SOCCER/Bayern Munich - 3 Chelsea - 2: The ease of Chelsea's progress has merely added to its excitement. They will start a semi-final against Juventus or Liverpool in a fortnight and will do so against a backdrop of belief that the trophy is to return to English soil after a six-year absence. Despite the odd conclusion to the night, Chelsea have vanquished a potent club.
They will just have to defend more staunchly in future than they did in the closing moments as one substitute, Paulo Guerrero, brought the score level for Bayern Munich before another, Mehmet Scholl, hit a stoppage-time winner on the night.
It was more relevant that Frank Lampard hit the first goal and that Didier Drogba put his side 2-1 in front with a header from Joe Cole's cross in the 80th minute. Chelsea's intriguing manager must still be content.
Ever the innovator, Jose Mourinho found a new way not to be at a match. He had announced that he would serve the second part of his touchline ban by watching this game from the stands. The manager did show up there, but shortly before kick-off he hopped into a taxi and reportedly went back to the team's hotel.
If he was in illicit communication with his backroom staff there would have been frantic discussion while Chelsea were in early difficulties, and then a contented lull before congratulations were conveyed once Lampard had scored.
The midfielder had already claimed two goals in the first leg, and Bayern's coach, Felix Magath, said before this return that "We need to defend well and then the Lampard problem will not be there." His side, as it turned out, could not concentrate reliably enough.
Bayern will understandably bemoan that this Chelsea opener was a deflection, just as Cole's had been at Stamford Bridge. The Premiership leaders do seem to get goals like that regularly, but there is method involved in setting up positions for controlled drives.
They are abetted, too, when a side like Bayern let Cole come in from the left and roll the ball to an unmarked Lampard. His low, 25-yarder skipped off Lucio to wrongfoot Oliver Kahn.
Until then, much of Chelsea's energy had gone into thwarting Bayeren's quest for the 2-0 win they desired.
The visitors' line-up contained no major surprises but it did dish out a disappointment to one individual. After Paolo Ferreira broke his foot, Glen Johnson was the only recognised right-back at Stamford Bridge, but the England international was on the bench last night. Johnson must know he still has far to go to convince the Portuguese.
Mourinho deployed a back four in Munich composed wholly of centre-halves. Robert Huth was nominally on the right but usually stayed near the middle so that he could help clear crosses.
Claudio Pizarro pulled the ball back for Michael Ballack in the fourth minute and John Terry had to make a block tackle. Almost immediately, Ze Roberto came inside Huth for a low cross that left Pizarro for a drive that Petr Cech denied with his legs.
Even by then, though, Chelsea had shown they would not be subdued throughout. In the second minute, Lampard had freed Drogba, who had so intimidated Bayern at Stamford Bridge, but he could not get the better of Kahn. The Ivory Coast striker was injured later and seemed shorn of his usual power after 43 minutes as Robert Kovac tracked the forward down when Lampard seemed to have sent him clear.
A 1-0 lead was wholly satisfactory for Chelsea. Bayern then required four goals to advance and that was a nominal target rather than a genuine objective. Magath's side, in any case, seemed to lack composure, and when, for instance, Bastian Schweinsteiger had evaded William Gallas in the 18th minute the midfielder went on to attempt a finish from a difficult angle and skewed the ball wide.
After 41 minutes, Ballack made space for himself with an artful step but then clumped his drive high. Early in the second half Magath took the natural step of replacing his defensive midfielder Martin Demichelis with the creative midfielder Mehmet Scholl.
The realistic aim was to give Bayern's departure from the competition a more dignified air. There was a worthy drive by Lucio for Cech to handle in the 48th minute, but Chelsea still had notions of adding to their lead. When, with almost an hour gone, Drogba occupied the centre-backs at a free-kick Damien Duff dashed through, only to be frustrated by Kahn's fine save.
It was a meaningful contribution since it left Bayern in a position to equalise after 65 minutes. Cech was able to reach Ballack's downward header, but Pizarro knocked in the rebound. Five minutes later a Bixente Lizarazu cross came off Huth to strike the crossbar.
Within moments, Ballack met a corner with a header that Gudjohnson headed off the line.
BAYERN MUNICH (4-4-2): Kahn; Sagnol, Lucio, Kovac, Lizarazu (Salihamidzic, 78); Schweinsteiger, Demichelis (Scholl, 52), Ballack, Ze Roberto; Pizarro, Makaay (Guererro, 73).
CHELSEA (4-1-4-1): Cech; Huth, Carvalho, Terry, Gallas; Makelele; Cole (Morais, 90), Gudjohnsen (Geremi, 88), Lampard, Duff, (Tiago, 71); Drogba. Booked: Gudjohnsen.
Referee: M Mejuto Gonzalez (Spain).
