The substitute heads home the winner with the last touch of the game
after the Blues were twice pegged back by the Ukrainian champions in a
thrilling encounter at Stamford Bridge
Chelsea always seem to find a way in the Champions League and Victor Moses was the hero as he headed a last-minute winner against Shakhtar Donetsk to leave the defending champions joint-top of Group E.
The substitute rose high in the last minute
of added time to head home Juan Mata’s corner after a thrilling
encounter in which they twice took the lead but made poor defensive
errors as they were pegged back by the swift attacking movement of the
Ukrainian champions.
Shakhtar playmaker Willian - a transfer
target for Chelsea and Tottenham - twice equalised for the visitors to
cancel out Fernando Torres’ sixth minute goal and a wonderful 45-yard
strike from Oscar.
But Moses had the last say with a goal that
leaves Chelsea alongside Shakhtar on seven points, a step closer to the
promised land with two games to play, at home to Nordsjaelland and away
to Juventus as they look to progress to the knockout stages.
It
was a victory Chelsea did not deserve against a lively, creative
Shakhtar side that continually took advantage of the hosts’ sloppy
defending, which will prompt questions over whether manager Roberto Di
Mattero should have recalled captain John Terry to the side. The Italian
cited the defender’s lack of match sharpness following his racism ban
for the decision to start with Gary Cahill and David Luiz as the hosts’
central defensive pairing.
Shakhtar named the same side that won the reverse fixture
2-1 last month and the game burst into life from virtually the first
kick, with both teams mixing swift attacking play with almost comical
defending.
Given the rarity of goals for Torres in his Chelsea
career, the Spaniard would have been more than grateful for the gift
that opened the scoring in the sixth minute.
Shakhtar goalkeeper
Andriy Pyatov received a routine backpass from Yaroslav Rakitiskiy, but
Torres read the clearance and opportunistically stuck out a leg for the
ball to ricochet straight into the back of the net.
Three minutes
later, however, the Ukrainian visitors were level as Willian - a
transfer target for Chelsea and Tottenham - scored his first of the
night. Fernandinho burst past Chelsea defenders into the right side of
the penalty area and cut the ball back for his fellow Brazilian to slot
through a crowd of bodies, with Petr Cech diving the wrong way.
The
game then settled down but never lost its ebb and flow as both sides
continually created chances. Torres could only find the side netting
from a tight angle before Alex Teixeira zipped an effort just wide of
the post following a flowing Shakhtar move.
Five minutes before
the break, Chelsea once again took the lead thanks to a wonderful strike
from Oscar and another woeful clearance by Pyatov.
The Shakhtar
goalkeeper rushed off his line to clear Juan Mata’s through ball with
his head, only for the ball to fall to Oscar. The Brazilian playmaker
still had so much to do but he made it look effortless, controlling with
his chest before pinging his finish into an empty net from 45 yards.
The
fluid, end-to-end pattern continued after the break and Willian again
levelled the score in the 47th minute as he poked in Dario Srna’s cross
to finish a wonderful Shakhtar move.
The Ukrainian champions -
who came into the game having won 17 out of 18 fixtures in all
competitions this season - nearly took the lead seven minutes later but
Razvan Rat saw his swerving strike from 30 yards rattle the post.
At
the other end, Chelsea had a huge shout for a penalty when Ramires
appeared to be brought down in the area by Srna as he shaped to shoot,
only for referee Carlos Velasco Carballo to wave away the appeals to the
home players’ astonishment.
Then, with the last touch of added
time, Moses rose in the box to head home Mata’s corner to send Stamford
Bridge into delirium.
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