Chelsea qualify in style with five-goal romp

GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany - Chelsea produced a footballing masterclass to romp to a 5-0 win at Schalke 04 on Tuesday to power into the last 16 of the Champions League and make it a miserable night for former coach Roberto Di Matteo.

Captain John Terry headed in a corner after 78 seconds and Brazil midfielder Willian doubled the lead with a fierce low shot on the half hour.

A Jan Kirchhoff own goal in the 44th minute made it 3-0 and second-half goals from substitutes Didier Drogba and Ramires allowed Chelsea to extend their unbeaten start to the season to 19 games in all competitions.

"It was a fantastic performance from the first to the last minute...5-0 in Germany is not normal," coach Jose Mourinho told reporters.

"Any team would have struggled against us tonight with the quality we showed."

Schalke, who hit the woodwork in the first half, had little to offer against a rampant Chelsea as coach Di Matteo lost his first meeting against the team he led to Champions League glory in 2012.

Chelsea clinched top spot in Group G with 11 points from five games, four ahead of Sporting who beat Maribor (three) 3-1 on Tuesday.

Schalke, who lost for the first time at home under Di Matteo, are in third position on five points with one match remaining.

"I'm at a loss for words," said Schalke captain Benedikt Hoewedes. "I can only apologise to everyone. We gave Chelsea too much space to play."

DREAM START

Diego Costa, who has scored 11 goals in 10 games in this season's Premier League but none in Europe, raced clear in the first minute but had his shot blocked.

The resulting corner, however, saw Terry beat Hoewedes in the air to give his side a dream start.

Mourinho, bidding to become the first coach to win the Champions League with three different teams, wanted a trouble-free victory to ease the pressure going into a busy period of fixtures and that is precisely what his side gave him.

Chelsea were lucky when Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting's deflected shot bounced off the crossbar but Willian put the hosts firmly in their place with a second goal.

The unfortunate Kirchhoff then headed a left-wing corner, from the outstanding Cesc Fabregas, into his own net on the stroke of halftime.

Drogba tapped the ball into an empty net after being set up by Willian before the Ivorian lofted the ball to the far post for Ramires to nod the fifth goal for the runaway Premier League leaders.

Chelsea's victory equaled their best Champions League away result, 5-0 at Galatasaray in 1999.

(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, editing by Tony Jimenez)

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Terry may return for Chelsea under-21s this week

LONDON - Chelsea captain John Terry, who has been out since November with a knee problem, could take his first step towards a first team comeback by featuring for the club's under-21 team as an over-age player this week.

"The good news is that Terry has been training and we are considering playing him for the Under-21s on Thursday, we will have to see how he feels," interim manager Rafael Benitez told a news conference on Tuesday.

"It will be a different kind of game, but if he is okay and can train the day after, at least we can start considering him as an option. Hopefully he can play some minutes in the short-term," added the Spaniard.

"It's a positive as before he was just doing the warm up, he's getting closer but it depends on his reactions."

Benitez also said goalkeeper Petr Cech would be sidelined for Wednesday's Capital One (League) Cup semi-final first leg at home to Premier League rivals Swansea City.

Cech has missed the last two matches with a leg injury.

Terry, 32, injured his knee against Liverpool in his first match back after serving a four-game ban for racially abusing Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand and was initially expected to be out for three weeks.

The controversial skipper has yet to feature for the European champions under Benitez, who took over 10 hours after the sacking of Roberto Di Matteo in November.

Chelsea are fourth in the Premier League, 14 points behind leaders Manchester United but with a game in hand. Their next league game is at Stoke City on Saturday (1500 GMT). (Writing by Alan Baldwin, Editing by Tom Pilcher)

source: abs-cbnnews.com