Before the match, no one additionally aggravated the situation - and so it is clear that for Chelsea and Valencia this game seemed the most important of the season. At the opening press conference, Kike Flores allowed himself to dilute standard speeches about self-giving and concentration with light tactical details. Guests were drawn to lyrical memories. Didier Drogba spoke about the “bats” he lost to the 2004 UEFA Cup final, and Mourinho about the goal-phantom of Luis Garcia in the Champions League a year later. The Portuguese thus injured the famous pressure of the Valencian stadium, noting that visitors to Anfield are capable of goals. He injured and promised that he would silence him.
The asymmetric stands of Mestalla joined in a single rush long before the start of the match - that evening, together with the team, they had to defend the positional advantage gained in London. The score 1: 1 after the first meeting allowed Valencia not to depart from the favorite counterattack manner of the game. At the same time, Kike Flores immediately warned the wards against excessive caution, putting up two clean forwards - Vilya and just recovered Morientes. The hero of the battle at Stamford Bridge, David Silva, shifted to the left flank, taking the place of Vicente who returned to the infirmary.
Jose Mourinho also changed the tactical line-up. The Portuguese fortified the center of the field on time with the return of Essien, shifting to the shoulders of the Ghanaian most of the defensive concerns of Ballack and Lampard. Ahead came the Drogba duo - Shevchenko, and Kalu and Joe Cole remained in reserve. 4-4-2 without special flanking attacking hopes.
The first 30 minutes the teams spent under the sign of respect for each other and for those who were late - those who did not see these half an hour lost nothing. “Valencia” did not come close to someone else's goal, and “Chelsea” had fun only in the corner. But there were enough hard joints - doctors entered the business more often than goalkeepers.
The tension grew, and it seemed that very soon it would turn into something unsightly - the future hero Essien passed along the edge of the red card. However, “Valencia” managed to put into the football channel accumulated energy in the air. Fernando Morientes, who has long been a kind of black cat for Chelsea, had three sure opportunities to score in the period from the 30th to the 34th minute and, as a result, realized the middle of the attempts. In a goal, Moreau transformed Joaquin's verified pitch.
Suddenly feeling the opponent’s weakness, Valencia could at this moment decide the outcome of the meeting. The guests were at a loss, even slightly panicked, but under the formidable gaze of Mourinho quickly pulled themselves together. So a boxer who missed a shot remains vulnerable for some time, and then restores his usual state. Until the end of the first half, Chelsea even qualified for a retaliatory threat, but Drogba Canisares caught a header in the corner of the goal, like a net.
During the break, Mourinho was ripe for personnel changes. Realizing that this time, no diamonds could be obtained by the Essien - Obi Miquel - Lampard - Ballack quartet, the coach sent Joe Cole to help the forwards, and Essien - to close the right edge. It was this maneuver that turned out to be crucial, although it was unlikely that even Mourinho himself could have imagined such a thing.
The debut of the second half was impudently written off from the previous match. Again, “Valencia” for the episode lost the very concentration that Kike Flores talked about at two press conferences and missed. Shevchenko, borrowing a net from Canisares, caught a goal in the muddy water of ricochets in the host penalty.
It was at this moment that the noisy Mestaglia had quieted down for the first time, with some kind of childish resentment from an accidentally broken favorite toy. The situation has changed dramatically. Chelsea returned to its element and began to slowly suppress the stunned opponent. For the entire second half, “Valencia” created at the gates of the guests only one tolerable moment - tried to replace Angulo, already closer to the end of the match. The impression was that the Spaniards were simply not ready to play the game "on their own," and not catch the flaws of the opponent. The hero of the first match Silva was lost in the open spaces of the non-core left flank, lost his balls, desperately club-footed, Joaquin, did not find a worthy application for his talents Villa.
In the absence of a game ahead, the hosts began to make mistakes and on the defensive - their mood, passion disappeared, and fatigue treacherously rolled up. Treacherous for Kike Flores, first of all - he, having sacrificed a Saturday meeting of the championship, did not at all expect that Chelsea would be fresh in the end. The British finally took their ball, but from the game, too, especially did not create anything. In general, minutes from the 70th it began to seem that in this match not only that extra time - a penalty shootout could not be avoided. However, the “blue” were looking for a chance. They were not going to tear apart the opponent, but were waiting for the right moment, like the same boxer-knockout, not chasing the number of strokes, but aiming at the one and only decisive one. And they waited. Another standard flew into the penalty area of “Valencia” exactly on the head of Michael Ballack, he beat for sure, but a miracle was performed by Canisares. Santiago incredibly pulled the ball out of the bottom corner. May God grant everyone such a reaction in 37 years.
And when the time already added by the referee began, Chelsea scored. Essien made a breakthrough on the right flank, pulled the ball into the box and for general reasons shot into the near corner. Canisares, who had given Valencia hope five minutes earlier, took it away in a sophisticated way - to his own surprise, the ball did not meet anyone on the way and got into the net. The net has broken. The Mestaglia sank into a moment of silence.
Chelsea won. He won, although he was little surpassing the opponent. Sometimes such successes are explained by experience, sometimes - by luck. More often, the answer is hidden in the intangible concept of “psychology of the winner”. Which is increasingly associated with Jose Mourinho.
VALENCIA Spain - CHELSEY England - 1: 2 (1: 0)
Goals: 1: 0 - Morientes (32), 1: 1 - Shevchenko (52), 1: 2 - Essien (90).
VALENCIA : Canizares , Miguel, del Orno, Ayala, Albelda, Villa, Morientes (Angulo, 65), Joaquin, Albiol ((Hugo Viana, 72), Silva, Moretti.
Chelsea : Cech, E. Cole, Essien, Ricardo Carvalho, Obi Mikel, Terry, Diarra (D. Cole, 46), Ballack, Lampard (Makelele, 90 + 3), Shevchenko (S. Kalu, 90 + 3), Drogba .
Warnings : Essien (4), Ballack (21), del Orno (45), Albelda (51), Ayala (60), Moretti (62).
Valencia Mestaglia.
Judge : C. Vassaras (Greece).
First match : 1: 1.