diagonal trajectory and arrowed into the top right corner, leaving Cech no chance and silencing all within Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea started the second half in a much more positive fashion and Kalou was unlucky when he mistimed a shot from a cross by Lassana Diarra. There was far more urgency about Chelsea's play now and for the first time in the game they looked capable of unsettling their opponents.
Lampard wasted a free-kick after Drogba had been brought down by Ayala - hitting the ball straight at Valencia's defensive wall.But Chelsea's higher tempo football paid off in the 53rd minute when Drogba equalised.

The 53rd minute a hopeful ball over the top from Ashley Cole was latched onto by Drogba. The Ivorian used the bounce to his advantage to catch the ball on the hop and loop a header over Santiago Canizares in the Valencia goal.

Carvalho had a shot blocked in the 84th minute before Shevchenko's over-head kicked flashed wide, but Chelsea had run out of ideas.

Chelsea: Cech, Diarra, Terry, Carvalho, Ashley Cole, Kalou (Wright-Phillips 74), Ballack, Lampard, Mikel (Joe Cole 74), Shevchenko, Drogba.
Subs Not Used: Cudicini, Makelele, Boulahrouz, Bridge, Ferreira.

Booked: Drogba, Diarra.

Goals: Drogba 53.

Valencia: Canizares, Miguel, Ayala, Moretti, Del Horno, Vicente (Angulo 57), Albelda, Albiol, Joaquin (Hugo Viana 86), Silva, Villa (Jorge Lopez 90).
Subs Not Used: Butelle, Curro Torres, Nacho Insa, Pallardo. Booked: Silva, Albelda, Ayala.

Goals: Silva 30.

Champions league, Chelsea 1-1 Valencia highlights:

Euro2008 Qualifying, Serbia 1-1 Portugal

Portugal thwarted by defiant Serbia

Serbia and Portugal fought out a 1-1 draw in a highly entertaining Euro 2008 Group A qualifier on Wednesday. Tiago fired Portugal into a fifth-minute lead and Bosko Jankovic put the Serbs back on level terms in the 37th minute to the delight of a raucous 51,000 home crowd.


Both sides missed plenty of chances in a pulsating match whose outcome left them level on 11 points from six matches along with Finland, who suffered a 1-0 setback at Azerbaijan earlier on Wednesday. All three are five points behind group leaders Poland. Portugal took the lead with their first meaningful venture into the Serbian half when Tiago unleashed a swerving shot from 20 metres that sailed over keeper Vladimir Stojkovic who was caught out of position.

It took 18 minutes for Serbia to test Portugal No1 Ricardo, who kept out Duško Tošić's ten-metre strike, but Portugal again ought to have doubled their advantage when Nuno Gomes headed Simão's corner over from five metres. At the other end, Nemanja Vidić's physical presence was causing the Portugal defence problems and the Manchester United FC defender nodded wide from close range shortly before the half-hour.


The hosts dragged themselves level, though, when Dejan Stanković's corner was headed home by Janković eight minutes before the break. Nuno Gomes almost replied instantly yet his attempt flashed wide. Winger Cristiano Ronaldo then came close to getting on the scoresheet only for his shot to be superbly blocked by Igor Duljal on the stroke of half-time. Portugal resumed the second half in control with João Moutinho's strike demanding a fantastic save from Stojković. The latter excelled again on 64 minutes to frustrate Tiago, before the keeper completed a fine individual display by repelling Ronaldo's powerful free-kick late on.

Euro2008 Qualifying, Serbia 1-1 Portugal highlights video:

Champions League, Arsenal 1-1 PSV

Alex sends Gunners out

PSV Eindhoven defender Alex went from villain to hero as his late strike earned a 2-1 aggregate victory over Arsenal in the Champions League last 16 on Wednesday. Just 25 minutes earlier Alex had scored an own goal which turned the momentum of a tense tie Arsenal's way, but as the clock ticked down Alex crowned an otherwise superb performance with his late intervention at the other end to send PSV's large travelling support wild.

Kolo Toure, deployed at right-back rather than in his usual role at the heart of Arsenal's defence, surged down the wing in the eighth minute. Toure muscled his way past fellow Ivorian Arouna Kone and into the penalty area, but could only shoot harmlessly into the side-netting when a cutback would have opened up PSV's defence.

PSV - whose coach Ronald Koeman masterminded the ousting of Manchester United and Liverpool in last season's tournament when in charge of Benfica - set out to frustrate Arsenal in the first leg and, as Wenger had predicted, they started in similar fashion here. Those cautious tactics allowed the Gunners to dominate possession and they spent most of the first half camped around PSV's penalty area. Emmanuel Adebayor squandered an opening when he failed to control a Cesc Fabregas cross just six yards out and Gomes smothered the danger.

