Chelsea's revival gathers pace as Schalke are brushed aside

LONDON (AFP) - Chelsea's resurgence under Avram Grant gathered pace as they cruised to a 2-0 win over Schalke 04 in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Grant's side were gifted the lead when Schalke goalkeeper Manuel Neuer let Florent Malouda's shot trickle through his legs before Didier Drogba scored with a second half header at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea are now on a four-match winning run and stretched their unbeaten streak under Grant to six matches. Perhaps suggestions that Jose Mourinho's departure would cause Chelsea to lose their way were premature.

They are back on track to qualify for the knockout stages of Europe's elite club competition and there were even glimpses of the crowd-pleasing football that Roman Abramovich has demanded.

Grant has promised Chelsea will turn on the style after three years of spectacularly effective but often uninspiring football under Mourinho.

While this was hardly the stuff of greatness, it was enough of a contrast to Chelsea's last Group B home match - the dour draw with Rosenborg that signalled Mourinho's departure - to please Abramovich.

The Russian couldn't ask for much more on his 41st birthday and Grant dedicated the win to his boss.

"I haven't seen him yet but if we can bring him a present for his birthday that is good," Grant said. "He did so much for the club, so much for the fans and for football.

"He is a very positive guy. I don't want to speak more about him except to say Happy Birthday."

The Israeli believes Chelsea are gradually playing the kind of attacking football he wants.

"We can play better but on the other hand we played good, positive football," he said.

"We scored two goals and could have scored more. We won and are in first place. I can't ask for more at this moment."

Schalke coach Mirko Slomka felt Drogba's goal killed off his side.

He said: "The goals came at bad moments and that affected our motivation. The second goal was a bitter blow but there may have been a question of it being offside.

"We were unfortunate to hit the post but overall Chelsea were able to cope with everything we offered."

The German club's preparations were hit by Kevin Kuranyi's late withdrawal through injury and Slomka's side still hadn't recovered from the loss of their star striker when they fell behind in the fourth minute.

Chelsea could hardly believe their luck at receiving such a present.

When Drogba flicked Frank Lampard's long pass to Malouda there was no real danger. The France winger tricked his way past Rafinha but his weak shot should still have been simple enough for Neuer.

Instead the Schalke keeper made a complete hash of it and allowed the ball to squirm through his legs into the net.

It was Malouda's first goal since the opening day of the season and he will seldom score so easily.

Chelsea were able to stay in cruise control for long periods, with one prolonged spell of keep-ball frustrated Jermaine Jones so much that the Schalke midfielder earned a booking for scything down Wayne Bridge.

When Michael Essien headed wide from Lampard's corner, it seemed only a case of when Chelsea would score again, but Schalke should have snatched an equaliser moments later.

In the 28th minute, Carlos Grossmuller beat Petr Cech from close range, only to see a linesman's flag rule out his effort.

Television replays suggested Schalke were unlucky not to be level.

That sudden threat re-energised Chelsea and Drogba forced a good save from Neuer with a glancing header from Malouda's cross.

Joe Cole tested Neuer again with a powerful low drive just before half-time as Chelsea raised the tempo.

Drogba claims he wants to leave because Mourinho's departure has affected morale, but you would never know it from his performances.

He had lifted Chelsea out of their post-Mourinho blues with the winner in Valencia and struck again at Middlesbrough on Saturday.

Drogba started and finished the move that led to Chelsea's second goal in the 47th minute.

His pass to Lampard was spread wide to Paulo Ferreira, who whipped in an inviting cross that Drogba dived to head past Neuer from close range.

Schalke's unstinting work-rate was all well and good but they lacked a cutting edge.

When they finally did carve open the Chelsea defence their luck was out.

Rafinha's cross was crying out to be met with a convincing header. Soren Larsen did just that, but held his head in disbelief as the ball cannoned off the post and into Cech's grateful grasp.

