Chelsea Spanks Spartak Of Moscow

Chelsea all but sealed their place in the next round with a ruthlessly impressive Champions League display on a plastic pitch in freezing Moscow.

Russian Yuri Zhirkov scored his first goal for the Blues with a spectacular long-range effort in the 23rd minute.

Nicholas Anelka then slotted a superb second just before half-time.

Spartak pressed after the break, but Chelsea – without Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard – stood strong in Carlo Ancelotti’s 100th Champions League tie.

The Italian’s vast experience in Europe’s premier club competition is the chief reason Chelsea employed him as manager last year – and convincing displays like this offer compelling evidence that he can repeat the Champions League success he achieved with AC Milan.

Chelsea now tops group F with three wins in three games, and a point from their next three games will guarantee qualification for the second round.

For the west Londoners, a trip back to the cavernous Luzhniki Stadium meant returning to the scene of their greatest disappointment – Manchester United defeated them in painful fashion after a penalty shoot-out in the 2008 Champions League final.

With the mercury touching freezing amid a virtual full-house of nearly 80,000 fans cheering Russia’s best-supported club on boisterously, some teams might have found it an intimidating environment.

But Chelsea, full of nous and understated confidence, made light work of a team who had won both of their previous group F matches.

Fourth in the Russian League table, Spartak did make a strong start as Dmitri Kamborov slashed just over after a brilliant surging run from Sergei Parshivlyuk sliced through Chelsea’s backtracking rearguard.

Brazilian striker Welliton – the Russian league’s top goalscorer – then swivelled in the box under close attention from Branislav Ivanovic to force a neat reaction stop from Petr Cech, who kicked the ball away from his near post.

But Chelsea soon got their foot on the ball to dominate a team quite clearly missing their playmaker and captain Alex.

A couple of decent long-range shots from Soloman Kalou and Michael Essien should have served as a warning, but Spartak’s failure to shut down space on the edge of the box proved costly in the 23rd minute.

John Mikel Obi pumped the ball long and, with the ball bouncing invitingly from a loose Spartak header, former CSKA Moscow player Yuri Zhirkov sprinted towards it to lash a looping volley high into the net above Andriy Dykan’s desperate dive.

With Anelka leading the line superbly in the absence of Drogba while his midfielders dominated their territory behind him, Chelsea eventually managed to quieten the incredible din from the stands.

With the club’s Russian owner Roman Abramovich watching, Essien’s cross was deflected away from danger just after the half-hour as Spartak struggled to make an impact with Welliton stranded alone in attack.

After squandering a good chance when one-on-one with Dykan, classy Anelka brilliantly notched his 50th goal for Chelsea – and his fourth in three Champions League games this season – just before half-time.

Essien rampaged through the heart of Spartak’s midfield before slipping a neat pass inside the channel his French team-mate was lurking in.

Anelka then accelerated forward before turning back inside the hosts captain Parshivlyuk with ease, confidently curling his classy low right-footed shot into the far corner.

Admirably refusing to give in, Spartak came out on the attack in the second half.

Kombarov, Welliton and Aiden McGeady all fired shots towards Cech’s goal, the Czech having to push the former Celtic winger’s effort over the bar after a vicious deflection.

Chelsea did manage the odd surge with Anelka the outlet – but Cech proved their busiest and most important player as Moscow pinged pacy passes together and pressed: two solid saves from Ibson around the hour mark clearly stung the hands of the visitors keeper.

Essien screwed a good chance wide in the 72nd minute after Kalou, soon replaced by young midfield hopeful Josh McEachran, had pulled the ball back with cool accuracy from the bye-line.

John Terry had not trained properly ahead of the match, but with him in typically defiant form, Spartak could not find a way though the determined wall of blue – and a determined Chelsea made plain their lofty Champions League intentions.