Chelsea 2 Porto 1 (Chelsea win 3-2 on agg): Helton errors help Chelsea sneak through

Jose Mourinho has spent much of this season bemoaning his lack of luck but no one could deny the outrageous fortune from which Chelsea benefited last night when a terrible blunder by Porto goalkeeper Helton helped send them into the quarter-finals of the European Cup.

Up until that mistake, which afforded Chelsea a desperately needed equalising goal, Mourinho's side had struggled and looked likely to exit the competition at the same stage as they did last year. And once more against one of his former clubs. Then it was Barcelona and this time it would have been the club he won the trophy with in 2004.

Not that Mourinho saw it that way. He accepted that the Portuguese champions had been the better side in the first half but, in a delicious statement that demonstrated, in one stylish swoop, his confidence, chutzpah and belief, Mourinho also spoke about his half-time team-talk. He had looked a picture of frustration as he left the Chelsea bench with three minutes of added time still to play and his team a goal in deficit. But Mourinho told a different story as he relayed what he had said to his players.

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"At this moment we are out of the competition," he recalled. "What do we do? We enjoy it or are we scared of it? If we enjoy it let us enjoy it, play the 45 minutes and be under pressure. I think it is possible to enjoy this kind of moment to show our quality, our personality." And, true statement or otherwise, it also demonstrated his charisma.

Before that Chelsea were dominated by Quaresma. The Portuguese winger Ricardo Quaresma scored a wonderful goal after 15 minutes as Mourinho was outfoxed tactically by his counterpart Jesualdo Ferreira. That itself was startling but the visitors started without a central striker and with Quaresma and Lisandro Lopez coming off the wings, prompted brilliantly by Lucho Gonzalez.

All three were involved in the goal. Lopez was caught by a late tackle from the disappointing Claude Makelele, but still slipped a pass through to Lucho. It was the angle of the Argentine's instant pass, arced with the outside of his right foot, that then made the opportunity for Quaresma who sprinted through, with a superbly timed run, to poke a shot past Petr Cech.

With Michael Essien and Ricardo Carvalho, the two central defenders, left without anyone to mark and with Porto playing a diamond in midfield, Mourinho's players were in danger of being over-run.

Their initial response was curious. There was, indeed, a sense of growing panic as they snatched at opportunities. "Chelsea were not calm," Ferreira said. He was right. That was summed up when Arjen Robben darted into the penalty area. The full-back Fucile waved a foot, then withdrew it, only for Robben to embarrassingly throw himself to the turf in search of a penalty. Fortunately referee Roberto Rosetti only awarded Robben a yellow card.

At the interval Mourinho brought on John Obi Mikel, switched Lassana Diarra to midfield, played three in defence and suddenly felt his team had the dynamism they lacked earlier. That was a moot point. It could easily be argued that, instead, the dynamism only came when Robben sent in a speculative low shot that, somehow, Helton allowed to squirm over his body and into the net. It was a horrible goal to concede.

Porto tried to push on, sensing Chelsea's vulnerability but the home side's confidence grew just as Helton's evaporated. The Brazilian flapped at a cross, fell over in reaching a back-pass and punched the ball straight to Frank Lampard whose shot deflected wide.

The momentum continued to grow in Chelsea's favour and, eventually, they made the decisive breakthrough. Ashley Cole slung in a deep centre, which was headed by Didier Drogba to Andrei Shevchenko. Showing admirable presence of mind the Ukrainian headed back across goal for Michael Ballack to volley in the winner. Previously anonymous, the German remains an enigma. But Mourinho is convinced Ballack could prove decisive in the quest to win this trophy.

It meant that Chelsea completed a remarkable turnaround. They had, indeed, lived with the pressure. Whether they, as their manager asked, had enjoyed it is another matter. Once again Mourinho pledged his desire to stay - only a day after he had stated that he did not care if he was sacked because he would walk away a millionaire.

Such talk is becoming tiresome for the watching Roman Abramovich who could not have been as impressed by Mourinho's efforts as the manager was. Surely it's all set up for a finale in May although Chelsea will have to play better to reach the final.

Chelsea (4-1-2-3): P Cech; Diarra (Ferreira, 65), Essien, Carvalho, A Cole; Makelele (Mikel, h-t); Ballack, Lampard; Shevchenko (Kalou, 84), Drogba. Robben. Substitutes not used: Hilario (gk), Boulahrouz, Bridge, Wright-Phillips.

Porto (4-4-2): Helton; Fucile, Pepe, Alves, M Cech (Adriano, 56); Lucho, Assuncao, Ricardo Costa, Meireles (Ibson, 56); Lopez (Moraes, 82), Quaresma. Substitutes not used: Baia (gk), Alan, Postiga, Paulo.

Referee: R Rosetti (Italy).