Fernando Torres may still not fully be back to his best just yet, but if he isn’t, he’s certainly getting close, as Genk found out last night. Torres, still currently serving a three-match domestic suspension, netted a brace inside the opening half-hour to set Chelsea on their way in a 5-0 rout of the Belgian champions at Stamford Bridge.
The match was expected to be a comfortable win for Chelsea, and that proved to be the case. Stats don’t always tell the story, but Chelsea statistics serve to sum up the night’s events fairly well, as the Blues outshot their over-matched visitors 27 to 5, with not a single Genk threatening Petr Cech’s goal compared to the dozen that Genk keeper Laszlo Koteles had to attempt to keep out.
Just as in their last two wins, the 5-1 mauling of Bolton prior to the international break and Saturday’s 3-1 win over Everton, Chelsea hit the ground running against Genk to put the result beyond doubt early.
The match wasn’t even eight minutes old when Raul Meireles opened his Chelsea account in style, trying his luck from distance and being rewarded when his low effort bounced past the outstretched hands of Koteles and into the right corner.
Moments before Meireles’ strike, Torres had seen an effort hit the post, but while that might have caused a big dent in his confidence in the early part of this season, he didn’t let the near-miss throw him off against Genk, and he put Chelsea two to the good in the 11th minute. Frank Lampard played a perfectly timed and weighted pass in to Torres, who took full advantage of the opening he was given by Genk’s discombobulated back line, racing into the penalty area and sending his shot under a diving Koteles and in.
The three points were all but in the bag at that point, but the hosts were in no mood to rest easy for the remainder of the evening. In the 27th minute, Chelsea had their third and Torres his second, driving home Meireles’ cross with a powerful header. And they weren’t done with their rampant first-half performance, as Branislav Ivanvoic got in on the act in the 42nd minute. Florent Malouda floated in a free kick from right of the penalty area, and Ivanovic rose and got just enough of a touch on it with his head to give Koteles no chance of a save.
In less than a half, the Blues had equaled their most comprehensive home win in the Champions League, and whether they would be able to eclipse that record and Torres would be able to notch his first Chelsea hat trick were the only question marks that remained after the restart.
Torres had a fine chance to both get his treble and set the record at once in the 72nd minute, but he sent his shot from point-blank range right at Koteles. However, there wasn’t much of a reprieve for Genk, considering that the rebound went right to substitute Salomon Kalou, who deposited it to put the capper on Chelsea’s five-star performance.
With the win, Chelsea maintain their place atop Group E, moving to seven points from three matches. As was the case after the last round of matches, they’re a single point ahead of Bayer Leverkusen, who overcame a halftime deficit to record a 2-1 home win over Valencia. Petr Cech, who no doubt enjoyed what amounted to a night off, summed up Chelsea’s domination well in comments to Sky Sports.
He said:
“We were very good, we put them under pressure, created chances and converted them clinically.
“From 2-0 we controlled the game and with a few more mistakes from them under pressure, we scored more goals and 5-0 is a good result.
“We knew it was not going to be easy if the mentality was not right and the mentality was brilliant, that’s why we made the game look easy.
“At 5-0 up and controlling the game, we didn’t allow them to come into the game and score a goal. It is always important to kill the game off and keep a clean sheet.”
Of course, the biggest talking point of the night was Torres’ double, which gives him four goals in his last four matches. It looks like the Spaniard is coming into form at just the right time, and if he can keep it up after his domestic ban ends this weekend, Chelsea will be well equipped to keep pace with the two Manchester clubs for the duration.
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