Monaco crush Chelsea's European dream

Chelsea's dreams of Champions League glory were shattered here as Monaco battled back from two goals down to book their place in the final for the first time in their history.

A 2-2 draw on the night put Monaco into a final clash with FC Porto 5-3 on aggregate but the margin between triumph and failure was much smaller than those figures suggest.

Briefly, after Frank Lampard had added to Jesper Gronkjaer's long-range opener, Chelsea looked as if they could defy the odds and overturn their 3-1 deficit from the first leg.

But the Blues hearts were broken when Monaco pulled a goal back in controversial circumstances in first-half stoppage time through Hugo Ibarra, on loan from Porto, and Fernando Morientes ended the contest with a a clinically-taken second goal on the hour mark.

Monaco coach Didier Deschamps, who spent a season at Chelsea towards the end of his glorious playing career, said he had a simple message for his team at half-time.

"I told them just go out and play. We were just spectators during the first-half and Chelsea were very mobile."

"It is beyond the wildest dreams to get to the final."

"I am delighted and very proud of the players what they have achieved over the past eight months. They have a great spirit. Its down to them not me. They have a lot of talent."

"Porto will be difficult. They have a lot of internationals and they won the UEFA Cup. Finals are a special thing. I lost a few as well," said Deschamps, who was in the last French team to make the final when Marseille beat AC Milan 1-0 in 1993.

Chelsea's embattled coach Claudio Ranieri said it was a case of letting the match slip away from them.

"We had the match in our hand and we conceded a goal at the end of the first half."

"If we had gone into half-time at 2-0, it would have been another match because the first half was wonderful for us," admitted Ranieri, who was heavily criticised for the substitutions he made in the first leg when Monaco were reduced to 10 men early in the second-half.

Porto coach Jose Mourinho, tipped to take over from Ranieri at Stamford Bridge in the summer, watched the drama unfold impassively from the stands.

But he will know his side have their work cut out if they are to deny this resilient Monaco side Europe's biggest prize.

Chelsea had set the tone for a high-tempo encounter right from the opening minute, when Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink hustled Sebastien Squillaci off the ball and gave Flavio Roma his first examination of what was to prove a testing night.

Monaco's Italian goalkeeper was unable to hold Geremi's fierce drive just after the quarter hour mark and was relieved to see Joe Cole snatch at the rebound and slice his shot wide.

Cole made amends almost immediately with an exquisite turn and pass that put Hasselbaink into the box.

Roma did well to narrow the angle and block the Dutch striker's shot on that occasion but it was his glaring positional error that allowed Gronkjaer to give Chelsea the lead minutes later.

Cutting in from the right touchline, the Danish winger delivered a left-foot shot - it could have been intended as a cross - that floated over Roma's head and dropped into the far top corner of the net.

Monaco's threat on the break had been underlined either side of the goal, Morientes pushing one shot wide from just inside the box then seeing a more difficult chance deflected on to the post by John Terry.

But defensively they were creaking at the edges as they battled to contain a Chelsea side playing as well as they had done all season.

Eidur Gudjohnsen should have done better than strike his header against the bar after Roma had flapped at Hasselbaink's cross.

But the goal Chelsea needed to get their noses in front on aggregate finally arrived in the 44th minute.

Two simple, angled passes from Melchiot and Gudjohnsen were enough to open up a weary Monaco defence and leave Lampard with the job of beating Roma from just inside the box.

It was a goal that should have set the stage for a nerve tingling second half. Instead Chelsea's hopes suffered a crushing setback deep into first half stoppage time when Monaco pulled a goal back in controversial circumstances.

The impressive Rothen was again the instigator, rounding Melchiot on the left wing and picking out Morientes eight yards out.

The Spanish striker's header looped over Cudicini and appeared to strike Ibarra's arm as it bounced off the woodwork, off the Monaco midfielder and into the net.

Even after that morale-sapping blow, Chelsea continued to look capable of scoring the third goal that would have preserved their chance of advancing to the final.

Twice in the opening minutes of the second half strong runs from Wayne Bridge opened Monaco up down the left. An air shot by Gudjohnsen squandered the first chance, Gronkjaer lifted the second over the bar from barely 12 yards out.

The price of those misses was extracted on the hour mark. A neat one-two with Lucas Bernardi put Morientes into the box and the striker fired the ball past Cudicini to put the tie beyond Chelsea's reach.