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Fernando
Torres scored twice to end a 25 game goal drought as Chelsea defeated Leicester
5-2 to reach the semi-finals of the FA Cup for the fifth time in the last seven
seasons.
Gary Cahill and Salomon Kalou gave Chelsea a 2-0 half-time lead at Stamford
Bridge before Torres ended a wait of 1,541 minutes (25 hours 41 minutes) for a
goal by scuffing his shot past keeper Kaspar Schmeichel.
Jermaine Beckford pulled one back for Championship side Leicester before the
Spain star scored his second with a deft near post header.
Ben Marshall then hit a stunning 30-yard shot past Petr Cech before Torres set
up Raul Meireles for Chelsea's fifth goal in stoppage time as Roberto Di Matteo
maintained his 100 per cent winning start to his tenure as Chelsea boss.
Lively
Chelsea started the better of the two sides with Torres looking lively from the
outset.
It did not take long for Chelsea to take the lead as Cahill rose at the far post
to head home Mata's 12th-minute corner to open the scoring.
The ex-Bolton player celebrated by revealing a shirt in support of former
team-mate Fabrice Muamba.
Torres was again involved as Chelsea doubled their advantage six minutes later
as he broke into the Leicester half and outpaced Konchesky before sliding in
Kalou, who finished calmly past Schmeichel.
Moments later Torres should have broken his duck as he was found in the centre
of goal by Mata, but headed straight at Schmeichel.
The visitors struggled to keep possession for any meaningful length of time as
their supporters continued to cheer them on from the packed Shed End.
The Foxes responded and Beckford fired wide before Neil Danns had their first
decent effort on goal in the 33rd minute as he forced Cech into a smart save at
his near post.
Chelsea sat back and allowed Leicester to keep possession in and around their
penalty area but restricting them to long-range efforts.
Cahill then took the ball away from Danns' toe as he broke into the box as
Chelsea eased to half-time.
Florent Malouda was introduced by Di Matteo at half-time and stung the palms of
Schmeichel with a long-rang effort on 51 minutes.
Torres had another chance just before the hour mark but his left-footed effort
was deflected clear as the Chelsea supporters willed their £50million man to
find a goal.
The visitors then started to come forward with more purpose as David Nugent was
stopped on the edge of the box before Lloyd Dyer flashed a shot just wide.
Relief
The moment the home supporters had longed for came in the 67th minute as Torres
squeezed Meireles' pass into the corner to score his first goal in over 25
hours.
The Spaniard almost grabbed another but his effort two minutes later just
cleared the crossbar.
That goal seemed to killed off the game as a contest but Beckford managed to
force Cech into a good save with 15 minutes remaining as the Leicester players
looked to give their travelling support something to remember from the
afternoon.
That moment came only moments later when Beckford, who scored on his last
appearance at Stamford Bridge, powered home after Danns' effort had crashed
against the post.
The three-goal margin was soon restored through Torres, who scored his second of
the game with a near-post header from a Meireles corner with five minutes
remaining.
Leicester substitute Ben Marshall then scored arguably the goal of the game as
he bent an effort around Cech and into the corner.
Torres showed he has an unselfish side as he passed up the opportunity of a
hat-trick to set up Meireles to score low unde
Chelsea
Cech,
Bosingwa, Ivanovic (Luiz 76), Cahill, Bertrand, Mikel, Meireles, Sturridge, Mata
(Malouda 46), Kalou (Essien 63), Torres
Subs Not Used
Hilario, Ferreira, Lampard, Drogba
Booked
Goals
Cahill 12, Kalou 18, Torres 67, 85, Meireles 90
Leicester City
Schmeichel, St
Ledger (Schlupp 63), Morgan, Bamba, Konchesky, Gallagher (Peltier 43), Danns,
Wellens (Marshall 83), Dyer, Beckford, Nugent
Subs Not Used
Smith, Howard, Kennedy, Hopper
Booked
Goals
Beckford 77, Marshall 88
Attendance
38,276
Referee
L. Probert