Chelsea frustrated but progress without trouble

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Chelsea 0-0 FC Copenhagen

UEFA Champions League - Wednesday 16 March 2011 - Stamford Bridge

Chelsea progressed to the Champions League quarter finals as they sufficiently saw off a spirited FC Copenhagen at Stamford Bridge.

Utterly dominant throughout, only some wayward finishing prevented the Blues from increasing their impressive aggregate scoreline after a 2-0 success away in Denmark - and though Dame N'Doye hit the inside of Petr Cech's post in the first half, the Blues were never truly threatened by Copenhagen and were able to progress with minimal fuss, joining Manchester United and Tottenham as England's representatives in the next stage of the UEFA Champions League.

In a game where only the most disastrous of capitulations would deny them passage through to the last eight of Europe's premier competition, Chelsea were ultimately left frustrated by the lack of a cutting edge up front as the Danish champions held the Blues to a credible goalless draw in West London - ending their perfect record at Stamford Bridge in Europe this term.

The Blues were fluent in the way they sought to put Copenhagen to the sword, and only the Dane's Swedish goalkeeper Wiland stood in the way of a fourth successive victory for Carlo Ancelotti's men; making excellent saves to thwart the Blues' forward line on numerous occasions. And even when the Swede was beaten, it was the crossbar that denied the hosts as John Mikel Obi's header glanced the crossbar mid-way through the second half, whilst a deflected shot from substitute Fernando Torres fell inches wide late on.

Chelsea will not be disappointed despite their failure to beat their opponents, with Sunday's clash with third-placed Manchester City being an immediate example of more pressing future engagements. Copenhagen should at least be credited with a spirited performance that, whilst not truly leaving the Blues up against the ropes, certainly saw them exit the competition in credible fashion.

Ancelotti did not ring the changes as many had expected - though Branislav Ivanovic, Mikel and Nicolas Anelka came in for the rested duo of Michael Essien, Torres, and the ineligible David Luiz. Interestingly, the Italian opted to pair Didier Drogba and Anelka together for the first time since Fernando Torres' £50 million move from Liverpool in January, and the players demonstrated exceptional understanding and intelligent interplay throughout, leaving Ancelotti with something a positive selection headache.

The evident success of the Drogba-Anelka partnerships represents the addition of a further string to the Chelsea offensive bow - welcome news to a manager boosted by the return to fitness of long-term absentees Alex and Yossi Benayoun. Though both players were not yet ready to feature, Ancelotti still opted to field a strong starting eleven looking to build on three excellent back-to-back wins achieved by his side since the turn of the month, whilst also looking to extend the Blues' flawless home form in Europe so far this term.

Chelsea had a swathe of first half opportunities, all of which went begging; yet the movement and incisive passing was a vast improvement on the somewhat unremarkable-yet-professional display at Bloomfield Road nine days previous. First, after a superb interchange between Ashley Cole and Yury Zhirkov, it was Frank Lampard who fired wide when Cole's pacey low cross was agonisingly just too far ahead of him, before Cole continued to maraud down the left wing; first firing wide himself from an acute angle before his lay off inside the area saw Zhirkov fire just wide.

Cute and clever combination play was being applauded by the paying customers, but whilst the Blues were forcing the issue early on thanks to a breakneck pace to the opening exchanges, a Copenhagen rally soon curtailed much of the Blues' attacking exploits as N'Doye's free kick demonstrated Copenhagen were not yet a beaten unit; his excellent strike fooling Cech. The exhalation of a sigh of relief by the majority of the Stamford Bridge faithful demonstrated the tie was not yet won.

Yet it was Chelsea who continued to dominate proceedings, and whilst Drogba tested Wiland, both John Mikel Obi and Yury Zhirkov were left frustrated as passable chances were left begging as first Mikel directed a header wide before Zhirkov, found by a wide delivery from Anelka, could only prod the ball wide under intense pressure in the box. The half was almost concluded in perfect fashion, but Drogba's attempted curler lacked sufficient placement and merely warmed the Copenhagen keeper's palms.

The best chance that fell the way of the Blues came moments after half-time when Drogba volleyed wide from Jose Bosingwa's wicked delivery from out wide. It was the sort of opportunity - a volley on the instep from about eight yards - that the Drogba of twelve months ago would have lashed home without a problem, yet the presence of the onrushing Wiland as well as the close attentions of Wendt saw another gilt-edged chance passed up. Anelka followed in similarly wasteful fashion as his shot was charged down, leaving Ancelotti frustrated and bemused on the touchline.

His patience was not aided by further frustration moments later. John Obi Mikel's 171-game wait for a goal was almost ended as Chelsea's terrific start to the second period continued. Terry had headed on a corner back into the danger zone and the Nigerian headed goalwards only to be denied by the width of the crossbar. Nicolas Anelka's goalscoring form in Europe this season has been second only to Mario Gomez, Lionel Messi and Samuel Eto'o, but again his finishing was below his usual standards and his next effort was easily gathered by Wiland.

Anelka was soon replaced in predictable fashion by Torres, who came as close as anyone to opening the scoring when first his deflected effort from eighteen yards fell narrowly wide of the upright, before an instinctive prod after a superb burst of pace produced another excellent save from Copenhagen's man between the posts. Chelsea continued to dominate up to the final whistle but without the craft to make the breakthrough. Essien went close in injury time and Lampard spurned a good shooting opportunity; opting to tee up Torres whilst space in the area suggested there was time for him to continue his own run of goalscoring form.