Alex was fortunate to escape a red card in the final minutes when he cynically pulled back Larsen as the Schalke striker chased his weak backpass, but Chelsea had done enough.

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Bremen beat Lazio to claim Euro lifeline

BREMEN, Germany (AFP) - Werder Bremen gave themselves a faint Champions League lifeline as they sealed an impressive 2-1 win at home to injury-hit Lazio on Tuesday night.

There had been nervous faces round Bremen's Weserstadion with the home side needing something from the game to revive their fading European aspirations after back-to-back defeats at Real Madrid and home to Olympiakos.

But a first-half goal by Bremen's Ivory Coast striker Boubacar Sanogo calmed the nerves before his Portuguese forward partner Hugo Almeida sealed the win with a second-half strike, before the Italians grabbed a late consolation.

"We were definitely the better team," said Bremen's injured midfielder Tim Borowski.

"Unfortunately, we relaxed a bit too much at the end, but we held on for the win and we have to build on this now to keep our Champions League hopes alive."

This was the Italians first defeat in Group C after draws against the Greek and Spanish champions as Bremen leap-frogged them into third place.

Real top the group thanks to their 4-2 win over Olympiakos in Madrid on Wednesday night which puts the Greeks second.

But this was an injury-hit Lazio with play-maker Stefano Mauri and defender Sebastiano Siviglia the latest added to the list at the weekend.

The Italians also had 43-year-old goalkeeper Marco Ballotta between the sticks and he was tested early on by Brazilian midfielder Diego.

But the home side took the lead on 28 minutes when Diego lobbed the Lazio defence and striker Sanogo held off the challenges to stab his shot home and score his ninth goal of the season.

The game tempo was raised immediately as the Italians stepped up their game and Bremen defender Petri Panansen was yellow carded for a brutal shoulder challenge.

It stayed 1-0 at the break, but the German side kept the pressure on the Italian defence and Portuguese striker Almeida converted the cross of defender Clemens Fritz on 54 minutes.

German international Fritz charged down the wing and whipped his cross in behind the Italian defence for Almeida at the back post.

Apart from picking up three yellow cards, the Italians offered little to worry Bremen goalkeeper Tim Wiese until midfielder Christian Manfredini gave them a consolation goal on 82 minutes to make for a tense finale.

Lazio's Aleksandar Kolarov smashed his free-kick at Wiese who saved only to push the ball into the path of Manfredini who clinically slotted home.

Almeida hit the back of the net in injury-time, but the linesman flagged for off-side.

The win may have opened Bremen's account, but the Germans still have a mountain to climb to keep alive their slim chances of reaching the first knock-out stage.

They must now travel to Lazio's Stadio Olimpico on November 6, before hosting group favourites Real Madrid on November 28 and then travelling to Olympiakos on December 11.

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Double-trouble Robinho repays Real Madrid faith

MADRID (AFP) - Robinho repaid the faith shown in him by Real Madrid coach Bernd Schuster by scoring two crucial second half goals as the Spanish giants edged past 10-man Olympiakos 4-2 in the Champions League here on Wednesday.

The spotlight has been on the Brazilian striker for more than just his scoring ability after he returned late from international duty following Brazil's 5-0 thrashing of Ecuador last week.

He was alleged to have been involved in some late night celebrations which delayed his return to the Spanish capital and Robinho had a face-to-face meeting with Schuster on Monday to provide his explanations.


Nevertheless, Schuster decided to start with Robinho on Wednesday to give him a chance to prove his commitment to the club and, in turn, the player saved Schuster's blushes with a brace of outstanding late goals.

"He's a player who knows how to win games. I'm not going to go back to the other subject. He started hesitantly but after he got his first goal, he was outstanding, playing with much more confidence," praised Schuster.

The victory takes Real Madrid back to the top of the Champions League Group C with seven points from their three games and retains their 100 per cent home record, both in La Liga and in continental competition.

