Last night the equation, or so it seemed, was different. All they had to do was to play to their abilities and a win, or at least a draw, was on the cards. No pressure meant that each player could go out and demonstrate their art without the worry of failure. What they didn't bargain for, though, was Lazio's desperate hunger to win coupled to fantastic skill and great cohesion as a team. They came at Chelsea from the kickoff, and pushed them to the limit for virtually the entire ninety minutes.

They dominated the first half, and only resolute defending and split second reactions from Ed De Goey kept Chelsea in it, so it was a pleasant surprise when, with half time rapidly approaching, Gus Poyet picked the ball up just up from the half way line and was allowed by the otherwise solid Lazio defence to advance to within 30 yards and unleash a piledriver of a shot that scorched into the top right corner of the net. We went abosolutely stark, staring mental, and were still celebrating when the whistle went for half time.

We spent the interval with dazed smiles on our faces, but it wasn't long before those smiles were wiped off our faces. Lazio again attacked relentlessly in the second half, and some of their passing was nothing short of magnificent. The defending had been almost perfect as well, and I had to applaud one instance when Franco Zola was robbed of the ball by two shepherding defenders when charging towards the keeper, well into the penalty area; we were holding our breaths waiting for the lunging tackle that would give away the penalty, but it wasn't to be. The two defenders just calmly pinched the ball from Zola and nonchalantly passed the ball upfield.

At the same time, praise must fall on Chelsea's defence, who were equally assured, even though under much greater pressure. In my opinion Frank Leboeuf had his best game for Chelsea. He was incredibly quick in his reactions, as well as being positive in everything he did. There was no dithering and no hairy moments, and I was worried when he was eventually substituted by Jes Hogh, to a standing ovation from the crowd. Babayaro exhibited some great moments of skill but lost the ball too often, as did the disappointing Roberto Di Matteo, who was also substituted, by Jody Morris. Desailly was his usual nonchalant self, and Ferrer was as solid as you would expect without shining.

Dan Petrescu was playing fairly deep on the right, and consequently didn't threaten much until late in the second half when Chelsea were pushing up for the equaliser. The midfield did very well under severe pressure from their Lazio equivalents, with Deschamps showing great composure. The forwards, Zola and Flo, were magnificent, for the most part chasing balls that were constantly being pumped over the top of the Lazio defence, and Flo in particular suffered constantly from the thuggish attentions of Couto, who was eventually sent off after one bone-crunching tackle too many. I laughed, because this was the same Couto who had tripped over a blade of grass early in the first half, rolling over and over in typically Italian theatrical style. It didn't go down well at all with the Chelsea fans, and he was roundly booed every time he got the ball after that.

Just when Chelsea appeared to have got the game under control, Nedved was left to run free down the left wing. He appeared to have over-run the ball, but suddenly cut it back across the face of the goal, and Inzaghi just beat Babayaro to slip the ball past De Goey. For the first time all evening the Italian fans made themselves heard, and suddenly we had a problem. Lazio took heart from their goal and the pressure was increased. This led to Chelsea giving away a free kick outside the area, about 10 yards out from the goal line. I was sitting in line with the direction of the kick, and I remember imagining the ball curving over the top of the wall and De Goey straight into the net. I said to my mate Dogman that Mihajlovic was going to score directly from the kick, but he told me that Ed had it covered. You know the rest. 2-1.

We were sick, but to the credit of the crowd, we all kept up a torrent of chanting to keep the boys' spirits up, and it seemed to work, as Chelsea surged forward to find the equaliser. Lazio's goal seemed to have a charmed life, as Petrescu, Zola, Flo and Ferrer all went close. Inzaghi had been earlier substituted by Salas, which had made us all nervous, but Lazio saw the pressure they were under and substituted the substitute, who was furious. Salas tore off his shirt while slowly walking off, and made eloquent "fuck you" gestures to his own bench, and was so wrapped up in making his feelings known that the ref charged over and booked him for time wasting as he left the pitch. We laughed our bollocks off.

Sadly Chelsea just could not break down the Lazio defence, and we were stunned when the final whistle went. The Lazio players walked over to their fans and threw their shirts into the crowd. Some of them got over-excited and ran onto the pitch, only to be rugby-tackled by the stewards and sat on. This caused an astonishing scene as Almeyda, I think it was, tried to pull the stewards off the fans. A melee ensued, with even the police becoming involved, and doubtless we will hear more of the incident, but it didn't take away the disappointment of losing the game.

To sum up, it was a great game, and I felt privileged to be there. I can't help feeling that Chelsea lost the game, rather than Lazio having won it. Having said that, Lazio were superb, but the constant three ring circus of cheating spoiled it for me. Trying to get your opponent sent off is not an honourable thing to do, and there's no need when you have the talent that teams like Lazio have - whatever happened to The Beautiful Game ?

We're still in there shouting, though, and whatever had happened we would have been looking at playing the so-called bigger teams at some point, so I'm not too unhappy. Hopefully we'll get Barcelona in the quarter final. Imagine the excitement of the home leg, which will undoubtedly be the biggest game ever at the Bridge. Bring 'em on !

What do YOU think ? Want to add your point of view ? Here's your chance to send me some feedback. NB: Abuse from opposing fans will be laughed at and then ignored, so don't bother wasting your time. Considered, intelligent argument, presented in the spirit of friendly rivalry guarantees a response.