Inter Milan prevailed 2-1 over Chelsea in a Champions League round of 16 first leg clash on Wednesday while Sevilla did well to earn a 1-1 draw away to CSKA Moscow.
In a match billed as a clash between Inter manager Jose Mourinho and his former side, coached by Carlo Ancelotti, Mourinho’s side struck after just three minutes with a well-worked goal.
A nice dummy by Wesley Sneijder saw the ball run for Diego Milito and he was too good for John Terry, slipping the ball past Petr Cech into the bottom corner.
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Salomon Kalou equalized for Chelsea only for Argentina midfielder Esteban Cambiasso to slot in the winner with a sweetly-struck left-foot shot.
Chelsea enjoyed plenty of possession throughout the match and will be satisfied with their away goal.
“I think on the balance of play, with possession and shots on target, we were the stronger team but Inter are a good team, we knew how they would play,” Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard said.
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“But we got an away goal. We have to be positive about that. If we can take the chances in London then we will have a good chance. I think 2-1 is a pretty even result. Obviously we have to beat them at home. They’ll come confident but hopefully we can do it.”
Gonzalez grabs equaliser
In Wednesday’s other Champions League clash, Alvaro Negredo gave Sevilla an early lead on 25 minutes in a freezing Luzhniki stadium, but Mark Gonzalez levelled for CSKA after 66 minutes with an astonishing shot from all of 35 metres.
Gonzalez said that “it was great to score, but this is not really a good result for us.” CSKA will now have to win in Sevilla’s Estadio Sanchez Pizjuan on March 16, which will certainly not be easy.
“It was a difficult game for us,” said veteran Sevilla goalkeeper Andres Palop.
“We are not used to this kind of surface (an artificial pitch) and to this kind of weather. But we did well enough, in the circumstances.” Neither Sevilla nor CSKA have made it into the last eight of the Champions League before.