"These were three important points. It makes life a lot less difficult in qualifying for the next round," added a clearly relieved Schuster.

"We suffered. I wasn't happy with the way we started but we showed our character and the players got the fruits of all their hard work," added the German coach, reflecting on the fact that Real had to come from a goal down before triumphing.

Real wasted little time in drawing first blood, with club captain Raul finding the net in under two minutes.

Slack defending left Ruud van Nistelrooy with the space to have a clear shot and although the Olympiakos goalkeeper Antonios Nikopolidis managed to charge down the Dutch striker's shot, the ball fell straight to the feet of Raul.

However, Real were left to regret their over-confidence after taking an early lead.

Olympiakos equalized just five minutes later when former Atletico Madrid midfielder Luciano Galletti was left free to slot home a left foot shot from almost exactly on the penalty spot.

Galletti's goal was created by Predrag Djordjevic, who dashed down the left flank pulling the ball back from the dead ball line.

The drama of the opening exchanges continued unabated when Olympiakos defender Vassilis Torosidis was dismissed after only 12 minutes for holding onto van Nistelrooy on the edge of the penalty area.

However, Olympiakos slowly regained their composure, helped by several good saves by Nikopolidis.

The Greek visitors then stunned the 50,000 Real supporters in the Santiago Bernabeu stadium by taking the lead less than two minutes after the break.

Julio Cesar, who got a Champions League winners medal with Real in 2000, showed his old club he can still turn on the style by breaking free of his marker before pushing the ball past Real goalkeeper Iker Casillas.

Djordjevic was once again the service provider, sending over a free kick for the Brazilian defender to latch onto.

Real immediately turned up the pressure in a bid to get an equaliser but had to wait until the 67th minute when Sergio Ramos' pass from the right wing found Robinho clear at the far post after 67 minutes and the Brazilian's deft low header just sneaked past Nikopolidis.

Robinho almost got his second when he danced through the Olympiakos defence with 13 minutes to go only for Christos Patsatzoglou to take a blatant kick at his shins.

The Norwegian referee Tom Henning Ovrebo had no hesitation in pointing to the penalty spot, and Patsatzoglou was perhaps lucky to stay on the field, but van Nistelrooy then sent the spot kick high into the night.

However, Robinho finally put Real into the lead after 83 minutes when he finished off an inch-perfect pass from van Nistelrooy.

Javier Balboa then added Real's fourth goal two minutes into injury time, the Spanish-born Equatorial Guinea international's first strike in the Champions League.

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Marseille stay top after grappling point from Porto

MARSEILLE, France (AFP) - Struggling French giants Marseille held on to steal a point after being dominated throughout their 1-1 draw against Champions League group A rivals FC Porto on Wednesday.

Both sides could previously boast winning European club football's biggest prize in the past 15 years, but illustrious football was at a premium at the Velodrome despite the conspicuous dominance of 2004 winners Porto.

Mamadou Niang opened the scoring for Marseille late in the second half, but a foul from the hosts' keeper, Steve Mandanda, gave Porto a deserved penalty that was converted by Lucho Gonzalez barely 10 minutes later.

Despite the unwelcome draw, Marseille are still top of their group with a two-point cushion over Porto.

Marseille had created history for a French club by beating Liverpool at Anfield earlier in the group stages but the menace of Porto proved a seemingly more difficult challenge than beating the former European champions.

France's only winners of the European Cup, in 1993, Marseille's defence were kept on their toes in a first-half that was expertly dominated by the visitors who came close twice to silencing the Velodrome inside the first quarter hour.

After nine minutes Porto midfielder Raul Meireles was given time to advance and unleash a shot which Mandanda did well to parry, the ball ricocheting off his post.

Barely five minutes later the increasingly generous hosts' defence gave Raul Meireles another chance to open the scoring, the midfielder unleashing another goalbound drive which hit the post, this time without the aid of Mandanda's hand.

