Chelsea emerged from a Champions League battle with FC Porto as favourites to reach the quarterfinals after a pulsating 1-1 draw in the first leg at the Estadio do Dragao.
But the English champions’ night was marred by the sight of their captain and defensive lynchpin John Terry being stretchered off with what looked like a serious injury, four days before the League Cup final against Arsenal.
A well-struck shot from Raul Meireles allowed a lively Porto side to claim a 12th-minute lead while Terry was receiving treatment on the touchline.
But the home side preserved their advantage for barely three minutes before a vintage piece of finishing from Andriy Shevchenko gave Chelsea the away goal that makes them the favourites to progress after the second leg in a fortnight’s time.
Chelsea got off to the worst possible start with Terry hopping gingerly to the touchline in the ninth minute following an innocuous-looking challenge by Lisandro Lopez, apparently unable to put any weight on his right ankle.
Things quickly got worse as Porto grabbed the lead through left-sided midfielder Meireles.
After tenacious work by former Spurs striker Helder Postiga on the left of the box, Claude Makelele’s clearing header fell nicely for Meireles in the inside left channel and he lashed a shot into the far corner with the outside of his right boot.
A goal down and with no central defender on the bench, Mourinho opted to redeploy Michael Essien in defence and introduce Arjen Robben in what quickly looked like a tactical master stroke.
The Dutch winger had been on the pitch for barely three minutes before he glided past a couple of challenges and played Shevchenko in behind the Porto back four on the left of the box.
From a tight angle, the Ukrainian produced a left-foot drive into the opposite corner that was a reminder of why he was once regarded as the deadliest finisher on the planet.
It was Shevchenko’s 58th goal in European competition — four more and he will equal Gerd Muller’s record.
Porto quickly worked out how to nullify the threat from Robben, and Chelsea’s fragility without Terry at the heart of defence soon became apparent.
Allowed time on the ball on the edge of the area, Postiga played in Argentina’s Lopez, whose attempt at a chipped finish was frustrated by a good stop from the advancing Petr Cech.
The Chelsea goalkeeper produced another fine save in the 34th minute, diving to his left to hold Ricardo Quaresma’s free kick as it hurtled towards the bottom corner after piercing the Chelsea wall.
Quaresma’s trickery on the left was causing Chelsea increasing problems and Makelele became the first player to be booked after protesting too vigorously that the Porto forward had gone down theatrically under a challenge from Lassana Diarra.
Quaresma continued to be in the thick of things. After striking a superb shot on to the bar from a similar position to the one Meireles had scored from, he was hacked down from behind by Essien, who duly became Swiss referee Massimo Busacca’s second booking of the night.
Porto’s superiority was reflected in Robben’s non-appearance for the second half, with Mourinho opting for midfield reinforcement from John Obi Mikel, whose presence on the right helped ensure the policing of Quaresma was significantly tighter after the interval.
Again, Mourinho’s tactical judgement appeared astute. Cech did not have a single save to make after the break and Chelsea emerged from their defensive shell to generate three clear chances to claim a winner in the final quarter of an hour.
Shevchenko, put into space by Didier Drogba’s clever pass, fired the first over the bar from the 18-yard line.
Drogba himself struck the outside of the post from an acute angle before heading a Shevchenko cross tamely wide after the Ukrainian striker had skipped past two tackles to get clear on the right of the box. — Sapa-AFP