Adrien Rabiot and Zlatan Ibrahimovic were the culprits as Chelsea fell to Paris St Germain for the second time running in the UEFA Champions League yesterday night at the Stamford Bridge.
Rabiot banked on some sleepy defending from Chelsea to latch onto Ibrahimovic’s cross in the 16th minute, before Ibrahimovic captalised on more woeful defending, beat an off-side trap and send the ball past a helpless Courtois and seal an eventful evening for the Parisiens.
Diego Costa did pull one back for Chelsea in the 27th minute and many had thought of a come-back, but Costa limped off, to the dismay of the home faithful and, with Hazard and Willian not playing well, it all went downhill from there, as they went on to lose 2-4 on aggregate.
The loss, a hard one for Gus Hiddink to take, is one of the firsts he has suffered since taking over the helm at Chelsea. For Laurent Blanc, it is a second sweet victory over the Londoners.
In the other game, Benfica booked their place in the Champions League quarter-finals after two late goals secured a 2-1 second-leg win over Zenit.
Nicolas Gaitan cancelled out Hulk’s opener on the night five minutes from time to leave Zenit stunned, and substitute Talisca won the match with the very last kick in Saint Petersburg to claim a 3-1 aggregate win.
Through to the last eight for the first time since 2012, Benfica join Real Madrid and Wolfsburg in next week’s draw.
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