Chelsea Deservedly Through

A few days ago, Galatasaray striker, Didier Drogba, said that he may not celebrate scoring a goal against former club, Chelsea, during last night’s Champions League match at Stamford Bridge. In the end, with his team failing to hit the target even once, the decision was taken away from him.

It was an emotional return to London for the Ivorian, a man credited by Betfair pundits with winning Chelsea the Champions League title two years ago in Germany, but one that Galatasaray failed to turn up for; Chelsea ran out 2-0 (3-1) winners against the Turks, courtesy of goals from Samuel Eto'o and Gary Cahill.

Following their first-leg showing, a 1-1 draw at the Turk Telecom Arena in Istanbul, Galatasaray needed to score to have any hope of progressing to the last eight. However, the Blues’ needed just four minutes to break down the visitors, and put the memory of their 1-0 defeat to Villa at the weekend behind them.

Last night’s result represented the ninth time in a row that Galatasaray had failed to beat an English side away from home, with 2012’s 1-0 loss to Manchester United still fresh in the memory of fans. However, last night, the Turks, currently second in the Super Lig, only had themselves to blame.

Despite dominating in the possession statistics, Galatasaray’s leaky defence allowed John Terry the run of the box; the Londoner managed two shots, including a blocked header that gave Cahill all the time he needed to slot home. Frank Lampard, Oscar, Willian, and Eden Hazard also contributed to the Blues’ shot tally on the night.

As for Drogba, the veteran striker, who could return to Stamford Bridge in “some capacity” in the future, according to Blues boss, Jose Mourinho, had a quiet performance, forcing an easy save from Cech at the death, and picking up a yellow card along the way; hardly a classic performance from the 36-year-old.

Chelsea are now an outside 12-1 with Betfair to pick up their third consecutive European title, well behind dead-certs, Bayern Munich, at 2/1. Manchester United, the only other English team remaining in the tournament, come in at a miserable 40/1 on the Betfair website, with some firms posting a cynical 50/1.