Chelsea, Valencia send shockwaves

But the Catalan giants were devastated by a first-half onslaught from Chelsea, who were 3-0 up at the interval thanks to a goal from Italian Gianfranco Zola and two from Norwegian forward Tore Andre Flo.

Portuguese winger Luis Figo pulled one back after 64 minutes but the reigning Spanish champions now have an uphill battle when the teams meet again at the Nou Camp in a fortnight.

Spain’s Valencia, like Chelsea, were up against supposedly superior opposition in Italy’s Lazio, who had topped Chelsea’s second phase group, but similarly took charge with a breathtaking start.

Goals from Miguel Angulo and Gerard Lopez had the Spaniards 2-0 ahead within five minutes.

Simone Inzaghi pulled one back for the Roman side but Gerard hit two more to have the Spaniards 4-1 to the good with 11 minutes remaining.

Chilean Marcelo Salas reduced arrears again after 86minutes only for Argentinian Claudio Lopez to make it 5-2 to Valencia in injury-time.

Gerard was delighted with his hat-trick, saying: “It was the best performance of my career. I can only thank my colleagues for creating the opportunities. But nothing is over yet. We must confirm this result (in Rome).”

Barca looked the more likely team in the early stages in a city that has traditionally been a good hunting ground.

They won that single European Cup 1-0 at Wembley in 1992 against a Sampdoria team, including current Chlsea coach Gianluca Vialli, and also thrashed Arsenal earlier this season at the same stadium.

But an early freekick from World Player of the Year Rivaldo, well saved by Chelsea ‘keeper Ed de Goey, was Barca’s best effort.

Chelsea’s best moment of the opening half hour came when Marcel Desailly had a header well saved by keeper Ruud Hesp.

But suddenly after 30 minutes it all went pear-shaped for Barca. Zola put Chelsea ahead with a delightful freekick awardedfor handball by Portuguese star Figo and then four minutes later Flo made it two.

Former Barcelona defender Albert Ferrer freed Zola who set up Flo who sidefooted home.

Amazingly after 38 minutes it was 3-0 with Flo racing onto a Deschamps pass and beating Hesp with a clever lob although the keeper’s positioning was dubious.

But then Barca grabbed what could yet prove a lifeline inthe second half when Figo stabbed home a goal after good work from Rivaldo.

Barcelona’s Dutch coach Louis van Gaal believed the tie was still in the balance although he was under no illusions about the size of the task.

“If we play like we did after half time in the second legwe have a good chance of going through,” said Van Gaal.