Hertha went into this contest at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin bemoaning the loss of three defenders through injury and yet it was Chelsea's small band of followers who had major cause for complaint after only three minutes as the Germans launched their first attack of the evening.
It was a cosmopolitan goal, in keeping with both line-ups, but no less shattering to Chelsea for all that. The American Tony Saneh crossed from the left and the Iranian striker Ali Daei, despite the presence of three defenders, headed comfortably down past Ed de Goey's right hand. The Dutch goalkeeper appeared rooted to the spot, perhaps shocked by the lack of a challenge.
It was a startling counterpoint since only seconds before, from the initial attack of the game, Chelsea had almost taken the lead themselves. Almost inevitably it was Gianfranco Zola, sometimes requiring the attention of three defenders, who took Albert Ferrer's pass, turned rapidly and delivered a shot that brought an alert save from Gabor Kiraly.
Both defences lived dangerously throughout the first half, though Chelsea's continued to offer greater alarm as they looked particularly susceptible to high crosses with Frank Leboeuf appearing notably unsure.
He and Graeme le Saux argued after both failed to pick up Michael Preetz, who headed wastefully wide from Daei's cross. Earlier, the Iranian's own header, bouncing off Marcel Desailly made de Goey's save much easier than anticipated.
Hertha's principal problem was giving the ball away casually in midfield and at times defending too deep. Indeed, Chelsea's main hope in the first half sprung from these faults. Celestine Babayaro offered a brief threat with a 25-yard shot that was deflected but still required a sprawling save by Hertha's Hungarian goalkeeper.
Just before half time Tore Andre Flo enjoyed a rare opportunity, even though he appeared to foul Dick van Burik as he out-muscled the defender before shooting just past the near post.
Hertha appeared to have drawn great confidence from their early breakthrough and often were quite happy to leave one striker up front and concentrate on the counter attack. They showed considerable aptitude for this as Chelsea frequently struggled to cope with a fluid opposition.
Whatever was said to Chelsea's players at half-time certainly had an effect, their play showing in a highly-promising 10-minute spell more enterprise than demonstrated through the entire first period.
Three times in four minutes they came close to exploiting opportunities, each time on the left.
Dan Petrescu suddenly found space in the penalty area and played in Babayaro only for his shot from a difficult angle to find the side netting. Then Babayaro created an opportunity himself, engineering a chance for Zola which also was delivered into the side netting.
There was further danger for Hertha when Flo cleverly turned past his marker just inside the area, sprinted forward and then unleashed a shot that Kiraly was pleased to see rebound off his left leg to safety.
In the midst of this Chelsea pressure another dreadful error, this time by Dennis Wise, nearly allowed Hertha in for a second goal. The captain's poor pass to Leboeuf was intercepted by Preetz but Desailly showed great powers of recovery and cleared.
Chelsea manager Gianluca Vialli reshuffled his pack, throwing Chris Sutton and Gabriele Ambrosetti on for Flo and Albert Ferrer, but the Germans struck a body blow in the 70th minute, again with the help of careless defending.
Daei beat Leboeuf to a sloppy pass from Desailly 30 yards from de Goey's goal and made no mistake with the finish.
Sutton was fouled five minutes from time and Leboeuf slammed home his penalty nervelessly, but it was not enough.
Hertha Berlin: Kiraly; Van Burick; Herzog, Schmidt, Saneh; Deisler, Tretschok (Michalke, 12), Dardai, Wosz; Preetz, Daei.
Chelsea: De Goey; Ferrer, Desailly, Leboeuf, Le Saux; Petrescu, Wise, Deschamps, Babayaro; Flo, Zola.
Referee: M Piraux (Belgium).
