Jose Mourinho got one over his former employers as Inter Milan beat Chelsea 2-1 in the Champions League last 16, first leg clash at the San Siro here on Wednesday. It's a slender advantage but a crucial one for Inter ahead of the second leg at Stamford Bridge on March 16th and also represented a milestone as it was the first victory for the Italians against an English team since 2003 and a 3-0 win over Arsenal in London. For Chelsea coach Carlo Ancelotti it was an unhappy return to the stadium where he served AC Milan for eight years with such distinction, winning two Champions League titles and one scudetto. Inter were off to a flying start and went ahead after just three minutes following some shoddy defending by Chelsea, as Thiago Motta played the ball into Samuel Eto'o who fed it on to Diego Milito, the Argentine cutting too easily inside the wrong-footed John Terry and shooting home at Peter Cech's near post. It was just the dream start Inter would have wanted but Chelsea's reaction was awe-inspiring as the visitors took total control. Their first chance came on 11 minutes as Nicolas Anelka shot wide of the near post before a minute later Salomon Kalou twisted and turned on the edge of the box but shot straight at Julio Cesar. Then up stepped Didier Drogba on the quarter-hour mark to crash a free-kick from 25 yards against the cross-bar and follow that up with a fine effort that forced Cesar into a sprawling save. Cesar then had to parry from Michael Ballack and Drogba hooked a volley wide after controlling the ball on his chest in the box and then sent another volley wide when fed by John Obi Mikel. Inter finally got a chance on 33 minutes when a defence splitting pass from Walter Samuel found Wesley Sneijder on the left and he crossed to Samuel Eto'o but the Cameroon forward connected only with air with a wild left foot swipe from eight yards. The half ended in controversial fashion as Samuel appeared to trip Kalou in the box referee Manuel Gonzalez waved away Chelsea appeals. Chelsea got what their play deserved just six minutes after the restart but from some poor Inter defending. Thiago Motta let Branislav Ivanovic run forward from right back to the edge of the Inter area without a challenge before the Serbian cut across the box and tapped the ball out to Kalou, whose nonchalant side foot from 20 yards somehow found its way through a crowd of defenders and past Cesar, who possibly should have done better. And yet four minutes later Inter were back in front as Esteban Cambiasso's wild shot from distance, which was going wide, struck Ivanovic in the midriff and came back to the Argentine whose second effort deceived Cech and found the far corner. Mourinho then made the surprising move of bringing on striker Mario Balotelli for midfielder Thiago Motta while Cech suffered a serious knee injury and was replaced by Henrique Hilario. On 65 minutes great play between Drogba and Anelka teed up Frank Lampard but Cesar parried his close range effort. Chelsea dominated the ball but created little in the way of clear cut chances in the final stages and it is advantage Inter and Mourinho. 