mourinho back to winning ways published: tuesday 14 september 2004, 21.45cet
paris saint-germain fc 0-3 chelsea fc didier drogba scores twice as chelsea cruise to victory.
by david minton at the parc des princes
josé mourinho's impressive chelsea side overcame the early loss of iceland forward eidur gudjohnsen through injury to record a convincing victory over paris saint-germain fc in the opening game of their uefa champions league group h campaign.
perfect start a john terry header and two strikes from the former olympique de marseille striker didier drogba either side of half-time gave mourinho, a champions league winner with fc porto last season, the full three points in his first champions league game in charge of the west london side.
gudjohnsen injury gudjohnsen's eighth-minute injury was sustained in a collision with psg captain josé pierre-fanfan and both players left the field for treatment to head injuries. though pierre-fanfan returned to the fray, gudjohnsen, badly hurt, was unable to continue and was replaced by mateja kezman.
pauleta goes close pauleta, the portuguese international, had been restored to the starting lineup after coming off the bench against fc istres at the weekend, and midway through the first half the forward went close with a curled effort from 20 metres.
terry scores chelsea took the lead through terry in the 29th minute, the chelsea captain heading into an empty net after the psg goalkeeper, lionel letizi, had failed to claim frank lampard's inswinging corner.
psg fightback going behind spurred psg into adopting a more attack-minded approach and the midfield player modeste m'bami had a vicious effort turned behind for a corner by the impressive petr cech in the chelsea goal. but it was bartholomew ogbeche who spurned psg's clearest chance to get back on terms before the interval, the 19-year-old forward shooting straight at cech after cutting inside on to his right foot.
drogba strikes again drogba, a threat throughout, scored chelsea's second in first-half injury time, following up after kezman had broken the offside trap to latch on to a joe cole through ball. kezman had his effort well saved by the on-rushing letizi, but the ball broke to the ivory coast striker at the edge of the area and he steered it calmly into the bottom corner with his left foot.
half-time changes after the break, chelsea switched to 4-3-3, with joe cole nominally occupying the left wing. however, the england midfield player popped up on the right to draw the first save of the second period from letizi. incisive link-up play between the influential lampard and cole almost resulted in a goal for the latter, but letizi was alert in coming off his line.
ljuboja returns shortly after the hour mark psg coach vahid halihodzic brought on danijel ljuboja for the 26-year-old's first game since sustaining an injury against stade rennais fc on the opening day of the ligue 1 season, and the lively forward offered good support for pauleta. within minutes of coming on, ljuboja almost got psg back into the game, curling a 20-metre free-kick just over the chelsea bar.
drogba's second mourinho brought on the cameroon international midfield player geremi for joe cole as chelsea reverted to 4-4-2 for the final 20 minutes. not long after, a foul on the industrious kezman by hélder saw chelsea awarded a free-kick on the edge of the psg area. with letizi bamboozled by geremi running over the ball, drogba curled the ball over the wall and into the net with the psg goalkeeper rooted to the spot.
europe alerted mourinho looked delighted as the final whistle blew, and chelsea's performance, without being outstanding, will have been noted by the traditional european powers in madrid, milan, turin and manchester.
