Lavezzi and Cavani give Villas-Boas the Blues

NAPLES: A mess. A shapeless, hapless, hopeless mess.

Still alive, maybe — both manager and his team, although the Russian jury will be out on Andre Villas-Boas.

But only just, only because of a goalline clearance by one of the men Villas-Boas opted to leave out in what was either an act of defiance or, indeed, the “managerial suicide” it was described as by Jamie Redknapp.

And on a night that bore many of the hallmarks of Claudio Ranieri’s job-losing nightmare in Monaco, it was hard to believe Chelsea will dig themselves out of it at Stamford Bridge on March 14, climb over a mountain that looms as large as nearby Vesuvius.

To do so will take one of the great European escape acts. In 21 seasons of the Champions League, only three teams have turned round a two-goal deficit, only one — ironically Barcelona against Chelsea in 2000 — after losing 3-1.

Pulling it off, against a Napoli side that was tearing huge holes in Chelsea’s supposed rearguard for most of a tempestuous, tortured evening that left Villas-Boas and his players on the rack, will require qualities these Blues do not appear to have.

Faith in the manager. Belief in his system. Trust in themselves. All of which were lacking last night, even when Chelsea were gifted the sort of goal you should never have the chance to score in the last 16 of the Champions League, Juan Mata capitalising on the horrendous error by home skipper Paolo Cannavaro.

Yes, Chelsea did have their chances, none more so than when David Luiz rose in front of home keeper Morgan Di Sanctis to meet Mata’s corner, only to head over the bar with the goal unguarded.

But with the travelling fans dumbstruck by Villas-Boas’ (pic) decision to omit both Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard — scorer of 21 Champions League goals, remember — from a side that had lost skipper John Terry for two months when he woke in agony from his knee yesterday morning, the chaos was all-consuming.

Switching from his normal system to playing a midfield two may have given Mata freedom but that pair, Ramires and the utterly dreadful Raul Meireles, were completely overrun.

And with Edinson Cavani, Marek Hamsik, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Christian Maggio granted the liberty to expose all of Chelsea’s frailties at will — Gary Cahill’s Champions League debut was dreadful — there was an inevitability over what followed that Luiz miss.

To be fair to Petr Cech, he alone kept his side in the game in the early stages, making saves to foil Lavezzi, Cavani and Maggio — the last in behind early arrival Cole — before Mata struck, picking his spot when Cannavaro made a total mess of Daniel Sturridge’s optimistic ball in.

Had Luiz then converted it might have been different but within two minutes the Brazilian was among the Chelsea players who stood off after Cavani found his strike partner Lavezzi, for the Argentine to sidestep Meireles and bend beyond Cech.

Once again, for the fourth time in four away games in Europe, Chelsea had failed to hold onto a lead and before the break they were caught out by another basic error.