Chelsea’s landslide win over KRC Genk
Written By: Robert Halter
Match day three of the Group E UEFA Champions League fixture saw Belgium champions KRC Genk take to the field at Stamford Bridge but the gulf in class between them and Chelsea was there for all to see. This one sided match started with the Blues free flowing football on six minutes when Raul Meireles lofted the ball over to Fernando Torres and with just Laszlo Koteles to beat, the Chelsea marksman tumbled the ball against the left post. But two minutes later, Meireles unlocked the door of the KRC Genk defence with an incisive finish from long range as he drilled the ball into the bottom left corner which marked Meireles’s first goal in a Blues shirt. On eleven minutes, Torres made amends for his earlier miss as he latched on to a Frank Lampard through ball and raced clean through to slide the ball past Koteles into the right hand side of the goal. Midway through the first half, Torres turned provider but Florent Malouda was unable to execute the finish as he steered the ball wide. Torres had a chance to add to the score in the twenty fifth minute but thrashed the ball over, although two minutes later, Torres was on the score sheet again after Miereles put over a right wing cross and with the corner of his head, Torres directed the ball into the left side of the net. On just over the half hour mark, Torres sent a cross over to set up an opportunity for Lampard, who failed to hit the target. Then five minutes before the break, Lampard and Torres combined but the move ended when Nicolas Anelka blazed his shot over. The fourth goal was imminent and resulted from Malouda’s free kick, as Branislav Ivanovic directed his header past Koteles’s despairing dive to open the flood gates. A two footed block by Koteles kept out Malouda’s shot on fifty seven minutes as Lampard’s ball forward spearheaded another Blues attack on the KRC Genk goal. Salomon Kalou added a fifth on seventy two minutes from close range after Koteles failed to hold on to Torres’s shot and Kalou picked up the rebound to score and make an immediate impact having just replaced Lampard. Kalou had another chance in the eighty third minute but this time Koteles managed to claw away his header. However, the night belonged to Chelsea with a dominant Blues display putting them first place in the table, a point ahead of Bayer Leverkusen who beat Valencia 2-1 in the other group match.