The Blues supporters repeatedly chanted about QPR defender Ferdinand in response to the John Terry racism inquiry during the 1-1 draw at the Cristal Arena.

The chants came shortly after the Metropolitan Police launched a formal investigation into allegations Terry racially abused Ferdinand during the west London derby nine days earlier, something denied by the Chelsea captain.

A club spokesman said in a statement: "The chanting was wholly inappropriate and we don't condone it."

Manager Andre Villas-Boas insisted he had not heard the chanting, which was at its loudest shortly before and shortly after half-time.

He added: "I was concentrating on the game."

It is unclear whether Chelsea could face any action over the chanting - but what is more obvious is that tonight's result provided no respite for Villas-Boas and his players.

The visitors blew a half-time lead and missed a penalty to waste the chance to put one foot in the Champions League last 16.

Indeed, Group E is now wide open going into the final two rounds of matches, with Chelsea only three points clear of third-placed Valencia.

Villas-Boas said: "It gets a little bit tighter.

"We go away and it's a bit tighter, but we have responsibilities that we don't escape.

"Our job is to qualify first and that's what we'd like to do."

The Portuguese denied his side had lost control in the second half.

"We were quite organised in the first half and, in the second half, you are confusing losing control of the game with the emotions coming from the stadium," he said.

"But we created enough opportunities to win the game.

"It's just not happening for us in terms of efficiency.

"We hit the post, missed a penalty, had chances in front of the posts.

"It seems we need to focus, in terms of efficiency.

"At 1-0, the game is always close. They created a few chances, and one went into the net to make it 1-1.

"It's not a bad result away from home, but it's a game we expected to win. We have to react."

Terry did not feature tonight as Villas-Boas opted to rest his skipper and recall David Luiz at centre-half.

After Ramires opened the scoring, Luiz strangely took on penalty duties and duly saw his spot-kick saved by Laszlo Koteles.

Villas-Boas insisted Luiz had not broken ranks.

He said: "They decide out on the pitch and today it went with David, but the goalkeeper made the save."

Villas-Boas also defended right-back Jose Bosingwa, who had another nightmare after his error-strewn display in Saturday's 5-3 Barclays Premier League defeat to Arsenal.

He said: "I would never discuss any particular player in public, but I have faith in all of my squad.

"That's the squad that we have for the season, and hopefully it's the squad that will take us to titles.

"The team suffers when we make a mistake, not individuals."

Genk boss Mario Been was delighted with his side's fightback, especially after their 5-0 thrashing at Stamford Bridge two weeks earlier.

"I'm very pleased with the result," said Been after watching Jelle Vossen score the Belgians' first goal of the competition.

"We saw also the game in London - this was completely different.

"We started very well. Then, when we lost the ball, it was right away 1-0.

"At that moment, the goalkeeper kept us in the game by stopping the penalty.

"But, in the second half, we kept on believing in our chances and we created some chances. We played even better than Chelsea in the second half.

"The goal was really good, so we can be very pleased to take a point against a big club like Chelsea. You can imagine how happy we are."

He added: "I know how they talked about us in England. Maybe we'll buy the papers tomorrow and see if they talk about us a little bit better."