Chelsea undone by Ivanovic’s howlers

Chelsea 0 Swansea 2

Two aberrations from Branislav Ivanovic mean Chelsea will face a major task in the second leg of the Capital One Cup semi-final.

The Serbian defender was at fault for Michu’s opener seven minutes before the break and substitute Danny Graham’s potentially decisive injury-time goal.

After his team had dominated most of the first half, Ivanovic hesitated after collecting a routine pass from keeper Ross Turnbull near the edge of the penalty area and was robbed by Jonathan de Guzman.

The ball then ran to Michu, who gleefully fired in his 16th goal of the season.

By that stage Chelsea should have been in front.

Juan Mata had missed their best chance, meekly side-footing straight at keeper Gerhard Tremmel after being found unmarked by Eden Hazard.

Tremmel also kept out a toe-poked effort from Ramires following great link-up play involving Hazard and Oscar.

Gary Cahill headed over as Chelsea continued to have the upper hand, before Cesar Azpilicueta shot wide after dispossessing Swansea’s Wayne Routledge.

It seemed only a matter of time before Chelsea broke the deadlock, yet they found themselves behind at the interval.

Swansea defended superbly in the second half and the home fans’ calls for Frank Lampard to be introduced were answered when he was sent on with 20 minutes remaining.

He was followed 10 minutes later by recent signing Demba Ba, who replaced the ineffective Fernando Torres, but the Blues still struggled to create clear-cut chances.

Ba headed wide from fellow substitute Marko Marin’s right-wing cross in the closing minutes.

And Chelsea appealed in vain for an injury-time penalty when Ba went down after colliding with Tremmel but was booked for diving.

Moments later, Ivanovic’s careless back-pass went straight to Graham, who rounded Turnbull before slotting home – sealing the European champions’ second shock home defeat in the space of a week.

Ba netted with seconds remaining but was adjudged to be offside – much to the irritation of the Blues faithful, some of whom vented their anger at the result towards interim manager Rafael Benitez.

Chelsea: Turnbull, Azpilicueta, Ivanovic, Cahill, Cole, Luiz, Ramires (Lampard 70), Hazard, Oscar (Marin83), Mata, Torres (Ba 80).
Subs not used: Hilario, Ferreira, Bertrand, Ake.

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