Chelsea 2 Porto 0
For a brief, tantalising period here, Chelsea felt restored. José Mourinho was back celebrating goals in rather matter-of-fact fashion, as if the sight of his team stamping their authority over jittery visitors in this arena was merely to be expected. Roman Abramovich was clapping his team’s success from his box high in the West Stand, that all too familiar grin plastered across his face. Branislav Ivanovic, arms plastered to his sides, was even making smart interceptions to deflect goal-bound shots wide. This was like old times.
The hope is this was actually a portent of better things to come, and a reminder of underlying qualities. After a campaign marked so regularly by trauma rather than triumph, Chelsea can at least thrill at the prospect of a Champions League knockout tie in the new year. A game they needed to win to top the standings was effectively secured early – it was a comfortable victory, and there have been precious few of those this year – granting a rather deceptive look to the final Group G table. They finished two points clear at the top, and three away from Porto. Given how slapdash this term has been, that alone was cause for delight.
The hosts may have started the evening top of the section, but this had always been an occasion likely to shred the nerves. Chelsea, once invincible in these parts, boast no fear factor at present. A quartet of opposing English clubs have already thrived at Stamford Bridge this season to ensure Porto, despite never having won in England on 15 previous visits, arrived cautiously optimistic their hosts were there for the taking. Julen Lopetegui’s side resemble the kind of aggressively imposing team Mourinho might have constructed to pursue the Premier League back in the mid-2000s, the likes of Danilo and Giannelli Imbula a powerful presence in midfield.
In the circumstances, the decision to omit Cesc Fàbregas to ensure Chelsea’s own centre was not too “lightweight” bore a certain logic.
Ramires brought energy and bite, John Terry some reassurance at the back, with Diego Costa restored up front and intent upon infuriating his markers in whatever way he could. His raw strength in the air offered reminders of his quality. He had actually reserved the defeat at the Estádio do Dragão in September for one of his better displays this season, coming as it had in the midst of a domestic suspension and allowing him to take his frustration out on the Portuguese.
This threatened to be more of the same though the vaguely ridiculous trip on Iker Casillas midway through the opening period, the Spain goalkeeper having long since claimed the ball, was utterly needless and earned a booking which had Mourinho muttering under his breath in the technical area. At least, by then, Chelsea had the early advantage they had so craved with Porto reduced to chasing the tie.
The lead had been rather gifted to the hosts. Ramires won the ball back smartly in midfield, with Eden Hazard clipping a precise pass to liberate Costa, bursting through Iván Marcano's challenge, to the edge of the penalty area. If that was promising then the striker's attempt bore all the scars of his recent crisis in confidence, lacking in conviction and struck too close to Casillas, only for the ball to fly off the goalkeeper's right hand, on to the retreating Marcano's left shoulder and rebound back towards the gaping net. Maicon did his best to hack it away, but his clearance was from behind the line with the official standing by the goal, Baris Simsek, immediately indicating Porto had been breached. It was the fifth own goal to benefit Chelsea this term. Only Willian, with six free-kicks, boasts a better tally to date.
The Brazilian would be celebrating a seventh from open play before the end. As it was, Chelsea might even have added to their tally before the break, Oscar’s shot flicking off the over-worked Marcano after neat interplay with Willian only to dribble marginally wide of a post.
Porto were flustered, unsettled by Costa and unable to discomfort a back-line that has proved vulnerable all season. Thibaut Courtois had saved sharply from Yacine Brahimi early on, palming the Algerian’s shot away at the near-post, as Chelsea laboured to clear their lines, but it was Lopetegui who appeared more frazzled on the sidelines as Costa and Willian forced Casillas into further blocks. Brahimi had excelled in Portugal in the game earlier in the section, constantly isolating Branislav Ivanovic. Here he felt too peripheral.
Instead it was Willian who thrust the contest further out of the visitors’ reach. There was delight to be had in the fact Costa and Hazard combined in the build-up, the striker nodding down for the Belgian to collect, drift in-field across the edge of the box and slip the Brazilian free down the right. Willian had burst beyond Miguel Layún and spat away his shot long before the sliding Bruno Martins Indi could intercept, the ball careering inside Casillas’s near-post to provoke an outpouring of relief from the stands.
Lopetgui’s response was desperate, flinging on the attacking reinforcements who might have been better employed from the start. Cristian Tello did draw a fine save from Courtois in the frantic pressure they attempted to whip up, but the hosts’ transformation should have been complete with goals for Hazard and Costa before the end. The former struck the base of the post after bursting through, while Costa twice bore down on goal only for poor control to let him down at the last. The striker actually departed to a standing ovation. For once, such profligacy had not proved costly.
(Guardian Service)
