CHELSEA COAST PAST ATLETICO

CHELSEA made it maximum points in Group D with a comfortable 4-0 win against crisis-hit Atletico Madrid.

The Spanish side started brightly for a team struggling for form with Diego Forlan and Sergio Aguero prominent in attack, but Salomon Kalou atoned for a dreadful miss with a brace, Frank Lampard scored for the first time since August and Luis Perea added a late own goal.

Forlan managed a couple of early attempts on goal, one forcing a smart stop out of Petr Cech after classic wingplay by Simao Sabrosa. Aguero was then ruled onside but could only lash his shot into the side-netting.

Sergio Asenjo misjudged a Lampard free-kick that flew straight into the net but it was rightly disallowed with Kalou offside and impeding the young keeper.

Kalou really should have scored soon afterwards when a lovely move involving Michael Essien and Deco freed Michael Ballack and the German unselfishly squared to the Ivory Coast attacker, who was offside earlier in the move. Unbelievably, the African attacker smacked his shot wide of the inviting target.

Kalou continued to be frustrated - seeing one deflected shot palmed away by Asenjo before missing from a John Terry header, even if the flag was already up.

However, his persistance paid off as he found the roof of the net from close range after Lampard released Ashley Cole down the left and the England full back's cross was begging to be finished off.

The breakthrough, four minutes before the break, stirred Cleber Santana into flashing a shot wide but Atleti quickly ran out of steam in the second half.

Essien's dangerous challenge on Paulo Assuncao forced the combative midfielder off and Chelsea really began to assert themselves in front of their home fans.

Nicolas Anelka worked Asenjo but the keeper had no chance when Kalou shrugged off marker Antonio Lopez to direct a downward header from Lampard's corner into the corner of the net with 52 minutes gone.

England star Lampard has now moved above Jimmy Greaves to fifth in the overall Chelsea goalscoring list.

Aguero would have pulled one back when latching onto Forlan's flick-on but Cech blocked impressively with his legs and the sting was taken out of the game when Lampard found space from a well-worked free-kick to steer a long-range drive inside Asenjo's near post.

Kalou was inches away from tucking away an Anelka cross but he could not claim his hat-trick before being substituted and, instead, it was a Madrid replacement who made a lasting impression in the closing stages.

Argentina international Maxi Rodriguez displayed marvellous footwork before firing inches wide of goal and then brought another fine stop out of Cech.

It mattered little in the end as Carlo Ancelotti saw his side bounce back from the defeat to Aston Villa in perfect style with Luis Perea finshing things off on a bad note for the visitors when directing a Florent Malouda free-kick past his own keeper to make it 4-0.

• Blues stallion Carlo Ancelotti is having a giraffe

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