Thursday, October 22, 2009

Chelsea 4 - 0 Atletico Madrid



Salomon Kalou (centre) celebrates scoring for Chelsea
Kalou (centre) foudn the net twice after missing early chances for Chelsea

Chelsea comfortably defeated Atletico Madrid to win their third straight group game in the Champions League.

Salomon Kalou missed a great chance from 14 yards but then stabbed home from close range and headed home from a corner as Chelsea took control.

Frank Lampard then struck with a low 25-yard drive before Luis Perea headed into his own net as Chelsea moved to the brink of group qualification.

Atletico had chances but Petr Cech denied Diego Forlan and Sergio Aguero.

It was the sort of result that Blues coach Carlo Ancelotti must have wanted from his players after their defeat at Aston Villa in the Premier League on Saturday.

Chelsea created chances at regular intervals throughout the match and looked to be full of ideas and creativity in attack.

But the result increases the pressure on Atletico manager Abel Resino, whose team have just one point from their three group games in the Champions League and are struggling in 15th place in La Liga.

However, some of their enterprising play in the opening minutes belied their poor domestic form.

The lively Forlan met a Simao Simbrosa cross at the near post and forced a sharp save from Cech with a glancing header, while Aguero drilled the ball into the side netting after a fortuitous bounce played him through on goal.

Forlan drew another save from Cech with a shot on the turn, but Sergio Asenjo appeared to be less assured in the Atletico goal.

He allowed a seemingly innocuous free-kick to slip through his hands and into the net - but his blushes were spared when Kalou was penalised for offside.

Kalou was guilty of an atrocious miss after incisive play from Deco and Michael Ballack cut open the Atletico defence but he missed the gaping target from 14 yards.

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However, Kalou did find the net when he converted Ashley Cole's drilled low ball across the face of goal. Lampard also played his part in the goal, playing Cole down the left flank with a wonderfully disguised pass.

The goal seemed to draw Atletico's sting and the home team saw out the final few minutes before half-time without further alarm before adding to their lead shortly after the restart.

Asenjo made a good save to deny Nicolas Anelka and was alert to tip over a long throw from Juliano Belletti that was allowed to bounce before heading menacingly towards goal.

But there was nothing he could do to prevent Kalou scoring his second with a header from Lampard's corner.

Atletico did occasionally show some fight and Aguero should have done better after Forlan's flick played him through but he seemed short of ideas after Cech raced out of goal and his shot was saved.

And the result was put beyond doubt when Lampard scored his first Chelsea goal since 18 August with a powerful low strike. It also took him to 133 goals for the club - one more than Jimmy Greaves.

Maxi Rodriguez continued to press and probe - and he forced a save from Cech with a low strike.

But the final goal fell to Chelsea with the unlucky Perea diverting an injury-time free-kick beyond Asenjo.


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