CFR 1907 Cruj 0 Chelsea 0:IT IS several centuries since visitors to Transylvania routinely ran the risk of a slow death by skewering at the hands of Vlad the Impaler but Chelsea certainly did not escape unscathed last night. An already uncomfortable trip to the home of Dracula was tainted by an apparently serious leg injury suffered by Didier Drogba on an evening when Luiz Felipe Scolari's side failed to score for the first time under the Brazilian's charge.
Drained of imagination and incision, Chelsea were reminded that they are mortal after all and it required a superlative late one-handed save from Petr Cech to deny Alvaro Pereira what would have been a richly deserved winner.
Chelsea were forced to endure the sound of "Glory, Glory, Man United" blaring out of the Cluj public address system in the preamble to kick-off but singularly failed to punish their hosts for that little joke during an opening period spent largely on the back foot.
With Ashley Cole having been ruled out with back pain, Wayne Bridge was offered a rare outing at left-back. Worryingly for England, Cole's complaint could be bad news for Fabio Capello as Scolari's staff now consider him a doubt for the forthcoming World Cup qualifiers against Kazakhstan and Belarus.
Scolari likes his full-backs to push up and overlap at every opportunity but this tactic looked somewhat risky in the face of Cluj's quickfire counter-attacking.
Certainly Sebastian Dubarbier and Juan Culio delighted in exploiting the resultant space and cleverly supporting Yssouf Kone, deployed as a lone striker by Maurizio Trombetta, Cluj's Italian coach. Deployed wide on the left, Culio, whose two goals undid Roma away last month, demonstrated just why the Argentinian is known as "Emperor Culio" in Transylvania and seemed to relish detecting weaknesses in Jose Bosingwa's defensive game.
Studded with South American players, the Romanian champions were positionally fluid and boasted some wonderful changes of pace but, nonetheless, tended to come unstuck whenever Kone came into John Terry's orbit. He found the England centre-half a tough marker and even when the centre-forward did manage to unleash a shot it veered off target thanks to Terry's astute closing down.
Equally well-shadowed but not quite as well fed, Drogba was seeing rather less of the ball than normal. He was not alone as Cluj dominated possession and might have taken the lead when Dubarbier's chipped pass bisected Terry and Alex but Eugen Trica failed to provide the finish.
Scolari's unbeaten record as Chelsea's manager looked in peril and, by way of adding insult to injury, Cluj, a club apparently stranded in the third tier of Romanian football only seven seasons ago, were endeavouring to outdo Chelsea at their own, overlapping full-back game. Suddenly Pereira, the Cluj left-back, was running at Bosingwa with real menace, escaping the Portuguese international's attentions before hitting a shot which whizzed just wide of the far post.
With Terry also required to whisk the ball off Kone's toes in the area, Scolari probably found the half-time whistle a relief.
The Brazilian must have been grateful that Cluj's approach play was not matched by their finishing but would surely have been concerned by not only Drogba's penchant for collapsing to the ground far too easily but the minimal impact of both Florent Malouda and Salomon Kalou.
The latter failed to appear for the second half, his place going to Nicolas Anelka who pushed up alongside Drogba as Chelsea switched to a 4-4-2 formation.
Anelka's smart pass swiftly provided Frank Lampard with a close-range chance but Andre de Sousa's block nullified the threat.
Clearly missing the injured Joe Cole and Deco, Chelsea's attacks had hitherto failed to provide Lampard much scope for such trademark late bursts into the area but any optimism offered by Anelka's arrival was soon diluted when Drogba suffered a serious looking injury.
Just as the striker looked poised to tap home Malouda's fine cross from close range, De Sousa steamed in with a powerful tackle. Drogba's leg seemed to catch in the turf, twisting and buckling beneath him before he was carried off in evident agony.
Although Franco di Santo nearly scored with his first touch after replacing Malouda, Trica too went mighty close for Cluj before Cech's save prevented a historic home victory.
Guardian Service
CFR 1907 Cluj:Stancioiu, Tony, Souza, Cadu, Pereira, Culio, Muresan, Dani, Dubarbier, Yssouf Kone, Trica (Didi 88). Subs not used: Nuno Claro, Panin, Hugo Alcantara, Deac, Emmanuel Kone, Ruiz. Booked: Pereira, Dani.
CHELSEA:Cech, Bosingwa, Alex, Terry, Bridge, Mikel, Kalou (Anelka 46), Ballack, Lampard, Malouda (Di Santo 74), Drogba (Belletti 57). Subs not used: Hilario, Ivanovic, Ferreira, Stoch.
Booked:Alex, Anelka.
Referee:Florian Meyer (Germany).
