Eurosport - Thu, 02 Oct 09:41:00 2008
Chelsea were held to a drab 0-0 draw at Champions League newcomers CFR Cluj as Didier Drogba was carried off on a stretcher with knee ligament damage.
The Ivory Coast striker was injured early in the second-half after colliding awkwardly with home defender Cadu as he slid in to try and convert a left-wing cross from Florent Malouda.
Cluj and Chelsea now share top spot in Group A with four points and it was the Romanians who had the better of the chances with Eugen Trica hitting the outside of the post late on.
The minnows defended deep and in numbers and counter-attacked effectively with Uruguyan Alvaro Pereira's fierce diagonal shot narrowly wide of the left post, the closest the capacity crowd came to seeing a goal in the opening 45 minutes.
Petr Cech also had to be alert to push Pereira's close range shot around the post in the closing stages after Jose Bosingwa failed to track the left-back.
Chelsea had plenty of possession but lacked a cutting edge and barely tested home keeper Eduard Stanciou.
Probably the Londoners' best chance came when a long diagonal ball reached half-time substitute Nicolas Anelka at the back post but instead of striking first time, he opted for a touch and his final effort was well wide as he tried to readjust his feet.
Frank Lampard, who had a close range effort blocked by Cadu just after half-time, scuffed a shot from the edge of the penalty area wide of the post in injury-time as the Premier League club were held in north-western Transylvania.
There was little of note in the opening 45 minutes although the home fans were excited when Trica found himself in space in the penalty area on two occasions but he failed to test Cech with volleys while only a vital header from Alex prevented Tony's deep cross finding the striker.
The Blues were ineffective going forward with Drogba failing to make any contact with an attempted volley when well placed and also putting a shot high and wide from the edge of the penalty area.
John Obi Mikel tried his luck from long range but his 30-yard shot trickled into the arms of Stanciou while Salomon Kalou could not control a bouncing through ball from Drogba when well placed as Cluj, who shocked Roma with a 2-1 win at the Stadio Olimpico in their Champions League debut, continued to show they are not to be taken lightly.
Bordeaux 1-3 Roma
In the other game, two goals by substitute Julio Baptista helped Roma recover from a goal down to win 3-1 at 10-man Bordeaux.
Playmaker Yoann Gourcuff opened the scoring for the hosts with a fine angled shot from the edge of the box on 18 minutes.
Bordeaux, thrashed 4-0 by Chelsea in their opening game, then had Brazilian defender Henrique sent-off for elbowing Simone Perrotta on 36.
Roma levelled with a header by Montenegro striker Mirko Vucinic after 64 minutes and Baptista netted from a free-kick seven minutes later before sealing victory from close range seven minutes from time.
The visitors, missing captain Francesco Totti because of a knee problem, hardly created a first-half chance in a game played on a soggy pitch that also saw six yellow cards.
But Bordeaux looked increasingly nervous in the second period and Roma turned the match around with those two quickfire goals.
Lee Walker and Reuters / Eurosport| Match |
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Comment 1 - 18 of 58
First @#$% cant beat hull.
Now the abramovich machine can't beat some transelvanian team no ones heard of outside a transelvania.
This week just gets better.
Y-N-W-A
Okay, this isn't all about annoying Chelsea fans because they drew against a lower opposition, this is about Cluj, and well done to them I say, they deserved a point or maybe even three!
YNWA
Scolari's 1st game of a 3match winless streak...any bets??
chelsea are best
Forta CFR!!!!!
chelsea will win through in the end and bring the tle to the bridge arsenal are the only team who will stand in our way
Go Cluj,very nice game by our romanian team !
As one banner posting during the match said :
"Roses are red, Chelsea are blue, my grandma can take spot-kicks better than you."
Go Romania !
CFR Cluj showed hi-class football tonight and could have won! Congrats guys... you played beautifully!!!!
boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
hahaha..losers
It seems the ignorant Chel$ki fans didn't get what they expected tonight .
L'Arsenalle all the way!
chelsea has no chance of winning it this year. they have too many injured players. how are they suppose to beat barcelona, liverpool, man u, real madrid if they cant even beat Cluj? sorry chelesea fans, terrys pk last year is they closest they will ever get.
cmon the blues.champions league champions this year for sure.glasgow blue.
go CFR....forza cfr
Should be a walk over for the Blues
Go Cluj, go .... go Cluj Go
come on the blues
GO CLUJ!!!!
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