Chelsea thrash Atletico Madrid

Chelsea thrash Atletico Madrid

Chelsea kept up their Champions League Group D charge with an impressive 4-0 win over Atletico Madrid at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday.

Carlo Ancelotti's men always had the upper hand in an entertaining clash and despite missing a glaring first-half opportunity, Salomon Kalou (41,52) picked himself up to grab a brace.

Frank Lampard also ended his goal drought and a Luis Perea own goal wrapped up the scoring as Chelsea maintained their 100 per cent start.

Atletico looked lively and Diego Forlan forced Petr Cech into an early save at the near post when he got his head onto Simao's cross from the left flank, then Sergio Aguero raced through but fired into the side netting.

Lampard then saw a goal disallowed, which had Ancelotti remonstrating with the fourth official in the dug-out.

Lampard's 45-yard effort was an over-hit ball into the penalty that Sergio Asenjo totally misjudged - but the assistant referee flagged Kalou offside even though the Atletico goalkeeper seemed to blunder without help from any interfering player.

It got worse for Kalou for a moment when he missed a simple tap-in to round off a fine move that saw Deco flick through and Michael Ballack unselfishly pass with just Asenjo to beat.

But Kalou did put things right on 41 minutes when he opened the scoring with a close-range finish.

Lampard slipped Ashley Cole through on the left-hand side and his low centre was hammered into the roof of the net by Kalou.

Nicolas Anelka almost doubled Chelsea's lead five minutes after the restart but his thumping right-footed shot was palmed away from the top corner by Asenjo.

However just moments later the Blues were 2-0 ahead.

Kalou's downward header at the far post from Lampard's left-wing corner was enough to beat Asenjo.

Minutes later Aguero raced away down the left after collecting Forlan's flick, but when he found himself one-on-one with Cech the Argentinian couldn't find a way past the big keeper.

Lampard - who hadn't scored since mid-August - then capped an impressive second-half display with a shot from outside the box which flew in at the near post.

Superb footwork from Maxi Rodriguez almost saw Atletico pull a goal back but his shot ended up just inches wide of the far post before Perea headed sub Florent Malouda's free-kick past his own keeper.