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Eidur Gudjohnsen and Hernan Crespo insisted that Chelsea's Champions League dream is still very much alive despite the 3-1 semi-final first leg defeat to 10-man Monaco.
"It's not a big ask to lift ourselves for the match at Stamford Bridge. It was our own doing that we got into this situation in the first place and now we have to show the character to get ourselves out of it," Gudjohnsen said Wednesday.
Chelsea were cruising
towards a comfortable 1-1 draw in the Stade Louis II after Crespo had cancelled
out Dado Prso's opener and their prospects looked even brighter when Andreas
Zikos was red-carded for a foul on Claude Makelele.
But then coach Claudio Ranieri tinkered once too often and brought on a third
striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink for defender Mario Melchiot in an effort to
kill off the tie.
It was a ploy that backfired in spectacular fashion as Chelsea's defensive line was left horribly exposed allowing Fernando Morientes to hammer in his eighth goal of this year's tournament, and 25th of his career, in the 77th minute.
Then, seven minutes from time, substitute Shabani Nonda ran on to Jerome Rothen's sweetly-timed pass to slot the ball past Marco Ambrosio with his first touch of the night.
"We are very disappointed to lose because at half-time we were in control of the last 25 minutes before the break," said Gudjohnsen.
"But we slacked off in the second half and we weren't playing with wide men anymore. We lost our shape and it's unacceptable
"You can't fault our work rate but we acted as individuals and not as a team in the second half.
"It's not for me to say whether or not the tactics were wrong.
"The facts are that we didn't score when the pressure was on and their second goal was a setback. In the last half an hour we were below par."
Crespo, who had given his side so much hope with his equaliser, refuses to believe that the tie is over and pledged all-out attack when the two sides meet in the second leg at Stamford Bridge in two weeks' time.
"We believe we can do it," said the Argentine striker.
"In our minds,
we know we have the players with the right attributes."