Blackburn Rovers 1 Chelsea 2: Ballack's late strike confirms final showdown with United

The Special One and the Silent One reunited at last. Jose Mourinho and Roman Abramovich did not just break their cold war yesterday, they even went as far as an embrace and the way this season is going you could not blame the Chelsea owner. Even Russian billionaires hardened on the anvil of life in the Soviet Union can find a forgiving streak when there are three big trophies up for grabs.

It is not just that Chelsea are still in the hunt for the three major trophies to put alongside the Carling Cup that will have persuaded Roman Abramovich to push open the door of the Chelsea dressing room yesterday for the first time in three months. It is not simply that they are in an FA Cup final, a Champions League semi-final and three points off the top of the Premiership - it is the glorious style in which they are living life on the brink and surviving.

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Even at his most disgruntled, Abramovich cannot fail to have been lifted by the tenacity that carried Chelsea through Blackburn's second-half resurrection - and Jason Roberts' equaliser from Frank Lampard's opening goal - to Michael Ballack's extra-time winner. Almost four years ago, in the same directors' box at Old Trafford, Abramovich watched an all-Italian Champions League final and decided he wanted a piece of this game. Four years later his club are part of a remarkable conclusion to the English season and the Premiership's European invasion.

The 10 days that will shake English football will see Chelsea first play Manchester United at Stamford Bridge - in what will surely prove the Premiership decider - and then the FA Cup final on 19 May. Chelsea could end up in the Champions League final on 23 May as well. How will a club whose recent history has been so full of plotting and intrigue still be able to maintain the current levels of paranoia when they are enjoying so much success?

That old magic of the FA Cup is intoxicating indeed but it will take more than that alone to save the Chelsea manager from the ruthless edge of a man who had amassed one of the biggest fortunes in the world before the age of 40. Yet with every victory it is becoming increasingly difficult to imagine how Abramovich could explain firing Mourinho come the end of the season. That is if the Chelsea owner ever intends to explain anything.

Aside from the politics of Russian oil barons and their employees, it would have been easy to overlook yesterday's contribution by Blackburn Rovers, whose comeback almost chased Chelsea out of a place in the first FA Cup final at the new Wembley Stadium. While the Football Association will be secretly delighted at the stellar names who are coming along, there were moments yesterday when Blackburn would have been well worth a place at Wembley.

Not in the first half, when they were almost overwhelmed, but after the break when Mark Hughes' side were led in their comeback by an excellent David Bentley. Stomping around on the touchline, and stamping on water bottles, Hughes seemed to sense this was his side's moment in the FA Cup - he has changed the destiny of games in this competition enough times as a player. But Petr Cech's saves and a loss of nerve from Morten Gamst Pedersen prevented Blackburn from taking it.

Instead, it was Ballack who decided the game in the 109th minute, scrambling home the winner after good work by Salomon Kalou and Shaun Wright-Phillips, the 26th occasion this season that Chelsea have won a game with a goal in the last 10 minutes. Ballack has been treated with indifference bordering on hostility by some of Chelsea's support this season and the way he ripped off his shirt and headed for the fans suggested he was not going to let this moment pass.

In the first half, Blackburn were at the mercy of the outstanding Didier Drogba, who played a part in Lampard's goal on 17 minutes. It was a sweet piece of work from Chelsea that combined their directness with some nimble work in front of goal. Cech's long ball was knocked down by Drogba and Ballack threaded a pass through the Blackburn defence that Lampard took round Ryan Nelsen. Bearing down on goal from the right channel, Lampard slipped the ball past Brad Friedel for his 21st of the season.

Hughes had taken a risk in leaving out Matt Derbyshire, picking Jason Roberts and dropping Tugay. Blackburn's first shot on Chelsea's goal was a good effort from David Dunn but it came as late as the 43rd minute. They were given an extraordinary reprieve two minutes after the break when Drogba was set free in the area. He poked the ball back across the face of the goal where Andrei Shevchenko mistimed his swing so badly that the ball cannoned off his standing leg and away from goal.

That miss was a defining moment for Blackburn and they came back with some conviction. It was Bentley's ball in the 58th minute that was fizzed in to Roberts' feet, the striker turned beautifully and hit a shot that Cech stopped at the near post.

On the hour, Bentley struck a cross to the back post where Pedersen stretched to head the ball against the post, with Cech scrambling to get back across his goal.

On 64 minutes Blackburn were level. Ashley Cole conceded a free-kick on Chelsea's left side and Pedersen drilled in a low ball towards the near post. This time Roberts, who had barely registered an influence in the first half, applied the finest of touches to take the ball past Cech. It was some moment to score his first goal for Blackburn.

This game had come full circle. Chelsea's fitness looked like it had been exhausted in the Mestalla Stadium against Valencia last week; Blackburn looked like they could keep going for another 90 minutes. Pedersen made a mess of a header from Bentley's cross; Cech tipped a John Terry back-header over the bar. After Ballack's goal, Michael Essien rattled the bar with a shot but this Chelsea team, and their manager, have a habit of doing just enough to win. At this rate, it might just be enough to keep Mourinho in a job.

Goals: Lampard (17) 0-1; Roberts (64) 1-1; Ballack (114) 1-2.

Blackburn Rovers (4-4-2): Friedel; Emerton, Nelsen, Samba, Warnock; Bentley (Derbyshire, 124), Mokoena, Dunn (Peter, 105), Pedersen; Roberts, McCarthy. Substitutes not used: Enckelman (gk), Tugay, Henchoz.

Chelsea (4-1-3-2): Cech; Essien, Carvalho, Terry, A Cole; Makelele (Mikel, 82); J Cole (Wright-Phillips, 98), Ballack, Lampard; Drogba, Shevchenko (Kalou, 63). Substitutes not used: Cudicini (gk), Boulahrouz.

Referee: A Wiley (Staffordshire).

Booked: Blackburn Emerton, Mokoena, Pedersen; Chelsea Mikel, Ballack.

Man of the match: Cech.

Attendance: 50,559.