Jose's driven to keep his trophy

Much had been said after a fractious first leg in the Nou Camp Stadium but, whatever the rights and wrongs of that episode, the bragging rights last night belonged to the little Portuguese coach in his grey overcoat.

Even Mourinho's Champions League win with Porto over Monaco in the final last season didn't produce the same demonstration of triumphalism.

"I enjoyed that last night even more than previous games that were more important," he explained.

"I didn't celebrate in the same way after last season's win in the final because it was 3-0. We were calm because we knew we were on the way to victory.

"But last night was different. The game was changing every five minutes. We started 2-1 down, then we were 3-0 up on the night, then Barca changed the game again.

"I was just about to put Robert Huth on at centre forward when we scored so I put him on at centre half !

"It was a game full of emotion until the last seconds. Had they scored in the last seconds we'd have gone out. That's why it felt so good to win."

Sadly the emotion spilled over from the pitch once again. While Mourinho and his players milked the acclaim of a 41,515 crowd, the defeated Frank Rijkaard was confronted by Chelsea scout Andre Villas, and Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto'o and some of their Barcelona teammates were involved in angry scenes as they were ushered from the pitch by Chelsea stewards.

Bottles were thrown and once UEFA have studied Collina's report I suspect another inquiry will be launched to follow the one that is already under way into events in the tunnel in Barcelona a fortnight ago.

Mourinho saw nothing untoward but Rijkaard claimed that someone had racially insulted the Barcelona bench at the end.

"I don't want to say too much about it because it wasn't serious," he said.

It's a great shame that what was a compelling sporting spectacle will once again generate the wrong kind of headlines.

Collina, 45, making almost certainly his last appearance in England before retiring, handled the match well but the Barcelona players claimed that he missed a critical incident when John Terry headed the winning goal 14 minutes from time. As the England centre back rose to meet Damien Duff 's corner, Ricardo Carvalho appeared to impede Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes.

Ronaldinho appealed desperately to Collina and one of his assistants but the Italian referee ignored the protest. "We didn't see it from the bench but it's something the players saw," said Rijkaard.

It was the defining moment of an enthralling evening that began so positively for Chelsea. Faced with a 2-1 deficit, they couldn't have scripted a better start. Eidur Gudjohnsen, a diligent and energetic figure attacking from midfield, surged into the penalty area in the eighth minute to collect a superb cross from Mateja Kezman and shoot the Premiership leaders in front.

Seven minutes later Joe Cole finished an attacking run with a leftfoot shot that Valdes could only block. The ball fell at the feet of Frank Lampard, who scored easily.

Almost unbelievably, the third goal arrived two minutes later, Duff sprinting through a square Barcelona defence to drive Cole's pass beyond the dive of Valdes.

Three goals in 11 minutes - it was too good to be true. Yes, it was. When Paulo Ferreira inexplicably handled the ball in the 27th minute, Ronaldinho scored from the penalty spot. Then, 11 minutes later, the extravagantly-gifted Brazilian scored again, this time with a shot that he screwed through a crowd of players and into a corner, giving Petr Cech no time to react.

From leading 3-0, Chelsea now faced the prospect of elimination on the away goal rule. Their pace and running power clearly troubled Barcelona though it has to be said that the Spaniards' passing game, orchestrated by Deco, produced some of the highlights of the evening.

Both teams hit the woodwork in a tense, enthralling second half and just as it looked as if Mourinho was losing his grip on the trophy the trusty Terry came forward to head Chelsea into the last eight.

"It was a magnificent game and over the 180 minutes of the two legs I think we deserved to go through," said Mourinho, who seemed to take it all in his stride. I needed a cup of tea and an aspirin!