Europa League: Chelsea and Newcastle reach quarters

Fernando Torres fired Chelsea into the quarter-finals of the Europa League but also missed a penalty as last season’s Champions League winners overcame Steaua Bucharest 3-1 in the last-16 clash at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea had to overturn a 1-0 first-leg deficit to progress and levelled the tie through Juan Mata after 33 minutes, only for Vlad Chiriches to score on the stroke of half-time, when the Blues failed to clear a corner.

The away goal meant Chelsea needed to score twice to be included in today’s last-eight draw and captain John Terry headed in after 58 minutes before Torres netted after 71 minutes to seal victory. The Spaniard then hit the bar with an 87th-minute penalty after Eden Hazard was caught by Steaua captain Alexandru Bourceanu.

Newcastle joined Chelsea in the quarter-final draw as Papiss Cisse’s last-gasp strike secured a 1-0 win over ten-man Anzhi 
Makhachkala at St James’ Park.

Alan Pardew’s side had ground out a goalless draw in Moscow in the first leg and extra-time was beckoning until Senegal international Cisse powered home Sylvain Marveaux’s cross in the 93rd minute of an intriguing contest.

Anzhi, who had midfielder Mehdi Carcela-Gonzalez sent off after he picked up two yellow cards in seven minutes at the start of the second half, came close with two minutes of normal time remaining when Mbark Boussoufa’s free-kick came back off the crossbar.

But on a night of high drama on Tyneside, it was the home side who progressed in front of a crowd of 45,487.