Chelsea 3 Olympiakos 0 Chelsea win on 3-0 aggregateAVRAM GRANT can only dream that Chelsea's progress in the Champions League will remain this serene over the next two months. While Manchester United and Arsenal were subjected to testing examinations before taking their place in the last eight, Chelsea secured their quarter-final berth with consummate ease last night.
Olympiakos rallied late on as Carlo Cudicini made two fine saves in the final 10 minutes but, by then, Chelsea had long celebrated victory.
It is now 60 matches unbeaten in all competitions for Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, a record that the Greek champions were never in danger of troubling on an evening when the chasm between the two sides was so great it felt like a trick of the mind that this was a Champions League knock-out tie.
Olympiakos were hopelessly out of their depth at this level as Michael Ballack, Frank Lampard and Salomon Kalou exposed their frailties.
Olympiakos's record in England - the Greek side had lost all seven of their previous visits and conceded at least two goals on each occasion - served to embolden Chelsea, but the pre-match preparations had not all gone to plan for Grant's side.
Much of the build-up had focused on the selection dilemmas facing the manager but no one had legislated for the absence of Petr Cech, with the goalkeeper believed to have picked up an ankle injury before the game last night.
With two goals arriving inside the first 25 minutes, Chelsea need not have feared that Cech being sidelined would be a telling factor here, although suggestions that he could be out for up to a month will, nonetheless, trouble Grant.
The same could not be said for Olympiakos, who were left gasping for breath following a ferocious opening period that set the tone for a dominant Chelsea performance in which the only doubt surrounded the margin of the home team's victory.
So comfortable were Chelsea that Didier Drogba, restored to the starting line-up in place of Nicolas Anelka, and Kalou, deployed on the left in an attacking trident which also featured Joe Cole, were showboating before half-time. John Terry had also taken the opportunity to maraud forward on occasions, a measure of the confidence coursing through a Chelsea side which scored inside five minutes through the enterprising Ballack.
Lampard was the architect, the England midfielder whipping a right-footed cross towards the corner of the six-yard box which Ballack, timing his run impeccably, headed emphatically inside the near post. Ashley Cole's quick throw-in had exposed a lack of concentration within the Olympiakos rearguard and the Greek side's defending was little better when Lampard and Ballack later.
A clearance from Predrag Djordjevic carried more height than distance, encouraging Claude Makelele to maintain Chelsea's pressure. The Frenchman's header duly found Terry in space on the corner of the penalty area, inviting the captain to glance into the path of Ballack, whose angled drive could only be parried by Antonios Nikopolidis. Lampard, with the goal at his mercy from two yards, could not miss.
Olympiakos were crestfallen. Chelsea were rampant, the home team tearing forward at every opportunity, with even Makelele seeking to make his mark as he tested Nikopolidis from distance. Such speculative shooting might have smacked of desperation on another night but there was nothing fraught about Chelsea.
Normal service was resumed less than three minutes after the break when Olympiakos once again self-destructed. Lampard, an influential figure throughout, drifted an inswinging corner towards the near post and, following a slight touch from Drogba, Kalou was afforded the time and space to take a touch inside the six-yard box before bundling the ball beyond the stranded Nikopolidis to embellish the scoreline.
A rout beckoned and the fourth goal should have arrived five minutes later when Kalou's pass released Lampard only for the midfielder to drag a right-footed shot wide. But it mattered little.
Olympiakos' attacking threat was negligible and it was not until the 61st minute, when the substitute Fernando Belluschi drilled a hopeful shot towards the centre of the Chelsea goal, that Carlo Cudicini had reason to be present.
CHELSEA: Cudicini, Ferreira, Carvalho, Terry, Ashley Cole, Ballack, Makelele, Lampard (Essien 76), Kalou (Malouda 70), Drogba, Joe Cole (Wright-Phillips 79). Subs Not Used: Hilario, Alex, Belletti, Anelka. Booked: Lampard, Ferreira, Terry.
OLYMPIAKOS: Nikopolidis, Zewlakow, Julio Cesar, Antzas, Pantos, Ledesma (Belluschi 53), Patsatzoglou, Torosidis (Sisic 75), Djordjevic (Leonardo 57), Stoltidis, Kovacevic. Subs Not Used: Sifakis, Nunez, Mendrinos, Konstantinou. Booked: Pantos.
Referee: Manuel Gonzalez (Spain).
