Chelsea have one foot in the quarter-finals of the Champions League following their 1-1 draw against Galatasaray in Istanbul tonight.
A ninth minute effort by Fernando Torres put the Premier League leaders into the driving seat.
The Blues' striker took full advantage of a mistake from Emmanuel Eboue which allowed Andre Schurrle to pass to the overlapping left-back Cesar Azpilicueta.
The home side's goalkeeper Fernando Muslera attempted to close down the Spain defender but he simply cut the ball back and Torres was on hand on the six-yard box to tuck the ball home into the vacant net.
Galatasaray had the ball in the back of the net, soon after but with John Terry still holding the ball which rebounded back into play, another ball which was quickly dispatched for the throw-on was used instead.
Spain referee Carlos Carballo rightly disallowed the goal as two balls were in play, but Terry was equally at fault and was promptly booked.
With a half-time lead in the bag, the Blues were a tad lacklustre after the restart. With the home side clipping Chelsea's post, the danger was always going to be that tiredness would play a factor in deciding the match in the Turk Telekom Arena.
And so it proved with Aurelien Chedjou taking full advantage of sloppy defending to strike the equaliser in the 64th minute.
That's how it remained.
The return leg is in three weeks time, and while the Blue will remain favourites to progress, they will need the strikers to show greater clinical finishing in front of goal, something they have failed to do on numerous occasions this season.
Teams:
1.Cech; 2.Ivanovic, 24.Cahill, 26.Terry (c), 28.Azpilicueta; 7.Ramires, 8.Lampard; 22.Willian, 17.Hazard, 14.Schurrle; 9.Torres
Substitutes: 23.Schwarzer, 3.Cole, 33.Kalas, 12.Mikel, 11.Oscar, 19.Ba, 29.Eto'o
Galatasaray, meanwhile, are expected to line up in the following 4-2-3-1 formation:
25.Muslera; 27.Eboue, 21.Chedjou, 22.Balta, 15.Telles; 3.Melo, 8.Inan; 14.Hajrovic, 17.Yilmaz, 10.Sneijder; 11.Drogba
Substitutes: 86.Ceylan, 6.Gulselam, 19.Bulut, 26.Kaya, 35.Kertulus, 52.Colak, 55.Sarioglu
Referee: Carlos Carballo from Spain.