This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.
VIDEO: Spirited Chelsea through after stunning recovery vs. Napoli Chelsea through to the Champions League last eight after a thrilling 4-1 victory over Napoli after extra time on Wednesday
Chelsea overturned a two-goal deficit from the first leg against Napoli to power into the Champions League quarterfinals, winning a thrilling match 4-1 after extra time on Wednesday to maintain England's interest in the competition. Serbia defender Branislav Ivanovic scored Chelsea's winner in the 105th minute of an end-to-end second leg at Stamford Bridge, sealing a 5-4 aggregate victory over the Italian side. Didier Drogba and John Terry wiped out Napoli's 3-1 lead from the first leg by the 48th minute, before Gokhan Inler put Napoli back in front on aggregate in the 55th. Frank Lampard sent the game into extra time by leveling at 4-4 with a 75th-minute penalty earned by Ivanovic, who went on to seal a stirring recovery. Chelsea is the only English team to qualify for the last eight, with the two Manchester clubs eliminated in the group stage. Arsenal had given Italy a warning of English teams' powers of recovery last week, beating AC Milan 3-0 to nearly overturn a four-goal deficit from the first leg. Chelsea succeeded where its London rival had narrowly failed, reaching the last eight for the sixth time in the past nine years and giving interim manager Roberto Di Matteo a third straight victory since replacing the fired Andre Villas-Boas. Few were giving the hosts a chance after their limp performance in Naples three weeks ago, when they were ripped apart by Napoli's three-pronged strikeforce of Edinson Cavani, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Marek Hamsik. The deadly trio, who have helped revive the glory days at the club three decades after the Diego Maradona era, were at it again in the early stages at Stamford Bridge in troubling goalkeeper Petr Cech. But Drogba soon breathed fresh life into the match. Fresh from scoring his 100th Premier League goal at the weekend, the Ivory Coast striker met Ramires' cross with a firm header in the 29th. Napoli's previously raucous fans were further quietened three minutes after the break when Lampard's corner found Terry, whose glancing header looped over goalkeeper Morgan De Sanctis and into the net. At that stage, Chelsea was not just in control of the match—it was also ahead on aggregate due to its away goal at San Paolo stadium. Inler put Napoli back in front overall when he chested down Terry's clearance on the edge of the area and smashed a sweet half-volley that flew into the bottom corner in the 55th. Another member of Chelsea's old guard, Lampard, took the game into extra time by converting a fiercely struck penalty 15 minutes from time after Branislav Ivanovic's header had hit the raised hand of Andrea Dossena. Fernando Torres, on as a 63rd-minute substitute and desperate to end a goal drought stretching back 25 matches, missed an open goal from an acute angle in the 100th—but Ivanovic made no mistake five minutes later. Watch the match's goals (For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter: @AO Sports)
