Agence France Presse
Paris, March 12: Ten-man Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) sensationally came from behind twice to dump Chelsea out of the Champions League on away goals after extra time as Bayern Munich also qualified for the quarterfinals with a 7-0 rout of Shakhtar Donetsk at Munich.
Held 1-1 in their last 16, first leg tie at Parc des Princes, the Parisians needed an exploit to get past Chelsea at Stamford Bridge Wednesday, and they achieved just that in the English capital drawing 2-2 on the night for a 3-3 aggregate scoreline to join holders Real Madrid, Bayern and Porto in the last eight.
Despite playing the last hour of normal time and 30 minutes extra time without talisman Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who was sent off for a foul on Oscar, the French club side dug deep to take revenge for last season’s quarterfinal exit to Chelsea.
“PSG really want to join the big leagues and I think we did that tonight,” stated coach Laurent Blanc. “I think this match will be a reference for the club for some years. (Jose) Mourinho came up to congratulate me afterwards and told me that we had had two great matches. I felt a lot of respect.”
Chelsea manager Mourinho lamented his side’s inability to finish off the game. “We didn’t deserve to go through,” said Mourinho. “The individual performances were not good enough and when you concede two goals from two corners it’s about lack of concentration and responsibility.”
Ibrahimovic was sent off in the first half and PSG fell behind to a Gary Cahill goal with nine minutes remaining, only for Chelsea old boy David Luiz to take the tie to extra time with an 86th-minute header.
Thiago Silva appeared to have gifted Chelsea a place in the last eight after conceding a penalty for a handball that Eden Hazard converted, but the PSG captain scored with six minutes of the game remaining to send Blanc’s side through on away goals.
German champions Bayern also advanced in style to keep their bid for a sixth elite European title on track.
Despite playing out a drab goalless draw in the first leg in Ukraine, Bayern made no such mistake against a Shakhtar side reduced to 10 men in just the third minute after Olexander Kucher brought down Mario Goetze.
Thomas Mueller scored from the resulting penalty, Jerome Boateng also getting on the score sheet before half time. The floodgates opened in the second half with Franck Ribery, Mueller, Holger Badstuber, Robert Lewandowski and Goetze all scoring.
