Essien strike puts Chelsea in semi-finals

MICHAEL ESSIEN made history for Chelsea last night as Jose Mourinho's Blues staged the greatest comeback of all in this remarkable season.

On a night when Roman Abramovich snubbed his club by staying away, he missed an astonishing evening of inconceivable drama which saw his team join Manchester United and, almost certainly Liverpool, in the last four of the competition.

Chelsea looked to be going out when Fernando Morientes, the scourge of Claudio Ranieri's team in 2004, took advantage of shoddy defending to fire Valencia in front.

No English team had ever won at the Mestalla but Mourinho went for broke as he sent Joe Cole on at the break and moved Essien to rightback.

Seven minutes into the second period, Essien's cross found its way to Andriy Shevchenko, who scored from close range.

With seconds to go, and after Santiago Canizares had denied Michael Ballack, Cole and Shevchenko combined to set up Essien for a shot that squeezed past the near post.


John Terry (above) said: "We got a kick up the backside at half-time."


And when Mourinho threw himself into the arms of the skipper, he added: "He's happy now."


Mourinho said: "This was our best away performance for three years."

SEMI-FINAL LINE-UP


Chelsea v Liverpool/PSV


1st leg: April 25, 2nd leg: May 1


Man Utd v B Munich/AC Milan


1st leg April 24, 2nd leg: May 2