Toure was tormenting Sun Xiang, the first Chinese player to start a Champions League match, and he tested Gomes with a fierce drive from just inside the area, before Adebayor headed wide from Gael Clichy's cross.

With five minutes left of the first half, the visitors felt they had a claim for a penalty. Gilberto struggled to clear a backpass and only managed to fall over before Farfan then followed him on to the turf in a tangle of legs. Luxembourg referee Alain Hamer, though, was having none of it and waved play on.

His half-time team-talk looked to have had the desired affect as it was a bright start by the hosts. Baptista and Sun Xiang tussled on the edge of the penalty area, and the Brazilian took a tumble - but again the referee was unmoved.

Arsenal pulled themselves back into the tie on 58 minutes following a period of sustained pressure. A corner from the left was flicked on at the near post by Adebayor into the six-yard box where Alex, facing his own goal, diverted the ball into the net.
Arsenal almost snatched the overall lead in the tie when Fabregas' long ball up field was completely missed by Carlos Salcido and Adebayor raced clear - but Gomes was out quickly to make a smart save.

Fabregas then fired over from 12 yards, before at the other end Mendez shot wide following good work down the PSV right. With 25 minutes left, Wenger turned to Henry, who replaced Baptista. It needed a flying save from Gomes to keep out a curled free-kick from the Arsenal captain as the home side continued to press for a winner in normal time.

Disaster struck, however, with seven minutes to go. A needless free-kick conceded out on the left touchline by Alexander Hleb was whipped into the area by Mendez. Alex got up above everyone to bullet a header into the far corner to send PSV into the quarter-finals and Arsenal crashing out.

Arsenal: Lehmann, Toure, Silva, Gallas, Clichy (Walcott 85), Ljungberg (Diaby 75), Fabregas, Denilson, Hleb, Julio Baptista (Henry 66), Adebayor.
Subs Not Used: Almunia, Djourou, Aliadiere, Traore.

Booked: Fabregas.

Goals: Alex 58 og.

PSV: Gomes, Salcido, Alex, Feher, Sun, Culina, Mendez (Vayrynen 90), Simons, Farfan (Addo 89), Cocu, Kone (Afellay 41).
Subs Not Used: Moens, Tardelli, Marcellis.

Booked: Feher.

Goals: Alex 83.

Champions League, Arsenal 1-1 PSV extedned highlights and goals:

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UEFA Champions League, Porto 1-1 Chelsea

Terry Off As Sheva Gives Chelsea Vital Goal Draw

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho faced his old club and came away with a tactically sound 1-1 draw, this after the defending Premiership champions fell behind early and also lost their talismanic defensive captain John Terry through injury. Porto needed just 12 minutes to jump in front, the goal coming while Chelsea played with ten men. Influential Blues defender John Terry had come up lame after an innocuous bit of off the ball contact with Lisandro Lopez. Nevertheless, with Terry on the sidelines seeking consultation the home side took advantage.

Mourinho responded by introducing Arjen Robben, who might have felt aggrieved not to have been selected in the first place after a reasonable performance against Norwich in the 4-0 FA Cup win on Saturday. Arjen Robben's impact was immediate. His first touch came in collecting another weakly headed clearance, this time Pepe's; straight away he drove at Porto. Bosingwa and Pepe were tight to him but failed to intervene, allowing Robben to feed Shevchenko in the area. The Ukrainian was unmarked and remained unchallenged as he took two further steps into the area before sweeping a left-foot shot past Helton for the equaliser.

With Essien settling in impressively at the back, Porto winger Ricardo Quaresma therefore went for the audacious and nearly scored near the end of the first half. The 23-year-old hit a pass first time from outside the area in a wicked, swerving lob of Cech. The ball hammered off the crossbar, however, despite the Chelsea goalkeeper looking like one of the paying spectators on the play.

Half-time brought another Chelsea change, the injured Robben replaced by Mikel John Obi. Porto brought on Marek Cech for Meireles, allowing Quaresma to shift inside. The move was testament to the fetters Diarra had applied to the forward, justifying Mourinho's decision to favour the Frenchman at right-back over Paulo Ferreira and Geremi.

Porto manager Manuel Jesualdo Ferreira, meantime, made three second-half substitutions but none of the players distinguished himself. Adriano—a late replacement for Postiga, in fact, was saved blushes after a dreadful close-range miss with five minutes left when he was ruled—correctly—offside.

LINEUPS
Porto (1): Helton; Fucile (Bruno Moraes), Bruno Alves, Pepe, Bosingwa; Raule Meireles, Assuncao, Gonzalez; Quaresma, Postiga (Adriano), Lopez
Manager: Manuel Jesualdo Ferreira

Chelsea (1): Cech; Bridge, Carvalho, Terry (Robben, Obi Mikel), Diarra; Lampard, Makelele, Ballack, Essien; Drogba, Shevchenko (Kalou)
Manager: Jose Mourinho

Match's Full highlights: