No trouble for Chelsea

Chelsea marched into the second round of the UEFA Cup with another polished performance against the Bulgarian champions, as goals…

Chelsea marched into the second round of the UEFA Cup with another polished performance against the Bulgarian champions, as goals from John Terry and Eidur Gudjohnsen gave them a 5-0 aggregate win.

The pitch in the Gueorgi Asparuhov stadium had been saturated by heavy rain and that prompted mistakes at both ends in the early stages.

Gianfranco Zola, starting in place of suspended striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, won a corner after just 40 seconds as his nimble feet almost saw him get the better of Stanislav Angelov but Emmanuel Petit's deep cross was headed clear.

After 21 minutes, England under-21 captain Terry scored his first goal of the season, sweeping the ball home following Petit's corner and Mario Melchiot's nod down.

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Icelandic striker Gudjohnsen - whose two goals in last week's first leg put Chelsea in the driving seat - then struck with a superb individual effort on the stroke of half-time. Fed by William Gallas, he twisted and turned his way past two defenders before firing into the roof of the net.

The second half was a mere formality, and the only notable event was the introduction of Leon Knight after 59 minutes for Zola.

Levski's night was summed up after 65 minutes when there were then ironic cheers from the home fans as Dimitar Telkiiski had a low shot on target from 25 yards which was comfortably saved by Ed de Goey.

If Chelsea are looking for omens there is a good one to come out of their matches against Levski.. The last time they faced a team from Bulgaria was in 1970 when they beat CSKA Sofia and went on to lift the European Cup-Winners' Cup.

LEVSKI SOFIA: Petkov, Stankov, Biser Ivanov, Markov (Dragich 54), Angelov, Telkiiski, Botelho, Topuzakov, Golovskoj, Pantelic (Stoilov 46), Chilikov (Genchev 71). Subs not used: Ivankov, Trenchev, Tzvetino, Terziev. Booked: Stankov, Topuzakov.

CHELSEA: de Goey, Terry, Desailly, Melchiot, Gallas, Babayaro, Lampard, Petit, Jokanovic (Dalla Bona 46), Zola (Knight 59), Gudjohnsen (Forssell 54). Subs not used: Bosnich, Ferrer, Zenden, Aleksidze. Goals: Terry 32, Gudjohnsen 45.

Referee: M Ingvarsson (Sweden).