Chelsea came so close to a brilliantly determined draw. But Edinson Cavani’s late winner denied the Blues a desereved draw, given the French champions an advantage to take to Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea are still in this tie, though. John Obi Mikel scored a vital away goal for Chelsea as Paris St Germain inflicted the first defeat of Guus Hiddink’s second spell in charge at Parc des Princes.
Mikel made amends for conceding a free-kick from which Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored to put PSG 1-0 up in the Champions League last-16 first leg.
The striker’s shot deflected off Mikel, who equalised from close range for a rare goal, before substitute Edison Cavani struck to earn PSG a 2-1 win and end interim manager Hiddink’s 11-match unbeaten run.
It was Chelsea’s first loss since the December defeat at Leicester which marked the end of Jose Mourinho’s tenure.
Laurent Blanc’s side have lost only once in 33 games this season, while Hiddink has two defeats in 34 games across two spells at the helm of Chelsea.
The Dutchman will be content, though as Mikel’s first Chelsea goal since December 2014 means the Blues have a vital away goal ahead of the March 9 return at Stamford Bridge.
Away goals have separated these sides in the Champions League in each of the last two seasons.
Chelsea might have had theirs sooner had it not been for a fine reflex save from Kevin Trapp.
Trapp stuck out a hand to save a Diego Costa header which had looked destined for the back of the net and ended up hitting the bar.
Chelsea performed well, although Eden Hazard, who chose the eve of the match to reveal it would be difficult to turn down a move to PSG, made a limited impact.
The Belgian playmaker did little to boost any potential transfer fee and was withdrawn 19 minutes from the end.
John Terry missed the trip to Paris and may have to wait for his 700th Chelsea appearance as he is a doubt for Sunday’s FA Cup fifth round tie with Manchester City.
Gary Cahill and Branislav Ivanovic performed admirably in the absence of Terry and Kurt Zouma, who is out for the season with a knee injury.
Baba Rahman came into a reshuffled defence, which survived early pressure before the left-back delivered a cross which the masked Costa met, only for Trapp to somehow turn the ball on to the bar. It felt like a chance Chelsea had to take.
Lucas Moura had impressed early on and almost provided the opener for Ibrahimovic – but the Swede headed the ball into the ground.
Moura burst by three Chelsea players before he was tripped by Mikel, who was booked.
And Ibrahimovic’s free-kick hit the midfielder and wrong-footed Thibaut Courtois.
The second leg at Stamford Bridge promises to be another classic. It certainly will be if it’s anything like this highly entertaining encounter.
Match Reaction
Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanović speaking to BT Sport: “It was a very difficult game. We needed to try to play our game and we tried to score the away goal. They scored which was massive for them, but we kept going. We know we have to do everything to win at home and go through.
“We came here with courage to try and score the goals and we had a couple of chances before they scored. We lost concentration in the end. We were a little bit open. With top strikers like PSG have, they take every single chance. We have to be more compact and more careful, these small details can decide a game.”
Chelsea defender Gary Cahill, speaking to BT Sport: “We are more confident at home, we know what we need to do. We knew how tough it was to come here and get a result. The way the tie is poised we have done it before at home.”
Chelsea boss Guus Hiddink on BT Sport:
“The result is negative but on the other hand an away goal is important. It hurt a bit because the team was playing decently against a team with capacity to play. But we are still in the race.
“We were not lethal enough at times but otherwise we can be relatively happy.
“We didn’t moan a lot about the absence of players and the rest got the confidence and did what they were asked.
“Over two legs, it is important you have the away goal. If we can do it at Stamford Bridge then a defeat doesn’t count so much.”
