Final Whistle

Chelsea travelled to Rome last night on the back of some great perfromances, their loss against Liverpool aside, at the top of the Barclays Premier League. AS Roma have lost each of their last four league games. It seemed we were set up for another European Cup victory for Chelsea here in their UEFA Champions League group game. We were wrong: Roma beat them convincingly, by 3 goals to 1.

Despite Frank Lampard testing Doni’s hands a few times from range in the opening exchanges, it was Roma who took the lead, slightly against the run of play, when Panucci finished a Cicinho cross, following a foul by Deco.

Just after half time, Roma doubled their lead through a belting long-range effort from Vucinic of Montenegro, before the same man killed the game off with a solo goal after robbing Mikel in midfield.

Phil Scolari will be worried that Chelsea’s early dominence was not enough to get a lead in this game – they are looking more and more like a side short of a world class centre forward.