Bridge winner stuns Arsenal

14 April 2012

Wayne Bridge sent Chelsea into the semi-finals of the Champions League for the first time last night with a dramatic late winner.

Then, after scoring the 87th-minute goal that ended Arsenal's hopes of a Double, the England defender pleaded with Chelsea to make sure Claudio Ranieri accepts their offer of a contract to return next season.

Ranieri celebrated Bridge's winner with '30 seconds of delirium' and then cried tears of joy at the final whistle.

Bridge said: 'All the players want him to stay because he is good for us. He talks to us one-to-one and all of the pressure that we have been under he takes on himself. He tells us not to worry because it is worse in Italy. If it is possible then we would love him to stay.'

Ranieri refused to rule out a summer departure. 'I am still working and fighting and will stay focused,' he said.

'This was a fantastic performance by my players and we are very happy to end this run which Arsenal have had against us. I believe in this team and we will be more confident from now on in the Championship and Champions League.' It was Chelsea's first win over their London rivals in 18 games.

Asked if his team - who will play Monaco in a fortnight after they eliminated Real Madrid - can win the Champions League, he was optimistic.'Why not?' he said. 'Anything is possible.'

Arsenal, who took a 45th-minute lead through Juan Antonio Reyes before Frank Lampard equalised six minutes after the break, now have only the Premiership title in their sights and manager Arsene Wenger admitted that his team had been more affected by Saturday's FA Cup defeat against Manchester United than he realised.

To add to the disappointment of last night's result, Arsenal will be without Thierry Henry for the games against Liverpool and Newcastle because of a hamstring injury.

Wenger said:'We have hit a wall and once you do that you find it very hard to recover. Thierry is out of both games this weekend and this is the toughest part of the season. I still think we can do it and we need to rise the challenge.'

Asked how Chelsea would fare against Monaco in the semi-final, Wenger said: 'I think it is 80-20 in Chelsea's favour to make the final.'

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Bridge winner stuns Arsenal

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