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Inter holds off Chelsea

Wed 24th, February 2010

Milan, Italy (Sports Network) - Inter Milan used a 55th-minute goal from Esteban Cambiasso to claim a 2-1 win over Chelsea at the San Siro on Wednesday in the first leg of their Champions League Round of 16 matchup.

Inter went ahead through Diego Milito in the third minute, but just four minutes after Salomon Kalou equalized for Chelsea in the second half, Cambiasso collected his own rebound and fired past goalkeeper Petr Cech, who was out of position after Cambiasso's initial effort.

The hosts couldn't have asked for a better start as they took the lead inside of three minutes.

Wesley Sneijder laid a pass off to Milito inside the area, and after cutting the ball away from John Terry, the Inter striker drove it past Cech and inside the near post.

Chelsea came within inches of leveling the contest in the 15th minute when Didier Drogba's 25-yard free kick beat goalkeeper Julio Cesar but came back off the crossbar, while Samuel Eto'o badly scuffed a shot eight yards from goal midway through the half.

Salomon Kalou had a penalty appeal turned down right before halftime, but he found the net six minutes after the break with a first-time shot from outside the box that skipped past Cesar and inside the right post.

The score stayed level for just four minutes, however, as Cambiasso fired a shot that was blocked by a Chelsea defender. The ball came right back to the Inter midfielder, and with Cech out of position because of the initial effort, Cambiasso smashed the ball inside the far post.

Cech's night ended only five minutes later when he came down awkwardly after collecting a cross, but substitute Henrique Hilario was not tested over the final 30 minutes.

Unfortunately for Chelsea, they were only able to generate one good scoring chance over that time, and Cesar did well to get down and stop a volley from Frank Lampard.

In Wednesday's other contest, CSKA Moscow got a goal from Mark Gonzalez in the 66th minute to cancel out Alvaro Negredo's first-half goal for Sevilla, leaving the two sides level at 1-1 as they head back to Spain for the return leg.