Chelsea labour but still get through

Group G / Chelsea 0 Sparta Prague 0: Chelsea qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League for the first time in four years last night but the celebrations belonged to the visitors.

The London side have been accepted into the ranks of European football's aristocrats thanks to their summer investment and so the role of the plucky underdog was played by Sparta.

The Chelsea fans present believed they had come to witness a final home win to their side's group phase campaign. But there was no happy closure to the match, and, in this light, it will come as a particular relief for the Chelsea manager that he does not have to take his side to Istanbul for the match against Besiktas that will decide who tops Group G, UEFA having chosen to relocate the fixture for fear of terrorist threat.

Having swatted Lazio 4-0 in Rome, Chelsea began this match standing on the threshold of something special.

Was it, then, nerves that stood in Chelsea's way? An uncharacteristically faltering first-half performance caused Ranieri to become increasingly animated and agitated on the sidelines.

The Italian was frustrated at his team's tendency to over-complicate their moves, slowing the progress to goal. Above the 40,000 voices in attendance, Ranieri's could be heard screaming: "Pass the ball forward!"

His irritation was excusable. Though some incisive positions were engineered, it was not until Frank Lampard's dipping drive fizzed over the bar on 20 minutes that Sparta's disciplined defence had reason to gasp.

But Ranieri's hoarse instructions were heard by his players and gradually they secured a better grasp on the game. Hernan Crespo headed against the bar, with Adrian Mutu stabbing the rebound back to the Argentinian from under the goalkeeper's body. Crespo had the ball in the net but was called back for offside.

Lampard came close again from 20 yards out, as did Joe Cole, but Libor Sionko might have punished the home side's lack of penetration when he headed Rastislav Michalik's cross just wide.

The visitors forever left eight bodies behind the ball, ensuring the home side would need some particular brilliance to find a route through and so it was that, seconds after the restart, Cole found Mutu with an exquisite through ball.

Mutu's shot squirted off to Damien Duff who took a shot which deflected to Crespo, who tried to back-heel the ball into the net.

Ranieri tried to inject fresh impetus into his side by replacing Crespo with Eidur Gudjohnsen and Cole with Geremi. The Cameroon international swung in a free-kick from the left that John Terry's head sent flashing back across the face of goal.

But the true impotence of Chelsea came when Mutu escaped Sparta's rearguard, racing clear to go one-on-one with the goalkeeper Jaromir Blazek. His low shot went round the post, summing up the frustrations of his manager and fans.

Guardian Service

CHELSEA: Cudicini, Melchiot, Terry, Gallas, Bridge, Duff, Makelele, Lampard, Cole (Geremi 73), Crespo (Gudjohnsen 73), Mutu. Subs Not Used: Ambrosio, Babayaro, Desailly, Hasselbaink, Gronkjaer.

SPARTA PRAGUE: Blazek, Pergl, Hubschman, Homola, Labant, Poborsky, Kovac, Zelenka (Flachbart 87), Krmas, Michalik (Igor Gluscevic 72), Sionko (Jezek 90). Subs Not Used: Kouba, Kincl, Jun, Zboncak.

Referee: Claus Bo Larsen (Denmark).