Chelsea’s run of poor form continued with defeat in their final Champions League Group F encounter, against group runners-up Marseille.

Brandao diverted Taye Taiwo’s deflected shot past wrong-footed Chelsea keeper Petr Cech on 81 minutes to seal the tie.

But Chelsea were unfortunate not to be awarded two first-half penalties, both of which appeared to be clear fouls by the hosts’ Souleymane Diawara.

The fifth official wrongly over-ruled the referee’s decision to penalise Diawara for his foul on Florent Malouda, awarding a corner instead – although Malouda appeared offside in the build-up.

And none of the officials deemed Diawara’s lunge on Kalou worthy of sanction.

Chelsea previously had a fortunate escape when Mathieu Valbuena crashed a 30-yard drive against the crossbar on 11 minutes with Cech beaten.

And former Manchester United defender Gabriel Heinze had a 34^th-minute header from Benoit Cheyrou’s free-kick ruled out for offside, a marginal decision.

Both sides were prepared to try their luck from distance but became less accurate as the match went on, until Marseille finally broke the deadlock.

Chelsea’s Daniel Sturridge, a substitute for an overly-polite Didier Drogba, smashed a left-foot shot inches past the post late on. But Chelsea could not muster an equaliser.