Atletico Madrid's Diego Simeone is style winner at Stamford Bridge #CarryGobySeanKellz #FutureGroupNG via @myentertain9jar

IT was the night football went on trial for its soul. Hipsters, flipsters, iPod analysers, tactic board gurus and “philosophers,” of the kind disdained by Jose Mourinho went on watch worldwide, hoping for sightings of ball-juggling, heel-flicks and Cruyff turns radiating from Stamford Bridge.

Diego Simeone came out on top at Stamford Bridge[GETTY]

By the time Arda Turan turned the screw and prodded in Atletico Madrid’s third goal here, the global chorus of critics who deride Mourinho as the enemy of football had got what they wanted. Diego Simeone, their black-clad Argentine coach, went charging along the touchline in celebration and in the much-celebrated style of You Know Who across the dugout divide.

The defensive resolve in which Mourinho had placed so much faith in this tie was ripped apart as soon as Atletico claimed their equaliser just before half-time and they were lavishly rewarded for seeking to do much more than simply win the tie on away goals.

They went for throat and for once Mourinho could do little about it. An unprecedented all-Madrid final awaits in Lisbon.

For a time, however, both these teams had proven that defending well is a requirement of the game, not just a mind-set or a lifestyle choice – until everything came to pieces in the last 10 minutes of the first-half and a serious cup-tie erupted. What an irony it was when John Terry and Ashley Cole got things so wrong in the 44th minute and allowed Juanfran’s hooked back-post cross to pass them both by, allowing Adrian Lopez to score the equaliser which plunged Chelsea into arrears in the tie on away goals.

What a dreadfully familiar feeling overcame Chelsea when they fell further behind to Diego Costa’s second-half penalty and had to stare at the prospect of a fifth defeat in the semi-finals of this dramatic competition.

The critics had been so fierce in their attacks upon Mourinho’s insistence on making security at the back one of his major priorities here that you might have imagined he had personally outlawed all possibility of human error among his rearguard.

Diego Costa was in top form as Atletico dominated the game [GETTY]

At the other end, that other great imponderable, the deflection, had undone Simeone’s planning when Fernando Torres’ shot bounced in off Mario Suarez in the 36th minute. The point being that football matches often break out despite the attempts of the men with the clipboards and the white coats to pigeon-hole everything beforehand.

Of course, there was a huge tactical aspect to this contest from the beginning. But it wasn’t so much about some negative, defensive philosophy inherent in both coaches as the fact that both teams were very good at the back and very capable at organising themselves so they don’t get caught out too often.

Mourinho had been complaining all season that his attacking resources were too limited to sustain success at the very top level. Everybody assumed that was just kidology. But perhaps he really meant it. Certainly, the sterling work of Gary Cahill and Cole in getting their bodies in the way of danger in the first half showed where Chelsea’s best strengths were located.

But Torres had been sharp enough when he surged forward to meet the cross from Cesar Azpilicueta which put Mourinho’s team ahead.

The fact there was more potency among the Spanish side’s attackers was emphasised twice either side of half time – first when Mark Schwarzer had to deftly pluck from the air a dangerous header from Adrian and again after the break when he did well to stop a thunderous close-range shot from Turan.

This, though, didn’t give them some philosphical advantage. Simeone didn’t abandon all his prior thinking. It was just that they often looked sharper when they got forward. The pace and intensity of this match and the lurking danger inherent among Atletico’s forwards squashed the idea that this would be nothing but a game of counter-punching without either side throwing any blows.

And when Chelsea took the lead, it seemed that Mourinho had been rewarded for springing another tactical surprise. Azpilicueta, normally a full-back, started high on the right. Many suspected it was simply so Chelsea could employ an extra defender. But he drove forward and he crossed for Torres’ goal.

Mourinho’s other tactical move proved calamitous, however. He sent on the striker Samuel Eto’o in search of the desperately needed goal. Within minutes. Eto brought down Costa and Chelsea went further behind as the adopted Spanish-Brazilian striker slammed home the resulting penalty.

There will be no triumphant march on Lisbon and the homeland for the Portuguese Mourinho now.