Chelsea finished off the season by beating Cardiff City 2-1 away from home, as the Blues staged a surging second half comeback in South Wales.
The home side took the lead early on as Craig Bellamy’s deflected effort found the top corner and Chelsea struggled to get back into the match as the Bluebirds held firm. It took until the final 20 minutes for Chelsea to come to life as Cesar Azpilicueta hit the crossbar and substitute Andre Schurrle finished things off to equalize, then two minutes later Fernando Torres scored to give Chelsea the 2-1 lead which they hold on to.
In Mourinho’s first season of his second spell in charge of Chelsea the Blues ended up finishing third on 82 points, while Cardiff finished rock bottom on 30 points.
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Early on Chelsea had a great chance to go ahead as Fernando Torres latched onto a loose ball and rounded Cardiff ‘keeper David Marshall and slotted an effort towards the open goal but Steven Caulker cleared off the line superbly. Moments later Oscar smashed the ball just over the bar as the Blues from West London took the game to the Bluebirds.
However it was Cardiff who took the lead as as Bellamy was found on the left-hand side of the box in the 15th minute and his effort was deflected into the far corner of the goal to hand the home side the lead.
After going behind Chelsea pushed forward but failed to carve out any clear cut chances and before the break Cardiff could’ve gone 2-0 up as Frazier Campbell danced past four challenges however the Englishman blasted his effort way over from close range. Right on the stroke of half time Chelsea almost leveled the scores as the ball dropped to Mohamed Salah after a corner but the Egyptian winger put his effort just wide.
Chelsea tried to go for broke and get back into the game as Salah saw one shot blocked by his own player Cesar Azpilicueta, then smashed another into the side-netting as Chelsea piled on the pressure. To their credit Cardiff dug in and tried to get back into the game but Chelsea’s pressure finally paid off late in the game.
In the 72nd minute Azpilicueta hit the crossbar and Schurrle cleaned up to make it 1-1, then moments later a header from Nemanja Matic found Torres unmarked in the box and the Spanish striker coolly slot home to complete the comeback.
LINEUPS
Cardiff City: Marshall, Fabio, Caulker, Turner, John, Gunnarsson, Mutch, Whittingham, Daehli (Cowie, 67'), Bellamy (Healey, 76'), Campbell (James, 69')
Goal: Bellamy (15')
Chelsea: Schwarzer, Ivanovic, Cole, Azpilicueta, Kalas, Oscar, Mikel (Schurrle, 66'), Salah (Ake, 79'), Hazard (Swift, 89'), Matic, Torres
Goals: Schurrle (72'), Torres (75')