By Ross Mooring
Chelsea sealed their passage to the Champions League quarter finals with a comfortable victory at home to Didier Drogba’s Galatasaray. In an odd game often played at half-pace thanks to an early strike to settle the nerves from Samuel Eto’o and a rifled short range volley from Gary Cahill just before the break the away team posed little threat when “attacking” Chelsea’s goal while the home side consistently generated half chances throughout the game
Drogba’s return was confined to a deserved love in either side of the 90 minutes of play, during which he played more like a striker who had scored a Torres-esque 26 goals in his final two seasons at the club and not the man who practically singled-handedly brought the club it’s first European Cup triumph.
Chelsea weren’t at their best, more content to sit on their early lead and bait the Turks into over-extending themselves and as a result the away team saw more of the ball than one would expect. Having said that, they were unable to even muster a shot on target as Chelsea defended with imperious quality from front to back, content to let Galatasaray knock the ball about in their own half.
Ratings:
Petr Cech 6
A 6 for standing around in his own penalty area.
Branislav Ivanovic 6
Untroubled, as were most of his teammates.
Gary Cahill 8
Dealt with Drogba when in his area and found himself in the right place to power home a sweet volley to seal the game.
John Terry 8
Played his part at set pieces and unlucky to join Cahill on the scoresheet, Terry too was never threatened at the back.
Cesar Azpilicueta 7
Has gone from barely getting a sniff in the first month of the season to a more powerful version of Phillip Laham in the space of six months. One of the best left backs on the planet at the moment.
Ramires 6
While his tackling and passing were predictably unpredictable, the Brazilian covered a lot of ground and outworked the Galatasaray midfield. Plays his role, but could play it better.
Frank Lampard 8
Super Frank played with an understated excellence in all phases of the game. Showed good touch with his passing and was diligently positioned defensively while managing to make a couple of trademark forward runs. He seems well suited at this point to the slightly less frenetic pace of European football.
Willian 6
Showed his flair at times, but was tasked with defending his flank (which he did well) more than moving freely to help in attack.
Oscar 7
Graceful movement, intelligent passing and a well weighted assist for Eto’o’s goal, Oscar still has another gear or two in him, but in Europe at least, this was a very encouraging display.
Eden Hazard 8 – Man of the Match
Heavily involved in the first goal with a great chested touch, turn and pass, the Belgian was a constant menace with the ball at his feet. If there’s one thing about his attacking game that could improve (and it’s basically the only thing) it’s his shooting from the edge of the area.
Samuel Eto’o 8
A striker’s finish, good link up play and intelligent short area movement, the Cameroonian is clearly Jose’s preferred centre forward. Offers that little bit more than Torres.
Substitutes:
Schurrle –
Torres –
Kalas –
None of the substitutes played the requisite 10 minutes to earn a rating.
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