Blues burnt at Stamford Bridge by Laurent Picard, 12 November 2008

 Chelsea incredibly lost to Championship side Burnley following a penalty shoot-out and are out of the Carling Cup after a humiliating night in London.

The Blues enjoyed vastly superior possession and created far more chances, but wasted a host of opportunities, while The Clarets took advantage of Claudio Cudicini’s shakiness to surprise the Premier League leaders.

Didier Drogba celebrated his return to action with a first-half opener, but the Championship side hit back with a stunning equaliser thanks to super sub Ade Akinbiyi. The away side finally qualified on penalties after Burnley captain Stephen Caldwell was sent off.

Juliano Belletti produced the first noticeable effort on goal with a long-range shot that flew over the crossbar before Paulo Ferreira provided a lovely cross to Deco, who missed his header from only six yards out.

The visitors were forced into making fouls in midfield, with Chris McCann and Stephen Jordan sanctioned by the referee in the first 15 minutes of the encounter.

It was then Wayne Bridge’s turn to try his luck from outside of the penalty box, but the defender missed the target with a curling shot and so did Florent Malouda from long distance, as The Blues failed to create decent chances to beat Brian Jensen.

Martin Paterson caused panic in Chelsea’s defence and allowed Wade Elliott to test Cudicini with a direct free-kick after an Alex foul, but the midfielder’s effort did not threaten the Italian.

A minute later, Petr Cech’s understudy Cudicini made a blunder that could have given the lead to Burnley, but Ferreira was in the right place at the right time to avoid a stunning opener.

Belletti was forced off after receiving a knock in the face, and was replaced by Frank Lampard, and it came as no surprise when Chelsea opened the scoring through African hit-man Drogba, on target for the first time this season.

Drogba collected a Lampard pass on the left side of the penalty box, beat his marker and shot between two defenders with the precision of a surgeon on 27 minutes to celebrate his comeback to The Bridge and silence 6,500 Clarets fans.

Malouda imitated his former Guingamp striking partner with another cross-shot, but Jensen did well to palm the ball away, before The Blues missed a glorious chance to make it 2-0 when Branislav Ivanovic headed a Malouda free-kick onto the crossbar from the six-yard box.

Drogba will definitely push for a place in Luiz Felipe Scolari’s starting XI, and the striker produced another chance before the man in black whistled for half-time.

Scolari opted to change his system and replaced Portugal international Deco with John Obi Mikel, but the result was the same - Ivanovic headed over the bar a Ferreira centre from 12 yards.

Owen Coyle realised his team needed more punch, and the manager opted to replace Paterson with Akinbiyi after an hour of play in West London.

This decision paid off 10 minutes later, as The Clarets claimed a stunning equaliser through replacement Akinbiyi, who beat Cudicini from 12 yards after the keeper failed to hold Chris Eagles’ powerful effort.

The striker sent Burnley fans into seventh heaven, but was booked for showing his impressive physique, and the home side hit back straight away through Salomon Kalou, who headed over Jensen’s crossbar.

Chelsea finished stronger and fashioned decent chances to snatch the winner through Alex, who connected with a Lampard free-kick, but saw Jensen catch his effort, and Franco di Santo, who headed straight at the keeper.

But Scolari’s Blues failed to secure a last-gasp goal and were forced into playing extra-time with the courageous Clarets, during which Lampard had a goal ruled out from an offside position.

Brazilian centre back Alex then headed over the bar, and things got worse for Burnley when skipper Caldwell was dismissed for a second bookable offence for a tackle on Malouda.

Alex finally unleashed a free kick over the bar before the referee whistled for penalties at Stamford Bridge.

Bridge missed his spot kick for Chelsea, then Elliot for Burnley, and goalkeeper Jensen became the hero of the night, as he saved Mikel’s last effort to send The Clarets into the quarter-finals.