This was, in the end, a return to the sledgehammer Drogba of his
golden years, the sledgehammer with the gossamer touch, who can
take defences on single-handedly and make opponents shrink with
self-doubt. His first goal after three minutes calmed Stamford
Bridge's mood, his second – Chelsea's third – put the game beyond
doubt, and in between he led the line alone as only he can.
At times we were back in the golden Drogba years, from 2005
onwards, when defenders bounced off him and goals came easy, so
much so that it was easy to forget that this is a player who is out
of contract at the end of the season and, seemingly, heading
towards the exit after more than seven years at the club.
From a night that began fraught with tension, Bayer Leverkusen's
unexpected draw with Genk in Belgium meant Chelsea eventually
finished Group E as winners and so avoid some of the more daunting
opponents in the first knockout round in February. The club's young
manager has survived his first serious crisis, although there will
be more, you feel, before this white-knuckle ride of a season is
over.
Villas-Boas then embarked on a post-match spleen venting at what
he referred to as the "persecution" of his team and various other
claims against critical newspapers and Gary Neville in particular
that Chelsea were the victims of a conspiracy. "We've given
everyone, those critics, a slap in the face," he said. Later he
went for it again: "It's unfortunate for you guys because you'll
have to write about Chelsea finishing first [in the group]."
Actually, there were many present who have chronicled the
spectacular achievements of Chelsea over the last seven years and
lauded them just as much as they will do with Drogba today. The
emotions were running high for Villas-Boas last night and this is
fresh territory for him but he should bear in mind that at Chelsea
the tone is set by the regular sacking of the manager by the owner.
That is what makes the club such a highly charged place to
work.
For now, Villas-Boas can relax in the knowledge that he will not
become the first Chelsea manager in the Roman Abramovich era who
fails to navigate the group stages of the competition and can put
that challenge aside until the knockout round begins. Among the
teams who have already finished second in their groups are
Marseilles, Zenit St Petersburg and Milan, all of whom Chelsea
could be drawn against a week on Friday.
In an ideal world for Villas-Boas and Abramovich, it would have
been Fernando Torres who scored the goals for Chelsea last night,
not the 33-year-old striker who is almost out of contract. In
moments of crisis, Chelsea can never quite leave behind the legacy
of Jose Mourinho and the striker he brought to the club back in
2004.
Nevertheless, Villas-Boas did abandon one old rule of Chelsea
last night when he left Frank Lampard out of the side and did not
even summon the midfielder from the bench, a big call that worked
out in the end. Not since the early days of the Abramovich regime,
when Lampard was left out of the team for a Champions League game
against Sparta Prague in 2003, has he been omitted from such a big
game.
That Torres was also left out barely merits a mention these
days. As for Lampard's omission, Villas-Boas would have preferred
to focus on the tactical switch he masterminded last night where
Chelsea sat back – farewell to the "high line" – and let Valencia
have much of the possession. The away team came away with 66 per
cent of the ball but could find no way through a Chelsea defence
that was reassuringly solid.
All the statistics pointed to Valencia's dominance including
their 612 passes completed to Chelsea's 258 but the home team were
lethal on the counter-attack and no one was more crucial than
Drogba. There were also impressive performances from the midfield
three of Raul Meireles, Oriol Romeu and Ramires, who scored
Chelsea's second goal.
Drogba was on his game from the start and scored the first of
his two goals, both made by Juan Mata, within three minutes. The
Spanish winger pulled down Daniel Sturridge's cross from the right
wing and cut the ball back to Drogba who switched it from his right
foot to his left and struck it low past Diego Alves.
"We made changes to the way we played," Villas-Boas said. "We
tried it at Newcastle. We kept our block further down the pitch, a
'medium-low compact block' with not a lot of space between the
lines. We gave Valencia a lot of possession. That was tremendous
[for them], but nobody has given us credit for keeping possession
[and not winning games]."
Although they never broke through, Valencia were superb at
times. They hit the post two minutes after Drogba's first goal with
a shot from the left-back Jordi Alba. The midfielder David Albelda,
crucial in the middle for his team, forced a fine save out of Petr
Cech on 10 minutes.
It was on the counter-attack once more that Chelsea scored their
second. Drogba slipped the ball through to Ramires who made a run
angled from right to left and forced his way past Victor Ruiz who,
unforgivably, allowed himself to be out-muscled, and the Brazilian
midfielder squeezed the ball in at the near post.
It fell to Drogba to see out the game. First he bounced the
centre-half Adil Rami out the way and ran on goal but put his shot
wide. Then he scored Chelsea's third from Mata's through ball.
Only then did Torres enter the game, waiting on the touchline
while the home support applauded Drogba off. The old soldier had
come through again. Villas-Boas had his say. It had been quite a
night.
Man of the match Drogba.
Match rating 7/10.
Referee G Rocchi (Italy).
Attendance 41,109.
Leverkusen pay for Genk draw
Genk helped Chelsea finish top of Group E by improving on their
previous wretched Champions League form by holding Bayer Leverkusen
1-1 at home. The Belgian side took the lead in the Cristal Arena
through striker Jelle Vossen after 30 minutes. Eren Derdiyok denied
them their first win in the group stage with the equaliser with 11
minutes to go, but the Germans could not find the second goal that
would have meant they were group winners.
Comments