Champions shock for Mourinho as Chelsea crumble to 10-men PSG and David Luiz
LONDON: Chelsea, with the advantage of both an away goal and one man for most of the two hours, were left shattered as they were tumbled out of the Champions League by Paris Saint-Germain.
Jose Mourinho’s Premier League leaders were off their game for most of their night and, to add to their embarrassment, a key role in their downfall – and a scorer of PSG’s first goal – was David Luiz who left Stamford Bridge for the French capital only last summer.
PSG hit back twice from a goal behind to claim a 2-2 draw after extra time and thus reached the quarter-finals on the away goals rule despite the controversial first-half expulsion of Zlatan Ibrahimovic for a late challenge which felled Oscar and provoked a hysterical reaction from Chelsea’s players.
In the night’s other tie Germany’s Bayern Munich thrashed Ukraine’s Shakhtar Donetsk 7-0 on the night and on aggregate.
Last July David Luiz and Thiago Silva were in the depths of despair after Brazil’s World Cup calamity; at Stamford Bridge they were ecstatic after scoring the two PSG goals which responded to strikes from Gary Cahill and then, in extra time, Eden Hazard from a penalty.
David Luiz said: “This is amazing for everyone, amazing for Paris club, for Paris city. We did a great game, we tried to win the game. I am happy to be in the next round but we have a long way to go to win the Champions League. We have to keep our feet on the floor.
“My cycle finished in Chelsea, PSG gave me a great opportunity to continue my career. I was very happy at Chelsea. I respect everyone,
“Tonight was good for me to score. I said I wouldn’t celebrate but my emotions I couldn’t control. Thank you to Chelsea and sorry I celebrated because I was so emotional.”
Mourinho had no complaints about the result.
He said: “They deserved to win. Our performance was not good enough. We had the game in our hands twice but the opponents were stronger than us. They coped better with the pressure of the game and with 10 men they had nothing to lose and without the extra pressure that we were feeling.”
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