Wasteful Chelsea move into quarter-finals
Friday, 18 March 2011
LONDON, Mar 17 (AFP): Chelsea booked their place in the Champions League quarter-finals despite wasting a host of chances in Wednesday's 0-0 draw against Copenhagen in the last 16 second leg match at Stamford Bridge.
Carlo Ancelotti's side went through 2-0 on aggregate and their first leg victory in Denmark meant they were never likely to rue some woeful finishing.
But far sterner tests lie in wait on the road to Wembley and there will have to be a significant improvement if the Blues are to reach the final.
After three successive wins, Ancelotti must be concerned that his team returned to the kind of flawed display that has been the hallmark of Chelsea's inconsistent campaign.
Ancelotti did not seem atall concerned that his strikers have scored just twice in the six matches since signing Fernando Torres for £50million.
"We didn't need to score tonight in any case as we had already won 2-0," said the Italian.
"We had a lot of opportunities, I think it was 24 shots, and didn't take them but I am not worried."
Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech said that he believed the side were back on track after a worrying dip in form earlier in the season.
"All we were missing tonight were goals," said the Czech Republic star.
"But the job was done and we kept a clean sheet.
Nicolas Anelka's brace in the first leg had put Chelsea within touching distance of the last eight and Ancelotti clearly felt the job was all but done as he left Torres, Michael Essien and Florent Malouda on the bench.