Paris St Germain 0 Chelsea 3: Two goals from Didier Drogba, responding to the taunts which used to assail him as a Marseille player here, lifted Chelsea safely through the first test of their Champions League credentials writes Matt Scott at Parc des Princes.
José Mourinho, of course, had nothing to prove after guiding Porto to ultimate victory last season. But this was a new challenge and Chelsea's response would have satisfied his early expectations at least.
John Terry was gifted the opening goal and once Drogba had scored either side of half-time any remaining spring went out of Paris SG's football.
There was no reception more intimidating than that which greeted Drogba, whose spell with PSG's arch-rivals Marseille will not be forgiven in Paris. That dubious welcome disturbed Drogba here last season, when he was restricted to a few, harmless efforts. Even so the Paris coach, Vahid Halilhodzic, was too experienced to ignore Drogba's threat and that of his team-mates. "I'm not scared of one Chelsea player," he said beforehand, "more like 10 or 15."
One of those would have been Drogba's strike partner Eidur Gudjohnsen, but on 10 minutes he was carried off on a stretcher after clashing heads with PSG's captain José-Pierre-Fanfan and needing eight stitches. Mateja Kezman replaced him, and might have opened the scoring with his first touch after being put through by Claude Makelele. Instead he prodded wide from an acute angle.
Mourinho, famed for his meticulous approach, will have been aware that confusion between goalkeeper Lionel Letizi and his defenders cost PSG a goal against promoted Saint-Etienne in their last home match. Chelsea's manager may not have been surprised to benefit from a repeat of that joke defending.
Joe Cole delivered a shot which ricocheted off Bernard Mendy for a corner. Frank Lampard sent in an in-swinging set-piece that had Letizi coming to claim but the goalkeeper was left clutching only his face in shame as he let the ball slip for John Terry to head into an empty net.
The half-time deficit was doubled by an even more comical error. Cole won a midfield challenge with Mendy and looked up to see Kezman bisecting the central defenders with an opportunistic run. Perhaps Pierre-Fanfan was still concussed after his clash with Gudjohnsen, because his placement and that of his partner Helder, left them 10 yards apart, allowing Kezman a free shot at Letizi. The goalkeeper merely blocked that with his legs, allowing the alert Drogba to pop the rebound into an open net.
Paris, in between, had been restricted to long-range efforts. Charles-Edouard Coridon, Lorik Cana and Modeste M'Bami all tried their luck with the latter testing the Petr Cech's palms.
The Chelsea goalkeeper made two good stops from Pedro Pauleta in the second half but the issue was settled on 75 minutes when Drogba punished further lax defending. Helder fouled Kezman, Geremi dummied over the ball at the free-kick and Drogba struck it right-footed over the wall and into the net.
The goal punctured whatever spirit remained among the hosts. In stoppage time Chelsea might even have extend their lead but first Lampard had a shot blocked and then Damien Duff - on as a second-half substitute - saw a shot trickle just wide.
PARIS ST GERMAIN: Letizi, Mendy, Helder, Pierre-Fanfan, Armand, Ogbeche (Pancrate 72), M'Bami, Coridon (Ljuboja 66), Cana, Rothen (Ateba 84), Pauleta. Subs Not Used: Alonzo, Cisse, Ibisevic, Badiane. Booked: Helder.
CHELSEA: Cech, Paulo Ferreira, Gallas, Terry, Bridge, Tiago, Makelele, Cole (Geremi 70), Lampard, Gudjohnsen (Kezman 11), Drogba (Duff 81). Subs Not Used: Pidgeley, Ricardo Carvalho, Mutu, Parker. Booked: Lampard. Goals: Terry 29, Drogba 45, 75.
Referee: M Mejuto Gonzalez (Spain).
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