Champions League
October 3, 2007
And that's it!Chelsea fall to sleep! Villa pulls out wide on the left and is free! But he falls over when shooting and an amazing chance to level it goes begging
Time's up now, a free-kick to Valencia at the death
Zigic goes down in the area. Was Terry tugging him back? No! Play on!
Valencia and peppering the area with crosses. Desperate scenes for Chelsea
...he fails to get proper contact on the shot and the ball loops onto the top of the net. A chance wasted
Chelsea break up the other end, Drogba shows great strength to hold off his man and the loose ball falls to Kalou ten yards out...
Villa cuts inside looking to get a shot away, there seems to be a pull of the shirt by Ferreira in the box put the ref gives nothing
Into injury time - not long for Chelsea to hold on now
Corner for Valencia. Arizmendi, on for Joaquin, wins the header - there's no direction but a foul is given in Chelsea's favour
Mikel John Obi gets booked while being substituted - he went off very slowly. Alex is on
Cech take his time over the goal-kick. All part of the fun.
Zigic again wins the ball in the air but his knock back across the area is missed by Silva
Valencia push on and the ball breaks for Marchena on the edge of the box - a thunderous shot goes inches wide
Now Salomon Kalou comes on for Malouda as Chelsea look to eat up the seconds
A change for Chelsea now as Essien, feeling that hamstring, is replaced by Steven Sidwell for his Champions League debut
Carvalho has taken a knock now and on comes the physio - he got injured in winner the header from the corner
Chelsea's corner comes in from Malouda, Carvalho wins the header without any real purchase and Drogba can't get an outstretched boot on the loose ball
Essien has a shot and sees it deflected for a corner - and he pulls up with a hamstring injury. Will he recover like Drogba, though
Valenica have yet to test Cech other than the goal. You'd espect more from the home side. Very disappointing
Marchena gets booked for a late tackle on Carvalho
Now Joaquin crosses from the right, Makelele heads away
Again the cross comes in from the right, this time from Miguel, but it's poor and straight into the long arms of Cech
Free-kick to Chelsea now - 30 yards from goal. Drogba and Malouda take a look at it. It's Drogba, the effort lacks pace and Hilderbrand makes a meal of it but eventually collects
The corner comes in and is cleared only as far as Silva on the edge of the box - his first time drive is over the bar
Joaquin's deep cross finds a stretching Zigic at the back stick - he can't keep it in. Amazingly the ref gives a corner despite Cech letting it go
Ruben Baraja is on for David Albelda
Can Chelsea hold on now? Valencia are going to have to push forward for a leveller.
What a pass from Joe Cole! Then Drogba showed fine pace and strength to hold off Albiol, break into the area and fire into the corner past Hilderbrand. Superb goal!
GOAL!!!Zigic's first act is to win a towering header in the box but he can't direct it. The ball breaks and Joe Cole does well to win in and play a great ball over the top for Drogba through the middle...
It hasn't taken long for Kaka to equalise from the spot against Celtic
A change for Valencia as Fernando Morientes is replaced by Nikola Zigic
Marchena tries his look from 25 yards - it's well wide
It's played in from the right, Hilderbrand comes to get it and a foul is given against Obi
Moretti heads Joe Cole's cross behind, corner to Chelsea
The game's gone a little bitty now, lots of niggly fouls but few goalmouth chances
Amazing scoreline from Glasgow: Celtic 1-0 AC Milan
Nice picture of Avram Grant stroking his hair. Nice to see a grandad being allowed on to the bench
Rosenborg 0-1 Schalke - Jermaine Jones (62)
Morientes is penalised for handball, looked a bit harsh - perhaps more his shoulder
Makelele is finally led to the side as Steve Sidwell warms up
Makelele gets a bit of treatment after picking up a knock when caught late by Joaquin, a bit of a delay here
NO! The offside flag is up and Valencia's celebrations are halted. Villa was offside when Morientes chested the ball on. If Villa had left it to Morientes maybe the Spanish side would be back in front
GOAL!!!Joaquin plays a beaut of a ball to Morientes inside the D. He chests it down to run on to and suddenly Villa appears rushing on to it...
Joe Cole gets onto Drogba's flick on but the offside flag goes up. Not sure who against - it's a very odd deicision. Wrong, in fact
Joaquin delivers the corner - Moretti at the back post can only head wide
Joaquin looks for Villa inside the area - Carvalho takes no chances and heads behind
Chelsea playing well right now - but can they make it count?
Obi is hurt after being caught by a towering climb from Albelda, but he'll be fine. Free-kick to Chelsea
Villa is penalised for a foul on Malouda. Again, not a free-kick even though it's given and Valencia should have a corner
Chelsea will hope to spend more time in the Valenica half this 45, rather than relying on breaks
Terry gets his head on a cross from Joe Cole but can only guide it wide. It might have been better being left for Carvalho who was steaming in unmarked behind him
Drogba's back out and seems fine. Mind you, Drogba never looks gravely injured in a game only to continue now does he?
The teams are out for the second half and Valencia kick-off
And there goes the half-time whistleDrogba seems to be moving fine now - hopefully he'll be back after the break
Two minutes to be added on
Joaquin gets a bit of treatment after getting an unintentional stray finger in the eye. He'll be fine though
Suddenly Ferreira gets space on the right and drops a good cross to the back post which is just beyond Drogba - but Drogba pulls up holding his hamstring. Chelsea can't lose their talismanic striker surely?
Chelsea playing possession football now, nothing to hurry about as half-time approaches
Carvalho superbly holds off Villa and is clearly kicked by the Spaniard - one which the ref this time misses!
