Didier Drogba and Chelsea take step forward
By John Ley
Sport.Telegraph, 25th October 2007
Roman Abramovich could have been forgiven last night for staging one of his
more flamboyant birthday celebrations. The Russian billionaire, on his 41st
birthday, saw his new manager achieve what his old manager could not, thanks
to a player seemingly unhappy with his lot at the club.
Jose Mourinho's parting act was to see his side stumble to a 1-1 draw with
Rosenborg and leave Chelsea's European aspirations in a precarious position.
Now, under Avram Grant, the club have moved on, adding this scalp to that
of Valencia three weeks earlier.
Grant, as ever, spoke with understatement when he wished Abramovich 'happy
birthday', adding: "He has done a lot for this club and I hope this is a
good present for him."
The 'present' was delivered by Didier Drogba and if the striker is unhappy
at Chelsea, it will be interesting to monitor his form if he falls back in
love with the club. Having claimed last week that something at Chelsea was
'broken', he scored another goal, his second in two games since his
controversial comments. His goal, Chelsea's second, went some way to
securing their place in the knockout stages of the Champions League.
Chelsea having been gifted the first goal, which Florent Malouda scored
through the gaping legs of goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, Drogba's superb second
enabled them to offer some of the entertainment Grant had demanded.
With Rosenborg beating Valencia in the night's other Group B game, Chelsea
are now three points clear of the second-placed Norwegians.
Mourinho finished his Chelsea career with three games without a win; Grant
has won five of his last six even if at times last night the hosts rode
their luck. Schalke were deprived of key striker Kevin Kuranyi in the
warm-up before having a 'goal' disallowed for offside, striking a post and,
towards the end, being deprived of another scoring opportunity through a
blatant 'professional foul' by Alex.
That said, these are promising times for Chelsea after such a poor start
under Mourinho. John Terry and Ashley Cole are still absent, but Wayne
Bridge started for the first time this season.
The game was just four minutes old when Neuer gifted Chelsea. Malouda rode
a challenge from Rafinha, the Schalke defender, and when he shot, the ball
took the smallest of touches off the Brazilian right-back, just enough to
confuse Neuer, who let it slip through his arms and legs in embarrassing
fashion.
Chelsea had space and most of the possession, with Bridge enjoying freedom
along the left flank, but they became frustrated by their inability to
breach an ordinary defence.
More chances fell to Chelsea before the break as Michael Essien and Joe
Cole were denied by Neuer.
Chelsea began the second half in similar fashion to the first, with a goal.
And it went further to confirming that whatever his personal feelings,
Drogba will continue to fight for the Chelsea cause.
Inside the opening two minutes Paolo Ferreira and Joe Cole chased a ball,
with the defender taking up the option to carry it forward. His cross,
from the right, was struck with perfection, as was the timing of the dive
from Drogba, who stooped to head into the bottom corner.
The goal enabled Chelsea to assert their authority and soon afterwards Cole
went close from 20 yards.
On the hour, Schalke were unfortunate again, when Soren Larsen, the late
replacement for Kuryani, sent in a header that left Cech stranded on the
line, only for the ball to bounce off the inside of the left post and into
Cech's grateful arms.
Before the end, Alex clearly impeded Larsen and though the foul was outside
the area, the Brazilian should have been sent off. He survived and now
Chelsea march forward with confidence.
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