Chelsea were under severe pressure to keep their Europa League campaign alive when Romanian side Steaua Bucharest visited Stamford Bridge on Thursday evening.
Trailing 1-0 from the first leg, only a dominant performance and score-line would do for the Blues and Juan Mata, undoubtedly Chelsea’s player of the season so far, was on hand to level the tie midway through the first half. It wasn’t a vintage Mata strike but they all count.
Before Chelsea thought they could start to coast, Steaua set the alarm bells ringing with the final strike before half-time as Chiriches buried a header past Pech Cech.
The hosts now needed another two goals to progress past their Romanian counterparts and it was captain John Terry that eased the tension with a finely placed header 13 minutes into the second half.
With the scores level on aggregate, but Steaua progressing on away goals, it was the turn of Fernando Torres to grab the headlines; producing a finish that reminded everyone what he can still be capable of.
The Spaniard’s nights work wasn’t over there though. He recieved a bloody nose after being kicked in the face, before stepping up to take a penalty that would put the tie to bed, only to hammer it against the crossbar.
Chelsea held firm to take their place in the last-eight and join English rivals Newcastle United and Tottenham in the hat.
Check out the match highlights here…
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