The game drew to an unremarkable close - though substitute Michael Essien cracked a couple of efforts wide of the target - but as defiant as Copenhagen were, their efforts were ultimately fruitless. Due appreciation for the respectable way in which they bowed out of the competition will be spread across tomorrow's newspapers, but this game will safely be filed away under the category of 'bigger fish to fry;' however, that should not spoil the joyous atmosphere about Stamford Bridge in recent weeks.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Chelsea (4-4-2): Cech, Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Terry ©, Cole; Ramires, Mikel (Essien 83), Lampard, Zhirkov (Malouda 74); Anelka (Torres 67), Drogba.

Copenhagen (4-4-2): Wiland; Wendt, Zanka, Antonsson, Bengtsson (Zohore 60); Bolanos (Kristensen 89), Kvist ©, Claudemir, Vinegaard; Grønkjær, N'Doye.

The TalkChelsea.net man of the match was Chelsea's number 3, ASHLEY COLE

[Tomo 21,681]

good review, although i was waiting for it

Would have been nice to score a couple but were through and thats all that counts.

Roll on Friday the City on Sunday.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Cheers for reading mate

[Tomo 21,681]

Cheers for reading mate

no problem

[Kostas 1,468]

I enjoy reading your reports more after great performances. Have to admit I was a a bit surprised with the MoM choice. Guess we all have soft spots for some players.

[Milan 17,835]

Okay, we didn't score but in the UCL as long as we trying and pushing and going through, then I do not mind playing 0-0 at home. We were pretty unlucky today and I want to believe that our players just had their day and that on Sunday everything will be alright up front. What is more important - scoring today or scoring against Citeh on Sunday? I do know what.

There were no pointless yellow cards, like in the first leg, which is a good thing definitely.

Now fingers crossed we will play the second leg of 1/4 at the Bridge again.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

I enjoy reading your reports more after great performances. Have to admit I was a a bit surprised with the MoM choice. Guess we all have soft spots for some players.

I thought Ash was the stand-out player, particularly in the first half.

And I don't have a soft spot for him at all... he's a great player, but he's also a moaning twat

[Madmax 9,219]

Quality report as usual, Alex!

I was struck by how biased the dumb commentators were yesterday. They kept remarking how impressive Copenhagen are every time their centre backs passed the ball between themselves

[Fulham Broadway 16,392]

Good report BL.

The fluidity and passing were good -but the finishing was straight out of the Emirates Stadium. Thats the concern, I cant see Barca, Real or Shaktar drawing a blank against Copenhagen at home, even if they were two up to the good away from home.....

[Krypt 241]

I thought the performance was ok.. Yuri and Ash looked sharp and we created a lot of chances just couldnt seem to put them away , frank should have shot rather than trying to let Torres score. the whole Torres needs to score thing is getting a bit over the top . If we win the CL without a Torres goal i wouldn't mind

[zolayes 14,489]

I enjoy reading your reports more after great performances. Have to admit I was a a bit surprised with the MoM choice. Guess we all have soft spots for some players.

my MOM was Ramires ...but then the Mail said that as well so it must be wrong

[zolayes 14,489]

copenhagen tried to close us down much more than they did in the first leg ..but still we managed to break quickly and did create so many chances.

on a different day we could have scored six

[Tortilla9 390]

I thought the performance was ok.. Yuri and Ash looked sharp and we created a lot of chances just couldnt seem to put them away , frank should have shot rather than trying to let Torres score. the whole Torres needs to score thing is getting a bit over the top . If we win the CL without a Torres goal i wouldn't mind

I'm with you there. I think it's pressure on Torres to score, pressure on the entire team for Torres to score, and pressure on Carlo to get him on the scoring sheet. I personally believe once he scores, the pressure will be off of everybody and normal service can resume... whatever that is.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

A good, accurate report as always Blue Lion, a good read!

Personally, I thought it was a fully professional performance from our squad. We may not have scored in it, but we did what was required to progress, N'Doye's chance was something we had no control over so we should take positives from that. It's no use in saying, because we didn't score in this game we should fear the quarter finals. The circumstances are completely different, in this match the players knew the 1st leg performance was adequate. In the next round scoring will be more important.

An honourable mention for Bosingwa, from me. He looked very good last night, I see shades of the player we missed in 2008 emerging. Probably the pressure of Luiz/Ivanovic making him step up. "the Shevchenko effect"

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Cheers everyone

[Kostas 1,468]

An honourable mention for Bosingwa, from me. He looked very good last night, I see shades of the player we missed in 2008 emerging. Probably the pressure of Luiz/Ivanovic making him step up. "the Shevchenko effect"

Indeed. Although I must say I still don't trust him defensively but he seems to have regained some of his acceleration.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Indeed. Although I must say I still don't trust him defensively he seems to have regained some of his acceleration.

Yeah, that's why I think Ivanovic should get the nod over him for most our games, however if it's 0-0 in a match when there's about 15minutes left, we should bring on Bosingwa. He's, by no means, awful at defending - Will always run with the winger. He offers more on the overlap then Bane though. Definitely one to keep around though