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27.09.2006 \ levski sofia 1-3 chelseaDIDIER DROGBA landed the knockout blows as Chelsea’s heavyweights powered their way to the top of their Champions League group.
Drogba’s first Chelsea hat-trick leaves the Blues with one foot already in the next round after taking maximum points from their first two games.
But it was the sheer size and strength of Jose Mourinho’s muscle-men which will have Barcelona quaking in their boots when they travel to the Bridge next month.
And it is that brute force which Mourinho hopes will make the difference when they renew hostilities with bitter rivals Barca.
Poor Levski did not know what had hit them as they were left feeling as though they had been flattened by a runaway steamroller.
In fact, they had just collided with a one-man wrecking machine on a mission to destroy the first Bulgarian team to qualify for the Champions League.
The Ivory Coast international is finally punching his weight after hitting the deck far too readily last season. But now Drogba has learned to stand on his own two feet and is reaping the rewards with the best form of his life.
He was helped by the presence of Jon Obi Mikel, a 19-year-old beast of a player making his first start in a Chelsea shirt.
And Mikel’s inclusion alongside Michael Ballack, Michael Essien and Frank Lampard meant Chelsea were surely fielding the biggest, most powerful midfield in football.
The champions were forced to hand over £12million to Manchester United and a further £4m to Lyn Oslo to avoid another tapping-up row when they finally signed Mikel in the summer.
It was Mikel’s muscular surge into the box which set up the night’s first decent chance but Drogba smashed his shot against the bar as Levski’s defenders waited in vain for an offside decision.
Midway through the first half, Chelsea were denied by the woodwork again when Ballack’s 30-yard missile was somewhat fortunately turned against the post by keeper Georgi Petkov.
Yet Levski were not totally intimidated by Chelsea’s power-play and had a point to prove after their 5-0 spanking in Barcelona two weeks ago.
Ricardo Carvalho particularly was struggling at the back and twice he was grateful to John Terry and Wayne Bridge for important clearances.
Levski could even have taken a 32nd-minute lead when Petr Cech was almost caught out by Hristo Yovov’s free-kick and just scrambled the shot around for a corner. Yet Chelsea’s physical superiority was always likely to prove decisive and so it proved when they took the lead six minutes before the break.
Paulo Ferreira’s cross was hammered towards the top corner by Mikel and, though Petkov managed to claw the ball away, he was powerless to prevent Drogba rifling home the rebound.
But if Petkov was blameless on that occasion, he was hopelessly at fault for Drogba’s killer second goal in the 52nd minute.
Sent clear of the Levski defence by Bridge’s probing pass, Drogba was unchallenged as he drilled his low shot at the unprotected keeper.
Petkov managed to get both hands to the ball yet still allowed it to squirm under his body before it trickled agonisingly over the line.
Fifteen minutes later Drogba was back on the mark, cheekily turning Lampard’s low drive over the line with his heel to claim the match ball.
The Ivory Coast hitman has now netted a magnificent seven goals in eight games this season and is showing the instinctive touch of a player right at the top of his game.
Unfortunately, the same could hardly be said of strike partner Andriy Shevchenko, who was once again anonymous in his 100th appearance in Europe.
The Ukrainian superstar, 30 tomorrow, has now gone six games without a sniff of a goal and it is hard to believe that only Gerd Muller has ever scored more times in Europe.
Mourinho says the big problem facing Chelsea’s £31million record signing is that so much is demanded of him because he is not a “Mickey Mouse player”.
Right now, though, the most you can reasonably expect from Shevchenko is for him to make it through to the final whistle without being hooked.
But he could not even accomplish that, departing five minutes early after Drogba had already left for a well-deserved rest.
That was the signal for a late and futile Levski rally, with substitute Maryan Ognyanov finally beating Cech with a consolation goal two minutes from the end.
But no one was going to steal the thunder of Chelsea’s hat-trick hero and now it is Barcelona who must prepare to face the wrath of Drog.
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