Chelsea romped to a 5-0 victory away against Schalke to confirm themselves as winners of their Champions League group with a game to spare.
The
Blues took the lead in just the second minute when John Terry headed
home a corner and their superiority was clear from that point onward.
Willian
finished a glorious team move to double their advantage just before the
half-hour before Schalke's Jan Kirchhoff, having a dreadful game and
hauled off at the break moments later, inexplicably headed into his own
net under no pressure from a Chelsea corner.
Jose Mourinho's side
continued to push in the second half and, galvanised by Didier Drogba's
arrival as a substitute, scored two in quick succession through the
Ivorian and then Ramires to turn a convincing win into a humiliation.
With
Champions League-winning former Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo now
in charge, Schalke went into the game unbeaten at home this season but
were utterly outclassed by the visitors' sharp passing and slick
movement up front.
The hosts were still missing Julian Draxler
due to a thigh injury but Dennis Aogo returned to replace Christian
Fuchs after sitting out Saturday's 3-2 Bundesliga win over Wolfsburg as
Di Matteo reverted to a back four.
Mourinho signalled his intent
by sticking with the same team which beat West Brom last time out,
meaning that Thibaut Courtois returned to Champions League action after
being rested for both games against Maribor.
Diego Costa had an early chance on the break which Ralf Fahrmann was forced to turn away for a corner, from which Terry rose highest to head home Cesc Fabregas's delivery with less than two minutes gone.
The
visitors were fortunate to stay in front when an Eric-Maxim
Choupo-Moting shot deflected off Gary Cahill and over Courtois but
bounced back off the crossbar.
Chelsea continued to look
dangerous with some slick passing moves on the counterattack and they
doubled their lead just before the half-hour mark when Willian fired past Fahrmann with a low shot after a neat one-two with Eden Hazard.
Costa
could have made it three when intercepting a poor back-pass but the
striker slipped when rounding the goalkeeper and Fahrmann did well to
save an Oscar volley after a sublime chip from Fabregas.
However,
Jan Kirchhoff capped off a woeful first half for Schalke by heading
into his own net from another Fabregas corner to put Chelsea in total
control.
The hapless Kirchhoff was hauled off at the interval and Terry did well to block an effort from substitute Christian Clemens.
At the other end, Branislav Ivanovic blasted a volley inches over the bar after a lovely cross from Willian on the break.
Just as the match appeared to be petering out, Chelsea broke away from deep and Willian unselfishly passed to Drogba to tap into an open net and the Ivory Coast forward then crossed for Ramires to head in at the far post.
Hazard was denied a sixth in stoppage time by a superb Fahrmann save but it was still a great night for Chelsea.
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