Barcelona exact revenge on Mourinho's Chelsea

BARCELONA, Mar 8 (Reuters) A magical goal from Ronaldinho helped Barcelona draw 1-1 with Chelsea to reach the Champions League quarter-finals and avenge their elimination by the same side a year ago.

The World Player of the Year lived up to his billing when he bamboozled three Chelsea defenders on the edge of the area and fired a low shot past keeper Petr Cech 12 minutes from time.

Chelsea were given brief hope of a dramatic comeback when Frank Lampard converted an injury-time penalty after John Terry went down but the game ended immediately after to give Barca a deserved 3-2 victory on aggregate.

Barca, who were knocked out by Chelsea over two acrimonious legs at the same stage last season, were in charge throughout, depriving their opponents of the ball and gaving Jose Mourinho's side a masterclass in possession football.

There were few of the fireworks, however, which might have been expected given the controversies that had characterised the previous three meetings between the two sides over the past year.

Instead, this was a slow-burning tactical game and although the tension was still high, Chelsea went out with a whimper rather than a bang in a disappointing performance for a side that has yet to live up to expectations in Europe.

For Barca the win put them into the last eight for the first time since 2003 and their performance will give them real hope that they can finally win a second European Cup.

''Beating a team with a great coach always makes you really happy,'' Ronaldinho told Spanish television station Canal Plus yesterday after the match.

''There's nothing better than winning a game like this one.

Revenge wasn't on our minds.'' Mourinho remained defiant in defeat, saying: ''We played them in four matches in two seasons and when we were 11 against 11 they never beat us, that's the reality.

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