Roma 3 Chelsea 1:GRAZIE ROMA. With the long-announced decline and fall of Italian football apparently continuing apace, chronically out of form AS Roma beat Chelsea 3-1 in their Group A Champions League tie to put themselves back into contention for a second phase qualification.
One could only conclude that the gentle art of defending still seems to be overlooked in the much-hyped English Premiership as Roma made scoring goals against Chelsea look oh so easy.
Hero of the night for Roma was their Montenegrin striker Mirko Vucinic, a player all too familiar to Irish fans and scorer of two goals last night. Roma had wheeled out their ageing talisman Francesco Totti for the occasion, but he had only a small impact in a game in which Roma surprised probably even themselves by running out emphatic winners.
It had all started according to the script. The home side had looked tentative as was only to be expected from a team that had lost its last five games. Chelsea, in contrast, looked full of confidence, seeming to suggest that when they finally decided to play, it would be only a matter of time before they wrapped up the night's business.
For most of the first half hour, the pace was languid with the only real excitement coming courtesy of long range shots from Portugal's Deco and from the redoubtable Frank Lampard, all turned away for corners by Roma's Brazilian goalkeeper Doni.
For Roma, Vucinic found himself in good positions on at least three occasions, but each time he looked less than convinced, finishing off the attack moves with tame shots that caused Petr Cech no problems in the Chelsea goal.
Just when we seemed headed for a 0-0 half-time scoreline, Roma took us all (and probably themselves) by surprise when taking the lead. A sloppy midfield pass saw Deco forced to hack down Roma captain Francesco Totti. Deco picked up the first yellow card of the game but much more important was the free kick taken by the little Chilean midfielder David Pizarro.
In a move that had the look of one of those training ground routines that never actually works in a match situation, Pizarro knocked the ball wide on the right to full back Cicinho. The Brazilian reached the byeline unchallenged before knocking in a low and relatively innocuous looking cross.
From nowhere, Roma's experienced defender Christian Panucci slipped in between a surprisingly static John Terry and Frank Lampard for as simple a goal as you are likely to see.
Given Roma's shakey nerves, the outstanding question now seemed to be whether Roma could (a) get to half-time on a 1-0 scoreline and then (b) hold on for the entire second half. When Felipe Scolari pulled off Joe Cole and Florent Malouda, replacing them with Juliano Belletti and Didier Drogba respectively at the start of the second half, a Chelsea "surge" seemed on the way.
Yet, against all the odds, it was Roma who struck first blood in the second half when Totti and Matteo Brighi combined brilliantly on the counter-attack to set up a long range chance for Vucinic. The Montenegin hit a superbly angled shot from the edge of the area to put Roma 2-0 in front in only the 48th minute.
That was good but there was better to follow. With Chelsea pushing forward for a goal that would get them back into the game, it was Vucinic who struck the killer blow for Roma. First, the Montenegrin robbed John Mikel just inside the Roma half before sprinting down the left flank, beating Mikel again and then striking home a low shot which fooled Cech for a 58th-minute third Roma goal.
With one hour gone, Roma were 3-0 up and it seemed too good to be true. The Romans returned to earth with a bang in the 75th minute when Deco got on to a throw-in out on the left and knocked in a cross that found Terry in a suspiciously looking offside position. The England defender saw his first effort parried by Doni only to score from the rebound.
Any thoughts Chelsea might have had about a fightback, however, were soon quelled when Deco picked up his second yellow card of the night and got himself sent off after he protested with the referee following a too quickly taken, 81st minute free kick. From there on in, if there were going to be any more goals they were going to be scored by a Roma side which finished the game with its 38,000-strong home crowd in raptures of delight.
ROMA: Doni, Cicinho, Mexes, Juan, Panucci, Perrotta (Taddei 72), De Rossi, Brighi, Pizarro, Totti (Julio Baptista 61), Vucinic (Riise 88). Subs not used: Artur, Loria, Tonetto, Menez. Booked: Perrotta.
CHELSEA: Cech, Bosingwa (Kalou 63), Terry, Alex, Bridge, Deco, Mikel, Lampard, Joe Cole (Belletti 46), Anelka, Malouda (Drogba 46). Subs not used: Cudicini, Ivanovic, Di Santo, Ferreira. Sent Off: Deco (81). Booked: Deco.
Referee: LM Cantalejo (Spain).