Drogb's looking a little groggy after a collision - the smelling salts seem to do the trick!
Avram Grant will surely be hoping for a little more attacking flow in the second period, though a point here would not be a bad result
Closing in on half-time now, both sides beginning to look ready for the break
Essien comes forward an slips through Drogba - but the ball just wasn't right as the Ivorian changed his run. He'd have been onside too.
It's still goalless between Schalke and Rosenborg in the other group game
Obi slides in and wins the ball from Joaquin but for some reason the ref gives a free-kick again. We'll soon be watching a non-contact sport
Joe Cole plays a good free-kick to the back post, Drogba wins the header and it goes wide - but there's a foul by Terry anyway
Drogba wins a free-kick from Albiol this time, again a very weak decision
Valencia have been the better side, that's for sure, but they do look very suspect at the back which will give Chelsea hope
Villa tries his luck from distance - it's dragged well wide from 20 yards out
Drogba seems to have got the better of Abiol on the left - but the ref's spotted a foul and brings the play back
Cech cheakily sidesteps Villa as the Spanish striker rushed in to close down a clearance - the Chelsea fans liked that
We're just hearing that UEFA have given Chelsea's goal as an Emiliano Moretti own goal. They're wrong! He slid in with Joe Cole but did not get the touch
Now Morientes takes the ball inside the area, he juggles looking to force the overhead kick but Carvalho is strong and doesn't allow him the room
Villa blasts way over the bar with Cech sprawled from the original move. He should have scored
Joaquin again gets space outside the area and is able to break inside the box. He turns one defender but Makelele is across to make a fine block, but the rebound falls to Villa on the edge of the box with the goal gaping...
Chelsea survive a real scramble in the the box with Ashley Cole the hero making two blocks from Morientes and then Silva. Panic for a moment but Chelsea survive.
Drogba shows great control to latch on to a big kick from Cech, turns Helguera and fires a rapier shot just a foot over the bar. Great skill and close to a second
Villa takes the free-kick looking to get real whip on the shot, but it's high, wide and hansom
Free-kick to Valencia just outside the box after Silva was felled. It's right on the left corner of the box.
A rapid break finishes with a simple tap-in for Joe Cole. All square!
GOAL!!!Chelsea immediately break. Malouda is found inside the box, he shows his pace to push on and put the ball across the face of goal...
Great chance for Silva as Joaquin finds himself through on goal on the right, but his shot lacks any pace and is straight at Cech
Morientes and Silva link up well, but the latter's cross lacks accuracy and Ashley Cole is able to head back into the arms of Cech
The corner comes to Carvalho at the back stick but he can only head back across goal and it comes to nothing
Finally Chelsea see the ball in the Valencia half. Ashley Cole finds Drogba on the edge of the box, he turns and sees a shot defelected wide of the post
Silva looks to trick Ferreira one way and the next and takes one turn too many - Makelele comes in to rob him
Joaquin wins a free-kick for a tug-back by Malouda... he didn't touch him... shock
Drogba looks to run onto the slide-rule pass from Joe Cole - it's too powerful and easy for Hilderbrand to come out and claim
Morientes goes down with a knock after challenging with Essien. He'll be okay
Terry wins a header with his protective face mask on. Shades of Gazza!
Valencia are growing in confidence now and with Chelsea down-trodden will look to hammer home the advantage
Joe Cole tries to make progress down the right - good defending by Moratti ends his run
Terry's lack of pace was exposed there as Villa took full advantage of the slice of look, ghosting past the England skipper to finish underneath Cech. Now it's an uphill struggle for Avram Grant
GOAL!!!All of a sudden Valenica have a chance, a cruel rebound off the shoulder of a defender puts the ball through and Villa's running onto it...
It's been a good start from Chelsea without any sign of danger going forward
Mikel finds Ferreira on the right, it's a deep cross but Drogba gone to the near post meaning Miguel can clear his lines
Mikel finds Ashley Cole on the left, but again it's a poor cross and it dribbles to Hildebrand
Joaquin tries a very speculative shot from 40 yards which was never going to bother Cech, who collects
Essien plays a ball into the box looking for Malouda but in the end it's too close to Hildebrand
It's been a fast paced start, Valencia giving the Chelsea players no time on the ball to settle
Chelsea need to have a good start here to put behind them the woes of the last two weeks.
Great early move from Valenica and it's David Silva who fires over the bar from the left. Just 35 seconds gone there
And Chelsea get the match startedValencia, who defeated Schalke in Gelsenkirchen in their first Group B match, make three changes to the side that beat Recreativo Huelva at the weekend, with Joaquin Sanchez, Fernando Morientes and captain David Albelda all starting tonight's game. It means that Valencia coach Quique Sanchez Flores keeps faith with German goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand in place of veteran Santiago Canizares.
Terry's defensive partner Ricardo Carvalho is also included in Avram Grant's first XI after recovering from the injury which has kept him sidelined since the opening week of the season. Michael Essien, whose last-gasp goal at the Mestalla last season helped Chelsea reach the semi-finals of the Champions League, is also passed fit to start following his calf problem.
Captain John Terry takes his place in the Chelsea starting line-up for tonight's Champions League clash with Valencia at the Mestalla. Terry had been a doubt for the game after undergoing an operation on the broken cheekbone he sustained at the weekend, but the England centre-half figures against Valencia wearing a protective face mask.




The final whistle has gone, a superb display from Chelsea to come back for a 2-1 victory. Maybe now Chelsea can get their season back on track?