Chelsea fall short against clinical Atletico

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Chelsea 1 Atletico Madrid 3 (Atletico win 3-1 on aggregate)

Chelsea’s hopes of reaching another Champions League final were crushed at Stamford Bridge.

Level at 0-0 after a tense semi-final first leg in Spain, they went ahead when Fernando Torres netted against his former club.

But Adrian Lopez scored an all-important away goal for Atletico Madrid just before the break and worse followed for Jose Mourinho’s men in the second half.

Striker Samuel Eto’o, brought on as a substitute with his team desperately needing a goal, gave away a penalty and Diego Costa made no mistake from the spot before Arda Turan added the visitors’ third.

Atletico will face their city rivals – and Mourinho’s former side – Real Madrid in the final in Lisbon.

The Blues, with John Terry and Eden Hazard back from injury and Cesar Azpilicueta playing on the right of midfield, got the breakthrough they wanted with the help of a slight deflection on 36 minutes.

Azpilicueta burst into the box and set up Torres, whose effort was diverted into the net after striking Atletico’s Mario Suarez.

Chelsea’s opener came after they had a lucky escape when Koke’s effort hit the bar.

That was a sign of the danger posed by the La Liga leaders and they responded well to going behind, levelling when an unmarked Juanfran knocked Tiago’s delivery into the path of Lopez, who scored into an empty net.

A fine save by Atletico’s on-loan Chelsea keeper Thibaut Courtois early in the second half proved to be crucial.

The Belgian was down quickly to stop Terry’s header from Willian’s free-kick before Atletico suddenly took control.

They could have had a penalty after Turan went down under a challenge from Azpilicueta and eventually were awarded one when Eto’o clumsily brought down Costa, who coolly converted from the spot.

That left Chelsea needing to score twice – and they nearly reduced the deficit when Luiz’s header hit the post.

But any realistic hope of a comeback was extinguished when Turan netted with 18 minutes remaining, tucking away the rebound after his far-post header had been tipped onto the bar by keeper Mark Schwarzer.

Chelsea: Schwarzer, Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Cole (Eto’o 54), Ramires, Luiz, Azpilicueta, Hazard, Willian (Schurrle 77), Torres (Ba 67).
Subs not used: Hilario, Kalas, Van Ginkel, Oscar.

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