Chelsea has not had an ideal season, but things look up for the Blues. Despite losing 3-2 to Rubin Kazan in the second leg of the Europa League quarterfinals, Chelsea is headed to the semifinals.
The English side entered the match with a 3-1 advantage on the aggregate; all Kazan needed was a two goal win without allowing any away goals.
Chelsea put itself ahead with a 1-0 lead in the fifth minute off a Fernando Torres goal. The goal was the third of the quarterfinals for the Spanish striker. "Fernando did really well," Chelsea coach Rafa Benitez said. "He's been doing well in the last games, he's working hard, he's creating chances for himself and his team-mates."
Ivan Sierra Marcano tied up the match in the 51st minute but Chelsea essentially sealed the semifinals berth just four minutes later when Victor Moses gave them a 2-1 lead. Kazan wasn't finished yet and in the 62nd minute Gokdeniz Karadeniz tied up the score. In the 75th minute, Bebars Natcho gave Kazan its first lead. However, Chelsea shut them down for the remainder of the match and secured a 5-4 aggregate win.
"I have mixed feelings. We won but I'm really sorry we couldn't make it through," Rubin Kazan coach Kurban Berdyev said. "On the other side I'm satisfied with the game, especially the second half. Unfortunately we made mistakes which we usually don't make and Chelsea can punish and they punished us for our mistakes."
Despite the loss, Benitez was pleased with his side's performance. "We had a good result coming here, a different environment and different things we had to manage. I think we did well. It's a pity we lost the game, but we went through, that was the main thing," said Benitez. "I'm really pleased with the team, with the effort, with a lot of players. They were giving everything on the pitch."