adminHAVING seen Manchester City and Arsenal take on mission impossible a week ago, Chelsea coasted into the last eight of the Champions League courtesy of a mission that came with its own guarantee — a second-leg victory that was assured by half-time against a talkative team with very little to show for it.
Galatasaray’s colourful fans make a lot of noise but their team, at this level at least, is ordinary.
It is a myth that it no longer matters whether a team finishes first or second in the Champions League group stage, that the pool of teams is now so strong that avoiding the eight winners is unimportant.
Chelsea’s second-placed rivals walked straight into a battering courtesy of the best team in Europe, Bayern Munich, and another that has redefined the way the modern game is played, Barcelona.
Jose Mourinho and Chelsea, meanwhile, brushed aside Galatasaray with something approaching ease, and without doubt they got more of a game from Aston Villa last Saturday.
The logic is basic. With Uefa’s seeding process separating the elite clubs, whether they win their league or not, it is likely the group winners will include Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Then take out the groups that are won by Premier League teams — usually at least two — and any English team finishing second has a more than 50 percent chance of playing one of that big three.
Alternatively, come first of four and if the fates allow the path to the late stages could be relatively gentle. As it was for Chelsea on Tuesday night.
Chelsea could play within their limits, after Samuel Eto’o and Gary Cahill gave them a 2-0 half-time advantage.
Considering Galatasaray were chasing the game from the fourth minute when Chelsea took a 2-1 aggregate lead, this was a very poor performance from the visitors, who forced only three attempts at goal, none on target.
Those who assume the worthlessness of statistics will find their argument bolstered, however, by the fact that Galatasaray enjoyed greater possession. It did not seem that way. They were barely in the game.
Mourinho did not have to display his Champions League smarts to steer Chelsea through, despite the presence of Roberto Mancini on the opposite bench. Galatasaray were unambitious and while Chelsea’s previously vanquished rivals may look on enviously, the simple truth is Chelsea earned this.
They earned having a defence that was barely troubled, they earned giving their forwards an upmarket training ground run-out before Saturday’s match with Arsenal.
Eden Hazard was the man of the match and one of his second-half runs had a Lionel Messi-like quality about it. He’ll need that, from here. Tuesday night it was simply wasted.
It was one of those games when Oscar, Willian and in particular Hazard combined to show how a new Chelsea forward line has been forged, without the mighty presence of Didier Drogba.
The man whose penalty clinched the Champions League final for the club in Munich returned to a hero’s welcome, even enjoying a pre-match presentation from his grateful hosts. In these days of hate mobs and spiteful rejection, it was good to see a crowd that bore no ill will to an old player in an unfamiliar shirt.
Meanwhile, Chelsea were demonstrating why, despite the sentimental emotions of the fans, the club had decided it could do without an ageing striker, and could regroup around a trio of less substantial but no less effective attacking midfielders.
Eto’o and Cahill scored the goals that gave Chelsea a cosy feeling before half-time, but it was the three in Mourinho’s favoured 4-2-3-1 formation who tormented Galatasaray from beginning to end.
Mourinho wishes Hazard to be placed in the same company as Cristiano Ronaldo and while he has a way to go considering the Real Madrid man scored his 41st goal of the season for Real Madrid against Schalke — and his 13th in the Champions League, where the record is 14 — he is a devastating talent with time to grow.
It was his sweet skill in the fourth minute that gave Chelsea the perfect start, half juggling with the ball in the heart of midfield before finding Oscar on a right-sided overlap.
He slipped a pass back into the middle where Eto’o at first looked badly set up for it but fashioned a shot that Fernando Muslera in the Galatasaray goal might have prevented.
As in Istanbul, England manager Roy Hodgson will be hoping Uruguay’s goalkeeper carries this form into the World Cup.
Given that Galatasaray’s manager is wary of Manchester City, it seems strange that the visitors should not have been prepared for the danger of John Terry in the penalty area.
On two occasions, he came close, most spectacularly with a volley from a Frank Lampard free-kick after 33 minutes that travelled just over. Then, with three minutes to go before half-time, came the all-important second goal, and some distance.
It was a Lampard corner, again finding Terry unguarded. His header forced a save from Muslera, which came out to Cahill, who smashed it home from close range.
There were other chances. Late in the second half Oscar had a free-kick impressively saved and a final flourish from Hazard should have resulted in a goal for Fernando Torres, but Chelsea played within themselves for much of what remained.
So there is going to be at least one English club in the Champions League quarter-final, just as Mourinho has made Chelsea the team to beat in the Premier League, too.
Drogba may be indulged on memory, but Mourinho’s power remains very much in the here and now, even if harder tests lie ahead.
In another match on Tuesday night, Schalke were playing for pride at Real Madrid, after a humiliating 6-1 home defeat in the first leg, but struggled again to contain the Spanish team’s dynamic forwards.
Cristiano Ronaldo opened the scoring with his 40th goal of the season, tapping in Gareth Bale’s cross after 21 minutes.
Schalke equalised nine minutes later when right back Tim Hoogland’s shot from distance took a mean deflection off Sergio Ramos and trickled into the corner with Iker Casillas wrong-footed.
A remarkable reflex save from Ralf Faehrmann denied Ronaldo another when his header was kept out after the interval, but he added a second with a typically spectacular low drive after 74 minutes, his 13th in this season’s competition.
The Portugal captain missed the chance to equal Lionel Messi’s record 14-goal tally for one Champions League campaign two minutes later when his shot hit the crossbar.
Yet Bale’s first-time pass from the rebound set up Alvaro Morata to sweep in and complete a miserable exit for Schalke.
Chelsea and Real Madrid join Barcelona, Paris St Germain, Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid in the quarter-finals.- Dailymail/Soccernet
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