Chelsea 1-1 Sp Prague (agg 2-1)
Last updated on .From the section Football
Eden Hazard struck in the second minute of stoppage time to send Chelsea through against Sparta Prague in the Europa League.
The substitute broke into the box and drilled an unstoppable shot past Tomas Vaclik to equalise on the night and preserve the Blues' one-goal advantage from the first leg.
The visitors had levelled the tie when David Lafata struck in the 17th minute.
Fernando Torres missed a host of chances before Hazard's late winner.
Having seen the Blues secure a 1-0 advantage in the away leg, Chelsea fans might have hoped their side had done the hard part of securing their place in the last 16, where they will now face Steaua Bucharest after the Romanian side beat Ajax on penalties.
It proved to be anything but the case for a side shorn of Frank Lampard and Branislav Ivanovic, as manager Rafael Benitez shuffled his pack before Sunday's Premier League clash with Manchester City.
Torres endured another night he would want to forget, missing two good chances before the Czech side took the lead. A side-footed shot after only four minutes shaped wide, and the Spaniard touched a Juan Mata cross over from inside the six-yard box as Chelsea began promisingly.
But a piece of quick thinking at a free-kick on 17 minutes levelled the tie and changed the atmosphere at Stamford Bridge. With Chelsea back-pedalling, the ball was moved rapidly to Vaclav Kadlec who eluded Cahill to pull the ball back to Lafata, who shot high into the net from eight yards out.
The goal stung Chelsea into greater urgency, but for all their possession they could not threaten the Sparta goal. Mata controlled a Ramires pass with great skill, flicking the ball over his head before sending in a bouncing shot that Vaclik did well to tip over.
Torres then completed a trio of first-half misses with a flying header over the bar after he had slipped in between two Sparta defenders.
Ramires struck the post with a deflected shot less than a minute into the second half, but Chelsea took inspiration for a while and stepped up the pressure. John Terry came close to an equaliser in unlikely fashion, forcing Vaclik into a save with a flick while facing away from goal at a free-kick.
But as the game wore on the visitors took heart from Chelsea's inability to turn pressure into chances. The Czech side were swift on the break, and Matejovsky went close after Terry was caught in possession in the Sparta half. Kadlec allowed a tense home crowd to breathe again when he shot wide with Lafata in space inside the Chelsea area.
Torres's frustrating night continued when Ramires's on-target volley hit him square in the chest. Shortly afterwards Benitez replaced Oscar with Hazard, the substitution drawing a few boos from the home crowd.
The fans' tension seemed to transfer to the home side, and Sparta went close to taking the tie in the closing stages. Gary Cahill made a crucial block to stop a Kadlec shot, and as extra time loomed the Czech striker dragged another shot wide.
The missed chances proved to be crucial, though.
With less than a minute of injury time remaining, Hazard found enough space to move into the area and drill the ball past Vaclik.
Chelsea manager Rafa Benitez on striker Fernando Torres's record of only one goal in his last 14 appearances:
"He didn't play badly tonight, you can analyse a striker for the number of goals he scores. He did a great job for the team tonight.
"It's not easy against a team playing deep, but he was winning the ball in the air, bringing options for those around him.
"I thought he was playing well. I disagree he was playing badly. But of course we want him to take the chances that come his way.
"If he continues working like today and playing like he did today, he will score goals. I'm convinced about that."
Sparta Prague coach Vitezslav Lavicka:
"We played a great match.
"We came with a 1-0 deficit but we did the maximum to qualify. In the end we just didn't make it, but such is football.
"We were helped by the fans who were just amazing. It was a great trip for them to come to Stamford Bridge and we hope they enjoyed it."
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imagine what we would be like with a drogba incarnation in lukaku
and all those saying we need falcao and other possible signings, we really dont.
lukaku, piazon, de bruyne, chalobah, torgen hazard, mceachran, courtoise
we have some very good youth players who deserve a chance and will cost us a lot less
torres needs to find form, wake up or go. i would much rather see piazon or lukaku come back from loan and start for chelsea than see torres miss sitter after sitter
They weren't booing the fact that Hazard was brought on, they were booing the fact that it was Oscar (our best player last night) that was being taken off and not the woeful Mikel or Moses.
On a side note, I rate Oscar highly, but he's not Hazard's level of ability. Yet.
Couldn't agree more. Bring back Lukaku and give him playing time as much as Torres. He will score you goals with Mata-Oscar-Hazard playing as the three attacking midfielders. Sell deadwood Marin & Mikel, buy Fellaini. Bring back De Bruyne from Werder Bremen.
"Is Abramovich losing interest in Chelsea?"
As he's building a £100M house that's walking distance from the ground I doubt it.
"(Liverpool cannot be classed as an english team)"
Starting 11 from the Uefa games this week:
NUFC One English Player
CFC Three English Players
THFC Three English Players
LFC Four English Players
Why do people still have such a blinkered view about that, I don't really want to over kill an already over talked about event but the ball boy was barely even touched and play acted most to all of the injury. In the end of the day a class player scored a class goal and that sees another English team progress.
Considering there has been a english team in the CL final every year since 2005 except 2010, with 3 winners in that time, I hardly think it's a worrying time. Also, Newcastle are 16th in the premier league and Kharkiv are 4th in their league, so your comment that we 'scraped' past an 'average' team seems a bit daft. And getting a draw away at the Bernabeu is no mean feat either for anyone.
I imagine he'll still be first choice striker next season so don't get too excited about the summer.
" it would have been quicker and easier just to say football has its ups and downs"
oh but you replied to my first comment which said football has its "boom and bust" which is the same thing?
people like you need 'evidence' to zip their mouth shut. seems like my 'evidence' did exactly that.
people like you need to understand that what you just explained is football. all teams have boom and bust periods. once upon a time the italian teams were the strongest. then english teams were consistently the strongest. now the germans and spanish have taken the lead, who booms next we'll never know and that is the beauty of football
40 or so comments thus far.... interesting even here ....
(cue the tumbleweed)