Porto were in command, and it didn't take long for Marseille's Belgian coach Eric Gerets to begin screaming at his men to move up a notch in a bid to stem the flow of Porto's liberated midfield.

It still took until the half hour mark for Marseille to begin resembling an attacking team, a free kick from Boudewijn Zenden forcing Porto keeper Helton to box the ball away with his fists.

Two minutes later the Dutch midfielder aimed a cross at dangerously positioned Djibril Cisse although the ball was bundled to safety.

A 25-metre drive from Bruno Cheyrou, which sailed high and wide of Helton's upright, characterised Marseille's disappointing first half.

After the interval Porto emerged with a similar gameplan and it took only seconds before they came close to breaking the deadlock, a bullet header from Lisandro Lopez forcing Mandanda to tip the ball over the crossbar.

Niang then provided a brief glimmer of hope for the hosts with an angled shot which Helton handled easily.

It was against the run of play, in the 69th minute, that Marseille stunned Porto when Niang defied the close attention of a defender to connect with Cisse's cross-goal pass after the ball had been headed back into the former Liverpool striker's path following Porto's attempt to clear.

Marseille's joy soon ended, however, after Porto won a deserved penalty when Mandanda tripped Lisandro and Lucho Gonzalez beat the keeper to level the scores from the penalty spot.

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Benfica break Celtic with late winner

LISBON (AFP) - Benfica ensured Celtic's miserable away record in the Champions League continued after Oscar Cardozo's late goal handed them a 1-0 victory here on Wednesday.

The Paraguayan striker had spurned a number of chances throughout the match and it had looked as if the Scottish champions would be able to hang on for a rare away point in the competition.

But with only three minutes remaining Cardozo was played in by substitute Angel Di Maria and duly broke Celtic's spirits to give Benfica their first victory in Group D.


The result means Celtic and Benfica are both on three points in the section, behind Ukraine side Shakhtar Donetsk and AC Milan who have six points apiece.

Having lost their opening two games in Group D Benfica started in a determined manner to get their Champions League campaign up and running.

However, with Celtic setting out to keep things tight, the Portuguese side were unable to trouble the visitor's Polish goalkeeper Artur Boruc in the opening stages.

The Scottish side have an awful away record in the competition - with only one draw and 13 defeats in their 14 games before Wednesday - and they almost gifted their hosts the lead in the 23rd minute.

Ireland international Aiden McGeady's misplaced header allowed Leo to race in on goal, his cut back then seemingly created an easy chance for Cardozo but from eight-yards out the Paraguayan failed to get any contact on the ball, under pressure from Stephen McManus.

Celtic were soaking up a lot of pressure but in the 33rd minute only a good save prevented them taking the lead.

Paul Hartley's free-kick was nodded down by New Zealand striker Chris Killen for the onrushing Massimo Donati but the Italian's first-time effort from 12-yards was palmed away by Benfica goalkeeper Quim.

At the other end Boruc was called into action for the first time in the 43rd minute, tipping Konstantinos Katsouranis' net-bound header over his crossbar with an acrobatic leap.

Benfica began the second half with renewed vigour and were again denied by some fantastic goalkeeping in the 51st minute.

Cristian Rodriguez's chip across goal was met by Cardozo and his downward header, from only a few yards out, looked a certain goal until Boruc flung himself low to his right to push the ball away.

A minute later Rui Costa set himself up by rolling the ball through the legs of Donati in the penalty area but then ruined his good work by blasting the ball well over from a tight angle.

Celtic were in danger of being overrun but in the 59th minute McGeady went close to putting them in front when he cut in from the right and struck a powerful shot which required Quim to tip round his post at full-stretch.

Benfica were still doing most of the attacking and within two minutes they were denied twice by the woodwork.

First Rodriguez's shot from 20-yards in the 64th minute was spilled by Boruc into the path of Cardozo who should have done better than smashing the ball off the bar from six-yards.

