It was a big night for Napoli as they ran riot against Andre Villas-Boas’ Chelsea, while Real Madrid conceded late in Moscow.
CSKA Moscow 1 (Wernbloom 90’) drew with Real Madrid 1 (Cristiano Ronaldo 28’)
It was a dream debut from new CSKA signing Pontus Wernbloom who scored with the last touch of the game to earn the Russians a 1-1 draw against Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid. The visitors enjoyed the majority of possession, with Cristiano Ronaldo opened the scoring on 28 minutes with a fine left-foot finish. CSKA pushed forward late on in search of an equaliser and finally Aleksei Berezutski nodded across goal for Wernbloom to level.
Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho said: “Having led the game and conceded so late it doesn’t leave a good taste in the mouth, but at the same time it’s not a drama. Last year against Lyon it was a similar situation at this stage and we managed to win the second leg at home. We’re confident we can do so again this time around. It’s not a bad result.”
CSKA boss Leonid Slutsky said: “We went all-in in the end and brought on some attacking players, increased the pressure on Madrid’s defence and finally converted our last set piece. Our chances? Two years ago we started with a 1-1 draw at home to Sevilla and were underdogs after the first leg as well. Madrid still are the favourites but the outcome of this match gives us hope for a good result over the two legs.”
Napoli 3 (Lavezzi 39’, 65’, Cavani 45’) def Chelsea 1 (Juan Mata 27’)
It was another bad day at the office for Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas while Walter Mazzarri was full of praise for his Napoli who claimed a significant 3-1 win. The Blues had gone ahead as Juan Mata pounced on Paolo Cannavaro’s error, but Napoli responded in style. Ezequiel Lavezzi levelled with a fine shot on 39 minutes, before Edinson Cavani poked them ahead before the interval. David Luiz then made a mistake to allow Lavezzi to make it three and give Napoli a big buffer.
Napoli boss Walter Mazzarri said: “We are fully aware that we are not in the quarter-finals yet. Even today we saw that Chelsea have great players who can easily score two goals at home. I’m happy we have already experienced playing in England in the group stage against Manchester City. At least we know more or less what to expect in London.”
Chelsea coach Villas-Boas said: “Taking a one-goal deficit home would have been better. Two goals is more difficult to recover but not impossible, of course, because of the amount of chances we get and the environment we must create at the Bridge to turn the tie around.”