Chelsea crushed FC Basel 3-1 last night for a 5-2 aggregate semi-final victory to secure their place in the Europa League final against Benfica later this month in Amsterdam.
The European champions, 2-1 ahead from the first leg in Switzerland last week, lost that advantage when Mohamed Salah scored for the Swiss with the last kick of the first half, curling his shot past Chelsea keeper Petr Cech.
But Rafa Benitez’s men came storming back with three goals in nine minutes early in the second half. Fernando Torres, Victor Moses and David Luiz all scored – the curly-haired Brazilian with a stunning 25-metre curling shot that effectively ended Basel’s resistance after 59 minutes.
Frank Lampard, needing one goal to equal Bobby Tambling’s all-time Chelsea scoring record of 202, almost got it but hit the post with a fine strike in the ninth minute while Fabian Frei of Basel smashed the ball against the bar on 63 minutes.
Chelsea will become the first club to follow up victory in the Champions League with success the following season in the Europa League if they win in Amsterdam and only the fourth side to win all three of UEFA’s senior trophies.
Despite failing to advance to the later stages of the Champions League, Chelsea played with the authority of champions against a well-disciplined and never over-awed Swiss side.
The opening goal came after a period of Basel pressure and followed a near-miss from Marco Streller who volleyed wide after 26 minutes.
They made the breakthrough when captain Valentin Stocker sliced apart the Chelsea defence with a perfectly weighted ball for Salah to collect, beat the offside trap and score.
Whatever doubts Chelsea may have had during the half-time break would have been quickly dispelled in a blistering spell after Torres made it 1-1 in the 50th minute, powering a rebound off goalkeeper Yann Sommer who failed to hold Lampard’s shot.
Less than three minutes later, Moses took advantage of a lucky bounce off a Basel defender to make it 2-1 before Luiz, who scored for Chelsea in the first leg with the last kick of the game, made it 3-1 with a stunning goal that left Sommer totally stranded.
Cardozo double
In the other semi-final, Paraguay striker Oscar Cardozo’s double fired Benfica through after they beat Fenerbahce 3-1 in Lisbon to win their tie 3-2 on aggregate.
Benfica took just nine minutes to cancel out Fenerbahce’s 1-0 lead from the first leg when Nicolas Gaitan clipped in Lima’s low cross.
The Portuguese were stunned when Dirk Kuyt levelled midway through the half from the penalty spot after Ezequiel Garay handled, an away goal for Fenerbahce meaning the hosts needed to score at least twice more.
Cardozo’s fine left-foot finish restored Benfica’s lead on 35 minutes in a breathless first half and his decisive strike came on 66 with another crisp low shot from inside the area.
Semi-finals
Second legs
Chelsea 3
Torres 50; Moses 52; Luiz 59;
FC Basel 1
Salah 45;
(Chelsea win 5-2 on aggregate)
Benfica 3
Gaitan 9; Cardozo 35, 66;
Fenerbahce 1
Kuyt 23 pen.;
(Benfica win 3-2 on aggregate)
Final: May 15, Amsterdam.