And then in the 66th minute Cardozo was again inches away from the opener when he spun away from defender John Kennedy and curled a shot past Boruc but which bounced back off the bottom of the post.

But just as it looked like it was not going to be Cardozo or Benfica's night he popped up to score a dramatic late winner in the 87th minute.

Argentine substitute Di Maria's chip over the Celtic defence picked out the Paraguayan perfectly and he chested the ball down before poking it beyond Boruc from eight-yards.

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Four star display eases Milan's nerves

MILAN, Italy, (AFP) - Doubles from Alberto Gilardino and Clarence Seedorf helped ease the sense of crisis enveloping AC Milan as the European titleholders beat Shakhtar Donetsk 4-1 in the Champions League here on Wednesday.

This was only Milan's second home victory this season in any competition and it lifted them up from third to head Group D on goal difference from Shakhtar.

One familiar name missing from the AC Milan teamsheet was Dida, the Brazilian international goalkeeper who was handed a two match ban for his theatrical collapse after a brush with a spectator in their 2-1 loss to Celtic at Hampden Park.


Australian Zeljko Kalac replaced Dida for this must win game if Milan were to put the wheels back on their Champions League defence bid.

Italian World Cup winner Gilardino gave the unsettled San Siro fans the perfect start, heading in Andrea Pirlo's sixth minute corner to the far post.

Kaka, favourite in most quarters to be named FIFA's World footballer Of The Year, had an effort saved by Andriy Pyatov keeping goal for Shakhtar, but two minutes later Gilardino had put AC Milan further ahead.

This time it was the turn of Seedorf to fill the role of provider, sending the ball in from the left for Gilardino to head in to leave Shakhtar with an uphill task of taking anything out of the game.

Shakhtar manager Mircea Lucescu then made the first substitution in defence, bringing on Tomas Hubschman for Alexandr Kucher.

The Ukrainian visitors came out for the second half in feisty mood and in the 51st minute they were rewarded by the quick thinking of striker Cristiano Lucarelli, back in Italy for the first time since leaving Serie A side Livorno in the summer.

Kalac, proving an able replacement to Dida, was up to saving Brandao's shot after a fluffed clearance from Milan defender Massimo Oddo but the ball was deflected into the path of Lucarelli who volleyed into an empty net.

But Seedorf then extinguished Shakhtar's hopes of drawing level when killing off the tie with his own double in the 63rd and 69th minutes.

His first goal, a pinpoint left-footed volley, came off a corner from Pirlo and the second, a fine 45-metre volley after a spineless Kalac punch.

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Ballack insists he will play again this year

BERLIN (AFP) - German captain Michael Ballack insisted he will play again this year, despite reports in the press here the Chelsea midfielder will not make his comeback until 2008.

The 31-year-old has been out with an ankle injury since April 22 and German national team doctor Hans-Wilhelm Mueller-Wohlfahrt said last week Germany's captain is still a few weeks away from resuming training.

But according to a report in Wednesday's edition of German magazine Sport-Bild, Ballack will not play again until 2008.

Speaking on German television channel Premier after watching his side's 2-0 Champions League win over Bundesliga side Schalke 04 on Wednesday night, Ballack insisted he will be back in Premier League action for Chelsea later this season.

"I am not a doctor, I am just a player, but I think I will be playing again this year, the pain has almost gone," he insisted.

"I will need to work hard in training to get my fitness up, but I plan to play again this year.

"I don't know where that information came from, I am very optimistic of my prospects of training with Chelsea again soon.

"It is not like a cruciate knee ligament injury when a player knows he will be back in six months.

"My injury is complicated, but I can reassure you I will do all I can to return as fast as I can."

Ballack injured his ankle in April's Premier League clash with Newcastle and required two operations.

The midfielder has missed seven German internationals as his country became the first side to qualify for next summer's Euro 2008 tournament.

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