UCL: Chelsea vs. Valencia

Now this makes me feel a lot better. All day at work I wondered about this match because I didn't have access to my cell phone and soccer score app. I knew Chelsea either needed a win or a scoreless draw to go through, and I just could not FATHOM the Blues not being in the knockout stage. Needless to say, I was thrilled when I saw the full time result.

PHOTO: FOXSOCCER.COM


That photo pretty much says it all. Didier Drogba was the MAN for AVB and Chelsea today. Anybody who thinks Drogba is washed up just needs to check out this match. His strength and will pretty much dominated.

Chelsea got off to cracking start in the opening minutes. In the second minute of the match, Raul Meirles sent in a screamer shot that Valencia 'keeper Diego Alves managed to corral. It was just foreshadowing though. A minute later Juan Mata dished a ball into the 18 for Drogba, who used a side step to beat the Valencia defender and knock a goal inside the far post to make it 1-0 to the Blues.

The Spaniards didn't roll over however. At that point, all they needed was a goal and they tried to grab it. Really the next 5-10 minutes were probably the best in the match for them. In the 5th minute they came close as Jordi Alba struck the post. Then in the 9th minute David Albelda sent a strike in on goal that forced Petr Cech to make a great save to keep it level.

Chelsea weren't done though, and in the 22nd minute they made their situation a lot more comfortable. Drogba was again involved, this time dishing the ball to Ramires, who went through a flabbergasted Valencia defense and scored to make it 2-0 to Chelsea.

The Blues strategy in the second half was to let Valencia have the ball and try to hit them on the counter. They did hit them as well. Daniel Sturridge continued to prove dangerous as he got off a couple of shots but couldn't find pay dirt. Finally in the 76th minute, Chelsea put it away. Juan Mata again hooked up with Drogba, who just managed to roll a shot past Alves and into the goal to make it 3-0 Chelsea.

Valencia never really threatened after that. They were pretty much worn out. The end of the match petered out in a foul fest with a lot of standing around, and Chelsea took the 3-0 win.

Gary Neville thought that this was Chelsea's best performance of the season. I don't know that I'd go that far, but it was certainly better than anything of late. A couple of areas concern me though. One, Daniel Sturridge has been on form and really aggressive, but there were a couple of instances in this one where he took a shot but really should have passed for a better scoring chance. Still, he's looking to score which is great. Hopefully he can put his head up just a little bit more. On the other hand, David Luiz turned in a good solid performance today, and John Terry was really in charge at the back. Hopefully the young Brazilian can keep playing more like he did in today's win.

With the win, Chelsea win group B. That's important, because they'll avoid the likes of Barca in the next round. Still, second place in that group is AC Milan, which is no picnic either.