The £50m question: Can Torres save Chelsea’s season?

ONE GAME to make a season, one last chance to save face, one last opportunity to rescue reputations; Chelsea know an unconvincing victory over Wigan is already forgotten because everything, an entire campaign, rests on a Champions League quarter-final second leg at Old Trafford tomorrow.

There was so much in Saturday’s match, won by a solitary goal from Florent Malouda, that explains why Chelsea will no longer be Premier League champions by the time June arrives; a £50m striker who cannot score, a lack of urgency in midfield, a lacklustre approach, a manager who doesn’t know his best system. But all will be forgotten if Chelsea can win at Manchester United in the competition that owner Roman Abramovich covets the most.

“Everyone knows — the manager, the players — that we are playing to save our season,” said midfielder Yossi Benayoun, who made a welcome return from a long-term Achilles injury to provide Chelsea with something to cheer in a largely forgettable performance.

“It’s most likely from here we will finish in the top three or four and be in the Champions League next season. That’s almost done. The only thing left is to try to win a trophy and the only trophy we can win is the Champions League. We have to do our best and give everything.

“If we win this game it will change everything. I’m sure that, if we beat United, we will go to the end and win the trophy. It is our final on Tuesday.”

Benayoun makes it sound so simple but you have to wonder how easy it will be for Chelsea to suddenly switch on the tap that has done little more than drip for the vast majority of the season so far.

Against Wigan they lacked a creative edge, looked one-paced and uninspired — and then saw Fernando Torres’ goalscoring nightmare continue as he found Wigan goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi in outstanding form.

The Spaniard did play a part in Chelsea’s winning goal, but his role was an illegal one — aiming his elbow in Al Habsi’s face as a Didier Drogba corner bobbled around the area before Malouda eventually drove the ball home in the 67th minute to rescue a frustrating afternoon.

Torres had started the game on the bench as manager Ancelotti continued his controversial policy of rotating his three star strikers, largely because he has yet to find a combination that works naturally. And he must now have real concern that his record signing has gone 10 games without hitting the net in a blue shirt and shows few signs of forming an understanding with those around him.

That is largely down to Chelsea’s midfield players, who still look for the runs of Drogba rather than his team-mate, so perhaps the return of Benayoun — a close friend and former Liverpool colleague of Torres — could prove crucial.

“I think for any midfielder it’s great to play with a player like Fernando. For me he is the best striker in the world,” he said. “I’m sure he will score a lot of goals because he is just quality. He was unlucky when he came on. He did everything right.

“I know he didn’t score but if you look at most of the games he’s played for Chelsea he does great movement. I think it was hard to get used to his game. Chelsea are used to playing with Didier, so that means playing up to his body, not playing behind the defenders into the space which is where Fernando wants the ball. As soon as he scores one I can promise you he will be the top scorer — hopefully it’ll come at Old Trafford.”

Ancelotti has already hinted at the part Benayoun could play in Torres’ revival (and he also has defender Alex back from injury following a second-half cameo performance on Saturday) but believes teamwork rather than a flash of individual brilliance could be the key to ending his team’s goalscoring drought.

“Everyone is trying to resolve this problem we have individually,” he admitted. “Obviously it’s better to stay in focus and work more with each other — to stay more in focus on the final pass.

“Sometimes I think we could find a better solution in front and obviously I think it could be better against United. The players have to truly believe that we can win there. I don’t know if they will be able to do this. But at the start of the game you have to believe that you can win.

“I will watch the last match we played against them one, two or three times now because I want to try to do something special for the next game.”

That, no doubt, is what it will take for Chelsea to save their season and reach the semi-finals. But the big question is, do they still have a special one to make it happen?