Chelsea's UEFA Cup ambitions ended at Stamford Bridge this evening as Hapoel Tel Aviv held Claudio Ranieri's side to a 1-1 draw to progress 3-1 on aggregate, despite the return of five of the players who missed the trip to Israel a fortnight ago because of fears over safety.
Chelsea were down and heading out of the competition when a well-taken goal after 35 minutes from Slovenian international Milan Osterc gave them a mountain to climb as they then needed to score four goals to make it through to the next round. Ironically, it was a mistake from one of the infamous six absentees from the first leg, William Gallas, which led to the Hapoel goal as he handed possession to the visitors and Osterc stroked the ball past Mark Bosnich to give them an unlikely lead. And although Gianfranco Zola came off the bench to equalise after 64 minutes with a curling shot from 20 yards, Chelsea were out.
Zola also hit the bar in the 73rd minute, and with five minutes remaining the Italian was denied by another fine double save from close range, while Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was also foiled by the heroic goalkeeping of Shavit Elimelech and the Israelis knew it was their night.
Filed by Shane Murray
