Chelsea had to dig deep to draw with Valencia but the Spanish side have the advantage ahead of the second leg at the Mestalla on Tuesday.
Chelsea should be taking a lead over there but they wasted some chances in the second half and their future in this competition now depends on them scoring in Spain.
Valencia are only fourth in La Liga but they have been very good in the Champions League and have many quality players as we saw on Wednesday night.
Most of the attention before the match had been on David Villa but the real headline grabber was David Silva who scored an incredible goal. If you have not been lucky enough to see it, you will many times over the coming weeks and months.
Valencia were excellent in wide positions with Joaquin and Vicente always threatening and they were well backed up by Miguel and Del Horno.
When Silva got the ball he was on the corner of the penalty area and the angle looked far too tight for a shot but he decided to have a go. His shot was simply stunning as it had to be to beat one of the top goalkeepers in the world, Petr Cech. It was one of the best goals scored against the 'keeper since he moved to Chelsea a few seasons ago.
Chelsea were stunned to be behind. Stamford Bridge has become a real fortress for them in the Champions League in recent seasons and they don't even concede too many goals at home. They did go behind against Porto and last night they were in arrears again at the break. They improved greatly in the second half against the Portuguese and needed a similar improvement against Valencia.
Once more a goal not long after the re-start did the trick. Didier Drogba became the first Chelsea striker since Kerry Dixon to score 30 competitive goals in a season when he equalised. At that stage in the match it was set for the home side to power on and win, but they couldn't manage it.
Andriy Shevchenko and Michael Ballack were bought for nights like last night but again they did not perform to their full potential. Ballack was very good and worked hard in the first half but he faded in the second when they needed him most. Shevchenko had an over-head kick which could have gone in but it did not. The Ukranian is looking sharper and fitter but Chelsea will need him at his very best next week.
The Chelsea players were disappointed with their night's return but they are more than capable of getting the result they need to go through. Valencia may have surprised a few people with their quality and they do love to hit teams on the break with incredible pace. Chelsea were caught a few times by their breaks and will have to guard against that in the return.
Canizares, the veteran goalkeeper, is a great shot-stopper but he has always been poor under crosses. Chelsea will work on that again but that is not the reason they continually lumped the ball forward to Drogba in the second half. It was poor to watch and with all the talent they have in their team, I expected a lot better. They were in the perfect position to win when they equalised but it did not work out that way. There were a couple of chances but Valencia coped pretty well with the pressure and were thrilled to get out with a draw.
Their target was to avoid defeat and to get an away goal and they did just that.
The second leg will be a rip-roaring match. The Mestalla is one of the great stadiums in Europe. It holds 52,000 and, while Chelsea will have some support, it will be an intimidating place for them to play.
Chelsea will have to score and they are more than capable of doing that but I think that Valencia will also score at home, so we could be in for a long night with the possibility of extra-time and penalties.
Anfield will be a strange place next week as their quarter-final tie against PSV Eindhoven is effectively over after their incredible 3-0 win in The Netherlands.
Liverpool were excellent all night but the Dutch team were without two of their best players, Alex and Kone, and were a mess without them.
Liverpool scored three but could have had many more but it will not matter as PSV have little chance of turning this around. The home team will take nothing for granted but they will go through to meet the winners of the Chelsea v Valencia tie.
