Soccer: Chelsea silence Turks with victory

Besiktas 0 Chelsea 2

Claudio Ranieri’s men needed only a point to go into Friday’s draw for the last 16 as one of the seeded clubs, but they impressively rose above the hostile atmosphere in the Aufschalke Arena and claimed all three against the disappointing Turkish champions.

Coach Ranieri surprised everyone with his formation, reverting to a back three of John Terry, William Gallas and skipper Marcel Desailly, and went with Hasselbaink and Jesper Gronkjaer up front.

UEFA had switched this game from Istanbul in the interests of safety following recent terrorist attacks there, but the angry locals were determined to make Chelsea feel as if they were in Turkey.

The Turks opened at a charging pace as they rose to the occasion, determined to get the win they needed to secure their passage into the next phase as group winners.

That early enthusiasm was short-lived, however, and fortunately Chelsea looked calm and composed, building well down the left flank with Celestine Babayaro, Geremi and Gronkjaer.

Chelsea were strolling, but had a very lucky escape a minute before the break. Daniel Pancu looked yards offside as he chased a long clearance but the flag stayed down and fortunately for an anxious looking Ranieri the Besiktas man blazed his shot wide of the near hand post.

The start to the second half was delayed as the fans hurled rolls and rolls of toilet tissue onto the pitch, covering the entire area to the left of Cudicini’s goal, and an army of stewards had to rush on to clear it up.

The referee decided to take the players back off the pitch to protect them from the cold. When they finally emerged for the restart some eight minutes had elapsed.

It was no surprise when Chelsea grabbed a thoroughly deserved goal after 77 minutes. Geremi pounced on a loose ball to and passed to Duff who fed it through to Hasselbaink inside the penalty area.

He made no mistake in slotting it past Cordoba and into the bottom left corner.

Bridge replaced Babayaro after 82 minutes and was celebrating two minutes later with his first goal for the club.

He was the spare man on the overlap on the left edge of the box and when Hasselbaink set him up he drilled a low shot into the bottom far corner to seal a super European night for the Blues.

BESIKTAS: Cordoba, Asik, Guiaro, Zago, Havutcu, Sulun (Hassan 81), Dobra (Koc 69), Pancu, Uzulmez, Yalcin (Metin 74), Mansiz.

CHELSEA: Cudicini, Johnson, Gallas, Desailly, Terry, Babayaro (Bridge 83), Geremi, Makelele, Lampard, Gronkjaer (Duff 72), Hasselbaink.