New Delhi: Roma put their disastrous league form behind them to shock Chelsea with a 3-1 win at the Olimpico Stadium.
Chelsea arrived in Rome in confident mood, top of the group and having regained the lead of the Premier League after hitting five goals at the weekend.
The mood of their opponents was considerably different. Roma having lost their last five games and sitting fourth from bottom in Serie A with only seven points to their name so far.
Yet it was a low-key opening at the Stadio Olimpico. Chelsea dominating the early exchanges against a Roma side, understandably given their recent results, looking a little short on belief.
The visitors certainly weren’t afraid to test Doni in the Roma goal, no doubt spurred on by the slick pitch saturated after a day of turbulent weather in the Italian capital.
With only 10 minutes on the clock, Deco was the first to try his luck from range, yet Doni was equal to his efforts and parried the ball around the post.
Mid-way through the first half and it was Frank Lampard’s turn, after some superb approach work. Wayne Bridge out on the left played the ball infield to Joe Cole, whose excellent dummy was picked up by Lampard who then fired a shot which Doni was again equal to.
Yet despite their dominance of the ball, long range shots were as close as Chelsea came to breaking the deadlock in the first half.
Roma by contrast were offering little as an attacking force. Mirko Vucinic looking the Giallorossi’s most likely, volleying an early chance over Petr Cech’s bar before being denied by a strong block by Alex.
Yet just after the half hour mark the complexion of the game changed entirely. Deco brought down Francesco Totti just inside the Chelsea half and a free kick taken by Pizarro found an unmarked Cicinho on the right wing.
The Brazilian full back whipped in an excellent corner that caught the entire Chelsea defence napping, allowing Christian Panucci plenty of time to nip in between Terry and Alex and sidefoot the ball home to give Luciano Spalletti’s side an unlikely lead.
Luiz Felipe Scolari opted to changes things at half-time replacing Joe Cole and Florent Malouda for Juliano Belletti and Didier Drogba as he sought a way back into the game.
Yet within minutes of the restart Roma had doubled their lead. Some lovely approach work from Brighi saw him lay the ball off to Vucinic on the edge of the area and the striker finished expertly, rifling a powerful shot past Cech.
The goal gave Roma a swagger to their play and ten minutes later they had a third. Vucinic caught Obi Mikel on the ball and proceded to out run the midfielder, evade his challenge and then finish neatly at the near post.
Chelsea, well and truly punished for not making their earlier dominance count, kept going and managed to pull one back with 15 minutes to go.
A cross in from the left by Deco appeared to striker Terry on the chest but his effort was parried by Doni.
However, the ball fell back to the England skipper who sidefooted it home with the entire Roma defence standing arms raised hoping for the referee’s whistle which never came.
Yet Chelsea’s comeback was shortlived after Deco was very harshly sent off late on. Already booked in the first half the referee showed him a second yellow for taking a free kick quickly.
With him went the Blues’s chances of gaining a result and Roma held on for a win they will hope can kickstart their season.
Roma: Doni; Cicinho, Mexes, Juan, Panucci; Perrotta (Taddei, 72), De Rossi, Brighi, Pizarro, Totti (Baptista, 62), Vucinic (Riise, 88).
Chelsea: Cech; Bosingwa (Kalou, 63), Terry, Alex, Bridge; Mikel; Joe Cole (Belletti, 46), Deco, Lampard, Malouda (Drogba, 46); Anelka.
Goals:
3-1 Chelsea (Terry, 75)
3-0 Roma (Vucinic, 57)
2-0 Roma (Vucinic, 48)
1-0 Roma (Panucci, 34)
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