Chelsea produced one of the greatest escapes in the history of European football last night as they survived the sending off of John Terry to win an astonishing Champions League semi-final with Barcelona.

On a night of unparalleled drama at the Nou Camp, Terry looked to have pressed the self-destruct button on the Blues’ hopes of glory on the continent when he saw red for kneeing Alexis Sanchez from behind.

But the 10 men were simply magnificent for the rest of the second leg, fighting back from goals from Sergio Busquets and Andres Iniesta with a stunning chip from Ramires before half-time.

And after surviving a Barca siege from start to finish that saw Lionel Messi miss a penalty, Fernando Torres came off the bench to score a stoppage-time breakaway goal as Chelsea avenged their 2009 defeat in the most dramatic manner possible.

Reaching their second final came at a huge cost, with Terry’s red card and yellows for Ramires, Branislav Ivanovic and Raul Meireles ruling them out of the final.

Disaster struck for Chelsea as early as the sixth minute, Gary Cahill eventually forced off after slipping and pulling his hamstring, with Jose Bosingwa coming on and Ivanovic forced to move to centre-back.

Messi rippled the side-netting inside three minutes and he should have opened the scoring in the 20th minute, firing a one-two with Cesc Fabregas against Petr Cech’s leg.

The first sign of Chelsea’s discipline wavering came when John Obi Mikel was booked for chopping down Alexis Sanchez in the 32nd minute.

And when they went to sleep three minutes later, they were behind, their failure to close down allowing Isaac Cuenca to square for Busquets to tap into a virtually unguarded net.

The build-up to this tie was dominated by talk of refereeing meltdowns in previous clashes but Terry simply gave referee Cuneyt Cakir no choice but to dismiss him less than two minutes later.

Sanchez over-reacted to the swipe, bringing back memories of David Beckham’s 1998 World Cup sending-off, and Terry initially refused to walk.

But Cech made him listen to reason before picking the ball out of his own net again two minutes before half-time, Chelsea carved apart as Messi teed up Iniesta to stroke the ball home.

Chelsea looked dead and buried but struck a dagger blow with their first shot on target in first-half stoppage-time.

Frank Lampard was the creator as Ramires burst through and floated a glorious finish over Valdes.

The cascade of noise that had filled the Nou Camp turned to silence at half-time but they were soon cheering again after the restart when Drogba conceded a penalty.

Cakir adjudged the striker had tripped Fabregas and pointed to the spot.

It looked certain Messi would end his Chelsea hoodoo but, incredibly, he smashed his effort against the crossbar.

Ivanovic almost capitalised after Drogba helped Chelsea win a rare corner but he was warned himself after going down theatrically, while Lampard was lucky to only see yellow for cutting down Fabregas after Messi was booked for tugging him back.

The visitors were hanging on and were given two lifelines in 60 seconds in the final 10 minutes when Sanchez had a goal ruled out for offside and Messi hit the post from 20 yards.

And then, in stoppage-time, a long clearance found substitute Torres with 50 yards of space in which to run.

Unlike most of his Chelsea career, he made no mistake, rounding Valdes and slotting home to jubilant scenes.

SFs – second legs

Played yesterday

Barcelona 2
Busquets 35; Iniesta 44;
Chelsea 2
Ramires 45; Torres 90;

Missed penalty: Messi (B) 49.
Red card: Terry (C) 37.

(Chelsea win 3-2 on aggregate)

Playing today – 20.45
R. Madrid vs B. Munich (1-2)

Final: May 19, Munich.