Chelsea went into their Champions League fixture with Shakhtar Donetsk aware that defeat would see them fall six points behind their Ukrainian opponents with just two games remaining in Group E on this day in 2012.
With Juventus hosting Nordsjaelland, the Blues also faced the prospect of falling down to third position if they failed to record a victory at Stamford Bridge, and with a trip to Turin still to come, Roberto Di Matteo's men needed a performance against the group leaders.
Chelsea were coming off the back of a 2-1 defeat in Ukraine, and Di Matteo opted to bring in Gary Cahill, Ryan Bertrand and Eden Hazard for John Terry and the injured duo of Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard.
Despite losing three of their more experienced stars, the home side started the match in the ascendancy, and it took them just six minutes to open the scoring, albeit in rather fortuitous circumstances.
After failing to get on the end of an Oscar cross, Fernando Torres was still trotting back up the pitch when Shakhtar goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov struck his clearance against the Spanish striker and the ball ricocheted into an empty net.
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It had been a fantastic start from Chelsea, but their advantage lasted just three minutes as Shakhtar quickly equalised through Willian. Fernandinho ran positively at the home side's defence before pulling the ball back for his Brazilian compatriot to slide the ball past Petr Cech.
The visitors soon began to dominate the play, and they were inches away from taking a deserved lead when Fernandinho and Luiz Adriano combined to find Alex Teixeira, but the 22-year-old's shot just evaded the post.
Chelsea's sole intention appeared to be to hang on until the break, but they were gifted the advantage for a second time just before the break, and once again, it came from a mistake from Pyatov. The goalkeeper's headed clearance landed at the feet of Oscar around 40 yards from goal, but after controlling the ball, the playmaker directed the ball into an empty net with Pyatov stranded.
It was a finish that would have quickly altered the half-time team talks, but two minutes after the break, Shakhtar were level. Fernandinho had been the star of the show for his side, and he played an instrumental part in the goal, setting up Darijo Srna to cross for Willian to convert his second.
Like in the first half, Shakhtar's goal saw them begin to dominate proceedings, and Chelsea were fortunate to remain at 2-2 when Razvan Rat struck the woodwork with Cech beaten all ends up.
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Di Matteo had waited until 80 minutes to make the first substitution of the game, bringing on Victor Moses for Oscar, but the Nigerian struggled to make an impact as Shakhtar continued to press for a winner in the closing stages.
However, deep into added-on time, the former Wigan Athletic man rose to meet a Juan Mata corner to earn Chelsea the three points, and leave an unfortunate Shakhtar dejected after outperforming their hosts.
Chelsea's success took them level on points with Shakhtar at the top of Group E, but the Blues were aware that they needed to avoid defeat in Italy in three weeks' time against Juventus if they were to realistically qualify for the knockout stages.
It wasn't to be for the West London outfit as they produced an inept display in Turin, and it was a performance that saw Chelsea drop into the Europa League, and ultimately cost Di Matteo his job just six months after he had won the Champions League.
Former Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez was quickly brought in as manager and despite a rocky opening period, he salvaged Chelsea's season by winning the Europa League and ending the Premier League campaign in third position.
Darren Plant
