NK Maribor 1–1 Chelsea
A half-hearted Chelsea performance saw Slovene dreams come true as Chelsea were held to a draw at Maribor.
Coming back from behind, and missing a late penalty, Chelsea were very far from the side so lauded lately for their Premier League superiority.
The Blues' first big chance came on 23 minutes, when Willian sent the ball from right to the waiting Andre Schurrle in the middle. There was a slight deflection that altered its course but the German's ineffectual slice at it – a common theme of late – was mitigated by the assistant referee's offside flag.
It was the lone highlight, if you dare call it one, of a first half that will be better remembered for the visiting Chelsea fans demands that Jose Mourinho 'give us a song'.
And it was enough for Mourinho who, after a totally uninspiring 45 minutes, decided he had seen enough of Schurrle.
He and Willian took a seat on the bench to be replaced by Diego Costa and Oscar.
Whatever effect Mourinho had desired from the switch, the exact opposite was the case – with Chelsea going behind within five minutes of the restart.
Agim Ibraimi, right of goal, lofted a left footed shot which seemed to take an age to arc across Petr Cech's goal and into the opposite top corner.
Stadion Ljudski vrt went wild.
A further change was made, Ramires coming on for Filipe Luis, and the Blues were clearly given orders to run at the opposition.
They made hard work of it, and seemed to take a while to get used to a new 3-5-2 formation.
But they got there in the end.
With 73 minutes on the clock, a Cesc Fabregas corner was headed on by John Terry for Nemanja Matic to put away from close range.
Chelsea gathered strength from the equaliser.
They should have had the lead when Diego Costa sent a ripple across the back of the net – the referee wrongly calling Fabregas offside in the process.
And, again, they fluffed their lines with just six minutes left to play – when a clear foul in the box on Hazard saw the Belgian send a tame penalty to the feet of keeper Jasmin Hananovic.
The result will surely not impede Chelsea's progress in the Champions League. But Mourinho will have some stiff words for his team after this one.
Chelsea Cech; Ivanovic, Zouma, Terry, Filipe Luis (Ramires 56); Fabregas, Matic; Willian (Oscar 45), Schurrle (Diego Costa 45), Hazard; Drogba; subs not used: Courtois, Azpilicueta, Cahill, Saleh,
