Stellar pair shine for Chelsea

An Andriy Shevchenko flick, a Michael Ballack volley. With extra time looming, it was Chelsea FC's two high-profile summer arrivals, two stars of former UEFA Champions League campaigns yet to truly shine in this edition, who combined to see off FC Porto and take the Blues into the quarter-finals.

Initial frustration
Up until then, it had been just the kind of frustrating match – at least by their stellar standards – that the Ukrainian and German have endured this season. Shevchenko was not the sharp finisher of AC Milan legend, despite the confidence gained from recent goals including the equaliser in the 1-1 first-leg draw in Porto, while Ballack and Frank Lampard have not developed the natural intuition in midfield that José Mourinho admitted was lacking earlier in the campaign. But what Ballack and Shevchenko may feel is mediocre by their criteria is good enough to win plenty of games, and thus it was last night.

Mourinho concern
Not that Porto were outclassed; indeed, it would have been no surprise to see them hang on to their half-time lead. Mourinho may even have thought back to Matchday 8 three years ago when he took Porto to Old Trafford for a tie few expected his team to come through, even though they had won 2-1 at home. Costinha struck in the final minute, and a quick sprint down the touchline in celebration later, Mourinho was a star, destined to win the trophy and be summoned to assemble the most expensive side in English football history. The contrast to his expression when Ricardo Quaresma calmly slotted the ball past Petr Čech on 15 minutes, could not have been more stark.

Decisive moment
Chelsea were on top in the first half and Arjen Robben, deployed from the start, was consistently probing and getting behind both full-backs. Shevchenko and Didier Drogba, though, were finding space and fortune hard to come by. Robben's equaliser, of course, was as much about luck as skill, the moments after Helton fumbled the Dutchman's long-range effort passing in slow motion to all from Chelsea fan to visiting goalkeeper as the ball rolled apologetically over the line.

Moment of class
Oddly, Chelsea were not quite as rampant after the equaliser as before, even though the previously nervy home crowd had finally found their voice. Robben was not the livewire presence he had been, and it seemed a Chelsea winner would have to be forced rather than sculpted. Luckily for Mourinho, two men who know all about reaching the UEFA Champions League final were at hand. It was not the brilliant Ballack of 2002, or the Shevchenko who slotted in the winning penalty in the following year's final on show tonight, yet they still managed a moment of class which underlines why Chelsea are now favourites with bookmakers to land club football's premier prize for the first time.