Gallas the ace, Duff the inspiration

Sparta Prague 0 Chelsea 1

Gallas, whose only previous Champions League goal came for Marseilles against Manchester United, struck with five minutes left after Hernan Crespo had wasted a hat-trick of chances and Adrian Mutu had gone off injured.

However, Claudio Ranieri was also particularly indebted to a sparkling second-half display by substitute Damien Duff, who lit up the darkness of a tepid first-half. The Republic of Ireland international, who had spoken out ahead of the game at his frustration in not finishing enough games, had initially been left on the bench in Prague.

However, with a tactical switch that brought his team to life, Ranieri brought the winger on at the interval and it was Duff who provided the cross from which Gallas in his first start of the season made the breakthrough.

With Juan Sebastian Veron also rising to the occasion in the second-half, Chelsea, who rediscovered some defensive resilience, therefore emerged with a highly creditable, if hardly sparkling, win.

Ranieri may have insisted he has no plans to field essentially separate teams in the Premier League and Champions League.

However, there were seven changes to the line-up that defeated Tottenham last weekend and it seemed initially more like Chelsea FC (European division), as mostly players with proven Champions League pedigree were selected.

One of those, Romanian international Mutu, rose to head a cross by Glen Johnson narrowly past the post after just two minutes.

However, even though Crespo, on his full debut, also shot straight at keeper Jaromir Blazek from Emmanuel Petit's through-ball, Sparta were increasingly putting Chelsea under pressure.

Gallas was making only his first start of the season after injury problems amid such strong competition for places, but he insisted that the Blues' strong team spirit had inspired him.

After all, even though Damien Duff had complained before the game at being substituted too often, he responded perfectly to initially being on the bench with a sparkling second-half display.

The French international is hardly renowned for his scoring feats. However, he insisted: "My goal is for everyone, for the whole squad. We have a good team and a lot of good players.

"It is very difficult to play but, when you do play, you must give the maximum. This time I scored but next time it might be one of the others."

Gallas added: "I hadn't played for one month so it was very difficult for me. In the first-half, my positioning was not very good, but in the second-half, I was much better."

Claudio Ranieri certainly faces a tough battle in keeping his entire squad content but he was delighted at the impact which Gallas had made after being preferred to John Terry in defence.

He said: "William played very well and deserved to score a goal. It was a great display and a great attitude shown by not only William but the whole squad."

Ranieri certainly rang the changes fron the Spurs game last weekend, with mostly players with proven European pedigree being selected.

Despite a tepid first-half display, he was therefore still delighted at the way that a relatively makeshift line-up had performed, with Crespo and Claude Makelele both making their full debuts.

The Chelsea boss said: "It was the first time that two or three of my players had played together with everyone else so it's not easy to get it right quickly. But that is the reason I'm very happy now."

SPARTA PRAGUE: Blazek, Labant (Jezek 87), Johana, Petras, Nemec, Poborsky, Michalik (Zboncak 56), Kovac, Hubschman, Jun, Igor Gluscevic.

CHELSEA: Cudicini, Johnson, Gallas, Desailly, Bridge, Geremi, Veron, Makelele, Petit, Crespo (Hasselbaink 72), Mutu (Duff 46).

Referee: Helmut Fleischer (Germany).