Chelsea avoided the unthinkable as Andre Villas-Boas sacrificed his ideals for a place in the Champions League knockout phase with a 3-0 victory over Valencia.
With the Blues in danger of crashing out of Europe's premier club competition before Christmas for the first time, manager Villas-Boas abandoned the cavalier tactics that have been the hallmark of his reign in what was the club's final Group E game.
The counter-attacking approach paid off spectacularly as Chelsea emerged from the brink of elimination to top the group thanks to a brace from the outstanding Didier Drogba, a goal from Ramires and Bayer Leverkusen's failure to win at Genk.
That meant the Blues avoided a last-16 clash with the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Inter Milan, although they would gladly have taken that ahead of a game Villas-Boas had repeatedly billed as "life or death".
Inside three minutes, Daniel Sturridge picked out Juan Mata at the far post and the Spaniard squared to Drogba, who was given an age to fire left-footed beyond Diego Alves.
Valencia twice went close to levelling inside the opening 10 minutes when Jordi Alba crashed a shot against the outside of the post and Petr Cech clawed David Albelda's blockbuster away from the top corner.
Villas-Boas' much-maligned defence was hardly looking secure but the pressure was suddenly relieved midway through the half when Valencia produced an absolute howler in their own rearguard.
Drogba's pass looked too heavy for Ramires but the Brazilian brushed off the feeblest of challenges from Victor Ruiz before slotting underneath the stranded Alves. The pattern continued after half-time, with Sturridge going close again on the counter before Valencia brought on Aritz Aduriz and changed from a 4-5-1 to a 4-4-2 formation.
A goal for the Spaniards was all that was needed to set nerves jangling again and Cech got a crucial punch to Tino Costa's crossed free-kick before springing sideways to repel Sofiane Feghouli's goalbound drive.
With 14 minutes remaining, Drogba poked the ball past Alves with the outside of his right foot for his fourth goal in the last four games, before Cech produced another excellent reaction save to keep out Aduriz's header after Fernando Torres replaced Drogba.
Source: PA
