Chelsea recorded an emphatic 3-0 win over Valencia on Tuesday night at Stamford Bridge to guarantee their place in the knockout rounds of the Champions League.
The result was never really in doubt as two early goals helped settle the home faithful’s nerves and the victory will be a big boost for under-fire coach Andre Villas Boas.
Veteran striker Didier Drogba followed on from his goal against Newcastle at the weekend by opening the scoring after only three minutes, before Brazilian midfielder Ramires doubled The Blues’ advantage on he 22 minute-mark.
Drogba wrapped up the victory in style by getting his second 14 minutes from the end, in what had the potential to be a difficult game for the home team.
Coach Villas Boas feels the win has done much to prove the side’s doubters wrong, and is looking forward to the draw for the next round.
“To be fair, in the Premiership games, in four games we had three clean sheets, so our defence is not that bad and we have been improving a lot,” he told Sky Sports.
“There has been a lot of criticism to our players and I think they gave everybody a slap in the face today.
“We managed to stay in the competition, qualified first and we eagerly await the draw to see how far we can go,” he stated.
An added bonus for the Stamford Bridge outfit is Bayer Leverkusen’s 1-1 draw with Genk in the other Group E game, which means that the English club top the pool.
Chelsea are back to Premier League commitments this weekend, as they host current leaders Manchester City on Monday night.
By Gareth McKnight
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