Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti has once again publicly backed mis-firing striker Fernando Torres.
The Spaniard is yet to score for the Blues since making his British-record £50m switch from Liverpool in January, having drawn another blank in Wednesday night’s Champions League defeat to Manchester United.
Torres did go close to finally opening his account with a smart header in the second half but he was denied by a fine diving save from Edwin van der Sar, and he has now failed to hit the back of the net in 10 hours of football.
But Ancelotti continues to back his big-money buy and is confident the goals will soon come.
The Italian said: “We have to have confidence. He has to have confidence and keep going and he'll score.
“I wanted to play differently. (Didier) Drogba worked very hard in this game after playing 90 minutes on Saturday, so for this reason I kept Torres on the pitch.”
Chelsea will now travel to Old Trafford for the second leg knowing they need to overturn a one-goal deficit if they want to book their place in the semi-finals of this season’s Champions League.
They could have possibly headed North on level terms had referee Alberto Mallenco awarded a late penalty for foul on Ramires, but the Spanish official decided against pointing to the spot and his decision left Ancelotti fuming.
The Chelsea boss said: “It was clear – for everyone. Everyone knows it was clear.
“The problem is I know it's sometimes not easy to give the penalty in the last minute and you need to have personality, courage and character. Not always do referees have these kind of skills.
“I'm disappointed but this is the result. Not just the referee, but the assistant was in the right position to decide that was a penalty. I said to the referee (after the match) that it was a penalty and he needed to whistle. He said nothing. No answer.
“The players are aggrieved. But we have to forget it and be focused for the next game. We have to try our best there.”