Ba bleats for Blues, Real through
Print Edition
GROWING up, Demba Ba dreamed about scoring big goals for Paris St-Germain. With the team he supported as a child on the verge of reaching the Champions League semifinals for the first time in 19 years, Ba instead scored the goal that knocked it out.
Now it is Chelsea joining European football’s elite in the last four for the seventh time in 11 years.
Ba seemed the most improbable player to complete Chelsea’s comeback, having been largely overlooked by Jose Mourinho for much of this season, but he delivered from the bench when it mattered most for the 2012 European champion.
Ba’s sixth goal of the season in the 87th minute, after Andre Schuerrle’s first-half opener, clinched a 2-0 victory that overturned a 1-3 loss from the first leg and sent Chelsea through on away goals.
“It happened so quickly,” Ba said. “I was on the floor, just looked at the goal, and I saw the ball was in the net. It was a big joy for everyone.”
Mourinho was elated, sprinting from the bench to join his players, who collapsed in a heap on the pitch.
Now Mourinho, having failed to bring the European Cup to Chelsea during his 2004-07 stint in charge, remains on course to win the competition in his first season back at Stamford Bridge, while the team is also second in the English Premier League.
Joining Chelsea in the draw tomorrow is Real Madrid, which lost 0-2 at Borussia Dortmund but still went through 3-2 on aggregate, Marco Reus scoring a brace for the Germans.
But Carlo Ancelotti’s 50th match in charge of Real was his most nerve-wracking so far but after surviving a Champions League scare, his expensively assembled side retains a chance of a rare treble.
Dortmund, which knocked Real out in the semifinals last season, came close to levelling the tie when Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s shot hit the post in the 65th but Real held out and will now chase a record-extending 10th European crown.
It is third in La Liga, three points behind leader Atletico Madrid with six games left, and also through to next Wednesday’s Copa del Rey final to face arch rival Barcelona.
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