Claudio Ranieri got out of jail as his 4-5-1 formation left Chelsea looking anything but convincing, yet they made it through to the quarter-finals thanks to their 1-0 victory in Germany a fortnight ago.

If anything is going to save Ranieri from the sack in the summer then surely winning the Champions League will be a big help - although even that will not guarantee the Italian coach his place at Stamford Bridge next season.

So after winning the first leg in Stuttgart Ranieri was expected to go all out to finish the job in the return leg at Stamford Bridge.

However, The Tinkerman confused everyone yet again as he played with Hernan Crespo as a lone striker, leaving his team severely lacking in attacking thrust.

It nearly backfired too, but some stout defending combined with some poor German finishing meant this game finished goalless and Chelsea made it into Wednesday's draw courtesy of that Fernando Meira own goal that settled the first leg.

Despite lying second behind Arsenal in the Barclaycard Premiership, these are troubled times for Chelsea.

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink - who was not even on the bench - told Dutch television he will be off in the summer if he is not guaranteed a regular place; Joe Cole is also reportedly considering his future, and even Ranieri himself admits he does not know if he'll be here next season.

A convincing win would have lifted spirits, but it was never on the cards, and in the end Chelsea squeezed through to keep their European adventure alive.

Chelsea started brightly with most of the play revolving around Damien Duff, who was handed his first start since he injured his shoulder on December 20.

The Republic of Ireland winger had the first shot on target after six minutes when Frank Lampard tapped a short free-kick to him inside the left edge of the box and goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand pushed the ball around his near post.

Duff then turned provider after 11 minutes for what proved to be the home side's best chance of the first half. He delivered a good cross from the left and Hernan Crespo rose well on the edge of the six yard box but steered his header wide of the far post.

It was during that incident that Glen Johnson - who was behind Crespo when the cross arrived - landed awkwardly and picked up a leg injury which resulted in him being carried off on a stretcher after 29 minutes and replaced by Marcel Desailly.

Ranieri's formation was not working and Crespo needed help, though in response Stuttgart were reduced to mainly long-range efforts, with Carlo Cudicini displaying clean handling to deal with everything thrown at him - his best save coming four minutes before the break when he dived to his right to push Philipp Lahm's 25-yard drive round his post.

After Ranieri refused to change his formation for the second half, the same German left-back gave Chelsea a scare inside the first minute of the restart as Stuttgart pinned Chelsea inside their own half.

Ranieri did make a change on the hour, but it was Geremi rather than a striker who came on for Scott Parker, who had made a creditable debut in European football.

As Jesper Gronkjaer came more into the game one of his runs set up Frank Lampard after 65 minutes, but the ball did not sit kindly for him and his shot from the edge of the area was pushed away by the goalkeeper.

Defender Boris Zivkovic planted a 75th-minute header into Cudicini's arms and then Ranieri finally got the message as he sent on Adrian Mutu for Duff with eight minutes remaining.

In a frantic finale Mutu had two great chances to score after 87 minutes - the first a header which was saved miraculously by the goalkeeper and the second saw the Romanian shoot straight at the big stopper, before Gronkjaer hit the post. All that after substitute Christian Tiffert fired into the sidenetting for the visitors.

The final whistle brought relief for Chelsea, who are brilliant away in this competition but unpredictable at home - but at least they live to fight another day.

Teams

Chelsea Cudicini, Johnson (Desailly 29), Gallas, Terry, Bridge, Gronkjaer, Makelele, Lampard, Parker (Geremi 61), Duff (Mutu 82), Crespo.

Subs Not Used: Ambrosio, Cole, Gudjohnsen, Huth.

VfB Stuttgart Hildebrand, Hinkel (Gomez 81), Zivkovic, Bordon, Meira, Meissner (Tiffert 62), Hleb, Cacau (Szabics 39), Soldo, Lahm, Kuranyi.

Subs Not Used: Heinen, Vranjes, Gerber, Heldt.

Booked: Hinkel. Agg (1-0)

Att: 36,657

Ref: Kim Nielsen (Denmark).