Blackburn Rovers inflicted a famous defeat upon Premier League leaders Chelsea in the Carling Cup quarter-finals thanks to the heroics of Paul Robinson in the penalty shootout that followed a 3-3 draw after extra time.
Robinson saved spotkicks at Ewood Park from Michael Ballack and Gael Kakuta to give Rovers, who missed one through Nikola Kalinic, a 4-3 victory in the shootout and set up a semi-final tie against Aston Villa.
Kalinic had given Rovers, taken charge of by Neil McDonald as Sam Allardyce continues his recovery from surgery in hospital, a first-half lead only for Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou, both introduced after the break, to score after half-time to put the Blues in front.
But Brett Emerton pegged Carlo Ancelotti's side back with a cross that eluded everyone to send the tie intro extra time as Chelsea were forced to play the latter stages of the match with ten-men after Kalou went off injured with all three subs having been used.
There the home team again edged in front when Benni McCarthy buried a penalty after Yuri Zhirkov felled Rovers sub David Hoilett. The Blues, who made eight changes to the side that beat Arsenal 3-0 at the weekend and left John Terry and Frank Lampard out of the squad altogether, sent the tie into penalties with a last-gasp equaliser from defender Paulo Ferreira.
McCarthy scored his spotkick in the shootout before Ballack had his tipped on to the post by Robinson. Emerton, Drogba, Vince Grella and Florent Malouda all put theirs away before Kalinic saw his saved by Hilario.
Zhirkov went some way to making up for his foul on Hoilett by scoring his penalty, as did Hoilett himself.
Kakuta, a second-half substitute for Joe Cole, had to score to send the shootout into sudden death but he fired straight at Robinson, sparking jubilant scenes on and off the pitch and presumably - in moderation - in Allardyce's hospital room.
Kalinic had given Rovers, taken charge of by Neil McDonald as Sam Allardyce continues his recovery from surgery in hospital, a first-half lead only for Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou, both introduced after the break, to score after half-time to put the Blues in front.
But Brett Emerton pegged Carlo Ancelotti's side back with a cross that eluded everyone to send the tie intro extra time as Chelsea were forced to play the latter stages of the match with ten-men after Kalou went off injured with all three subs having been used.
There the home team again edged in front when Benni McCarthy buried a penalty after Yuri Zhirkov felled Rovers sub David Hoilett. The Blues, who made eight changes to the side that beat Arsenal 3-0 at the weekend and left John Terry and Frank Lampard out of the squad altogether, sent the tie into penalties with a last-gasp equaliser from defender Paulo Ferreira.
McCarthy scored his spotkick in the shootout before Ballack had his tipped on to the post by Robinson. Emerton, Drogba, Vince Grella and Florent Malouda all put theirs away before Kalinic saw his saved by Hilario.
Zhirkov went some way to making up for his foul on Hoilett by scoring his penalty, as did Hoilett himself.
Kakuta, a second-half substitute for Joe Cole, had to score to send the shootout into sudden death but he fired straight at Robinson, sparking jubilant scenes on and off the pitch and presumably - in moderation - in Allardyce's hospital room.
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