Both Carlo Ancelotti and Jose Mourinho believe the tie is very much open after Inter's narrow victory in the San Siro on Wednesday night.

Salomon Kalou cancelled out Diego Milito's early opener before Esteban Cambiasso fired the Italians a slight advantage to bring to Stamford Bridge in three weeks' time.

Ancelotti also had positive news on Petr Cech, who left the stadium with strapping on an injured calf rather than his knee, which had been feared.

'Cech had an injury on his calf and we have to wait, we have to control the next days,' Ancelotti said. 'Now we can't say when he can return to the squad. It is not his knee, it is his calf.'

The Italian was pleased with his side's performance in a hostile environment, and believes we have every chance of progressing into the quarter-finals after coming back to dominate much of a game we had fallen behind in early.

'I don't think it's a problem Inter started so strong but we conceded space and Milito is a dangerous player, that's the reason we conceded at the start,' he said.

'I expected a match like that. At the end of the day I believe we played quite well. The result is not so positive but not so bad. We will play attacking football in the second leg as much as we did today.

'I think I want to look at my team and I think that we played a good game with personality, with courage, with good play and we have to do the same in the next game against Inter.'

With regard to Salomon Kalou's penalty shout in first-half injury time, Ancelotti had no complaints for the referee, but did stress he felt it was a spot kick.

'I think it was a penalty in the first half, but the penalty is when the referee whistles.

'We don't want to be involved in this because we have to look to put my team on the pitch and try to do the best on the pitch. I think we can say that we were unlucky this evening and we hope it will be better in the future but we are not interested with this, I knew [Manuel] Mejuto Gonzalez is a very good referee with a lot of experience and I want to say nothing else.'

Never one to remain quiet, Mourinho had plenty to say after the game, who took comfort from his side's narrow advantage despite Chelsea's away goal.

'The most important aspect is the result, not obviously the best result but the qualification is still open,' he admitted. 'If you look at the Champions League all matches were very tight, so that is the situation and I believe no one was expecting a large win by either team. It was a tight game and the result is the most positive aspect at the moment.

'We go to Stamford Bridge after a win here, important, and I believe we can do well there, and obviously Chelsea believe the same. Last year we had very good chances to score in Manchester, we hit the post three times and why can't that happen in Stamford Bridge as well?' he asked.

'I believe tonight was a very big achievement by my defenders, none were yellow-carded and all could have been suspended. I believe we can do very well and go through.

'We showed that we can be a very good team in the Champions League. Defensively we have played in another dimension this year, Lucio added to us and he has been able to face Drogba in the aerial game.

'I believed it would be possible to score another goal but Chelsea pressed high and kept us from the penalty box.'

Now the Portuguese makes a first professional return to the corner of west London he called home for more than three years.

'I have to control my emotions. I have to be professional like I was today, like Chelsea players were today,' he explained.

'In the tunnel it is not a normal game for me, not a normal game for them, but when the game starts it becomes a normal game. They want to win and I want to win. Stamford Bridge I don't expect anything but people to be pleased to have me back because we were so happy when we were together.

'This time I go to a different dressing room and different dugout, and they know normally Mourinho is lucky at Stamford Bridge.'

We have three weeks to wait and see if he is right, but the feeling now is that Chelsea have the advantage. Roll on March 16.