Source: Daily_Mail
Chelsea 1 Porto 0: Anelka's the top dog in the absence of Drogba
Before Chelsea set their sights on the Champions League final Carlo Ancelotti has identified as the minimum requirement for this season, they need to remember how long and potentially perilous a road it is to Madrid.
They made hard work of the first of their first-round encounters, underestimating a Porto team that made it an anxious opening European night for Ancelotti at Stamford Bridge.
In the end they got there, and it is a measure of their sheer quality, solidity, professionalism and, in the case of John Terry, heroism after withstanding an elbow in the face that they did.
After what must have been something of a dressing-down from Ancelotti during the interval, Nicolas Anelka took little more than three minutes to score what amounted to an excellent winning goal.
But for the opening 45 minutes and the concluding 20, Porto demonstrated how they gave Manchester United a run for their money last season and reminded Chelsea just how much they can struggle without the suspended Didier Drogba.
Anelka might find such an assessment rather unfair when his finish was as good as it was, but Drogba is to Chelsea what Wayne Rooney and Fernando Torres are to their respective clubs and success is unlikely to come for Ancelotti in the absence of the Ivory Coast striker. Especially when the Italian might not be able to sign a replacement until January 2011.
It is with some relief that Ancelotti will, no doubt, reflect on this game, not least because of the price his more recent predecessors have had to pay for early-season mediocrity in the Champions League.
A draw with Rosenborg and a crushing defeat in Rome certainly proved costly for Jose Mourinho and Luiz Felipe Scolari.
A master of European football, Ancelotti made sure there would be no such repeat on this occasion and for a decent spell after the break Chelsea were much more like the side that have made a perfect start to their Barclays Premier League campaign with five straight wins.
This amounted to the continuation of another impressive run. The 19th consecutive European tie at Stamford Bridge without defeat. But they should have won it more comfortably than they did, given the amount of possession they enjoyed.
It is only when you see Chelsea like this, though, that one realises exactly the role Drogba performs. Not just the prolific scorer of often spectacular goals but a forward around whom the other attacking players dovetail to such good effect.
Drogba is the oil in the machine as well as Chelsea’s most devastating weapon, and someone they would have badly missed had they allowed him to leave during the last two summers. Given the threat of this FIFA transfer ban, it is enough to give Ancelotti nightmares.
Porto almost gave him one or two as well on Tuesday night, most memorably in the form of the opportunities Hulk and Freddy Guarin would have converted had it not been for an excellent performance from Petr Cech.
Too often Chelsea conceded possession cheaply and it was only because of their goalkeeper that they kept their noses in front. Porto unleashed 17 shots. Far too many for a former coach of AC Milan whose Champions League success was built as much on defensive discipline as flair and invention going forward.
The conditions might have contributed to Chelsea’s problems but Porto seemed to cope well enough in the rain with some fluent passing football.
Incredible is not a word one could normally associate with this particular Hulk but he was certainly impressive here, as much with his dribbling and passing as a blistering shot that forced Cech to make a desperate save with his knees.
Frank Lampard also looked sharp, a shot from distance and a header from close range demanding that Helton make two terrific saves. But it was Porto who probably went closest to breaking the first-half deadlock, Guarin powering in a header that skimmed the roof of the net.
That Anelka scored so soon after the break was tough on Porto. That the Frenchman did it the hard way must have made it all the more painful.
Helton had done so well to parry Anelka’s first effort but the Chelsea striker somehow struck a second with a shot that had to clear a sliding defender before squeezing between Porto’s goalkeeper and his left-hand post.
For Porto, however, time enough remained to hit back and how close they went to punishing Chelsea for squandering what chances they created for the remainder of a tense contest. Salomon Kalou was chief among the offenders.
Had it not been for Cech, Guarin and Silvestre Varela would have been celebrating a much-deserved equaliser. But Cech did his job and when Fernando was then sent off for a second yellow card — for a nasty challenge on the excellent Ashley Cole — Porto’s challenge died.
For Ancelotti, it meant a sixth consecutive victory as the new manager of Chelsea. As good a start as it gets.
But if he is glad to have Joe Cole back in his squad, he will be even more relieved when Drogba has finally served his suspension.
