Chelsea
Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic (hidden) reacts with teammates after he scored against Paris St Germain in their Champions League round of 16 first leg match at the Parc des Princes StadiumReuters

Chelsea gained an advantage in the first leg round of sixteen of the Champions League following a 1-1 draw against Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc des Princes.

Branislav Ivanovic fired the Blues into the lead in the 36th minute, but his strike was cancelled out by Edinson Cavani in the 54th minute, maintaining PSG's nine-year unbeaten home record in Europe.

Despite being without the services of some of their key players including Yohan Cabaye, Serge Aurier and Lucas Moura, PSG were able to make a good start to the game as Blaise Matuidi tested Thibaut Courtois with a good header in the 11th minute.

Soon after Zlatan Ibrahimovic also forced a good save from the Belgian with another powerful header.

Despite being boosted by the return of Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas, Salvatore Sirigu was only a spectator as the Blues failed to create any clear cut chances in the opening stages of the game.

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Still, it was the Blues who surprisingly went in front in the 36th minute following some good work from their defenders John Terry, Gary Cahill and Branislav Ivanovic

Terry's cross was flicked on by Cahill towards a completely unmarked Ivanovic and the Serbian made no mistakes as he powered a header past Sirigu, firing his side into the lead.

PSG's continued to attack and look for an equaliser but the first half ended with the score reading 1-0 in Chelsea's favour.

The hosts' persistent attacks soon paid off as they finally grabbed the equaliser nine minutes into the second half.

Cavani, taking advantage of Cahill's poor defending, managed to plant a perfect header past Courtois after connecting with Matuidi's inviting cross.

Boosted by the equaliser the Parisians starting searching for the winner as they began putting immense pressure on the Chelsea defence.

Courtois again did well to parry away Ibrahimovic's effort at the hour mark, before Cesar Azpilicueta a good block to prevent Lavezzi's shot from the follow up.

David Luiz came very close to become PSG's hero closing stages of the game, but his header took a deflection and landed on the roof of the net.

PSG kept on bombarding Chelsea's defence with regular attacks in the dyming minutes of the game but the Blues managed to hold on to the draw thanks to some brilliant goalkeeping by Courtois.


PSG vs Chelsea (1-1) Full Highlights ~ 17/02... by rubin7190