Chelsea got a vital away goal at the San Siro tonight, but lost 2-1 after a pulsating match in Milan.

Barely three minutes had been on the clock when Samuel Eto’o fed the ball to Wesley Sneijder who in turn found Diego Milito, the defender cutting inside on his right foot before dispatching hard and low to the near post past a scrambling Petr Cech to give the Nerazzuri the lead.

Chelsea responded with some lovely football and a free-kick from Didier Drogba brought them as close as they would get in the first half, his long-range effort crashing off the underside of the bar and bouncing clear much to Jose Mourinho’s relief.

The Blues will however rue the referee’s decision not to punish Walter Samuel for what looked a clear penalty having got the wrong side of Salomon Kalou in the box, bundling the striker over just as he was to pull the trigger, Inter clearing and seeing off the half in the lead.

The second half started as quickly as the first had when Kalou, not to be outdone by a referee’s decision, met an Ivanovic cross-box ball with the sweetest of curling strikes into the far corner of the net to give Chelsea a much-coveted away goal and the equaliser, though Julio Cesar will feel that he should have done better to deal with the shot.

However no sooner had Chelsea got themselves back into the game they found themselves behind again when a sweeping Inter Milan attack found Esteban Cambiasso whose initial shot rebounded off Ivanovic, his follow-up shot a sweet left-footed strike past a rooted Cech to restore the lead.

What followed was an open flowing game with counter attack after counter attack from either side and both sides had chances to score more, Chelsea wasting a few chances to get themselves a priceless second away goal and Inter missing efforts to extend their advantage for the second leg, however the scores remained the same at full time with Inter in the driving seat. Chelsea though have the away goal and will fancy their chances at Stamford Bridge in three weeks time.

One sour point for the Blues was the news that Petr Cech was injured reportedly quite badly and was forced to be carried off on a stretcher on the hour, Hilario taking his place between the sticks.

Attendance: 84,638
Referee: Mejuto Gonzalez

Jon Osterland