Chelsea 1 Rosenborg 1 - Champions League 18/9/2007

First Half Highlight

Second Half Highlight

MATCH REPORT: CHELSEA 1 ROSENBORG 1

Andriy Shevchenko's first goal for Chelsea since his one away to Valencia in April was not enough to prevent a possibly damaging points loss against the group's lowest seeded team.

The Blues struck the post twice in the search for a winner but having gone behind midway through the first-half, we laboured to turn overwhelmingly superior possession into on-target attempts. The stuttering start to the season goes on.

There were just two changes from the side that were frustrated by Blackburn at the weekend.

The French internationals returned, former Champions League winner Makelele in for Sidwell and another player with much experience in the competition, Florent Malouda, replacing Wright-Phillips.

Andriy Shevchenko and Salomon Kalou remained the attacking pair with home debutants on Saturday, Alex and Belletti, retaining their places.

On the bench was Lee Sawyer, fresh from 76 minutes in the reserve team midfield just one night before. He turned 18 ten days ago and was on the first team bench once at the end of last season.

Kalou was at the centre of the early action as the play was all Chelsea's. He had one shot from 20 yards blocked and a header from a Joe Cole cross looped onto the roof of the net.

That was on nine minutes and two minutes later, Shevchenko flicked onto Essien who took one touch and then blasted a right-foot shot into the side-netting when well-placed.

On 17 minutes Rosenborg came close to presenting Chelsea with an opener, Koppinen misjudging an interception, leaving Shevchenko free to raid down the right.

The Ukrainian did the right thing in pulling back to Malouda but the French winger's shot failed to find its way through the defences assembled on the line. Strand cleared.

When a follow-up chance fell Malouda's way, he hooked his shot wide.

There had been little to suggest the Norwegians could trouble Chelsea in the opening quarter of the game but there remained the lurking menace of set-pieces, especially as the French referee was favouring the non-contact version of the sport.

There had already been nine free-kicks by the time Rosenborg were awarded another out on the left on 24 minutes.

The ball came in from Sapara and centre-back Koppinen nipped across Terry to loft the ball over Cech from four yards out.

An already quiet Stamford Bridge was stunned.

The quest for an equaliser was on. Alex headed a Malouda cross wide, Joe Cole drilled a shot five yards off-target and then Kalou went very close with a cross shot after a good Cole ball, all in the space of four minutes.

On 37 minutes, Shevchenko spun his marker as he received Malouda's pass but he too rolled his effort wide of the target.

Chelsea were packing the box and the area in front with bodies, the two wide men almost additional central midfielders to outnumber the Norwegians' central three. As a consequence, full-backs Ashley Cole and Belletti were asked to bomb on

Before the whistle, there was a heated exchange after Sheva inadvertently backed into and fell over an injury-prone opponent in a slapstick moment.

Rosenborg took exception and a pushing match began. You couldn't help suspecting the visitors were happy for the Blues to take their mind off the football.

The Rosenborg player initially involved, Basma, was replaced at the break by ex-Liverpool stopper Kvarme.

Within 43 seconds of the restart the new man had Joe Cole running towards him at pace but a 20 yard effort swung wide of the near post.

But before long Chelsea had to survive a scare. From a cross, the ball was laid back to centrally placed Koné who drove too high with Ashley Cole desperately diving in to block.

Finally, on 52 minutes, some of the tension eased. There was no sign of immediate threat when Malouda floated in another deep cross but it fell perfectly for Shevchenko to head past a committed keeper. It took our number seven to within two goals of Gerd Muller's all-time European record.

Belletti came dangerously close to diverting a low cross into his own net just moments later.

Just past the hour mark, Malouda surged into the area and let fly - but his shot cannoned off the post. Shevchenko was the recipient of the rebound 20 yards out but his attempt struck Kvarme as Rosenborg rode their luck.

The game's 21st foul resulted in its first booking - Dorsin punished for a challenge on Essien but astonishingly the Chelsea man was also cautioned for what the ref decided was a deliberate trip on an opponent as he fell.

It took two brave stops to prevent Chelsea netting a second on 72 minutes, the first on Joe Cole after Kalou had done well, the second by Strand as Belletti seemed certain to make it count.

There immediately followed a double swap involving the two Coles: Wright-Phillips for Joe, Ben-Haim for Ashley.

The changes didn't stop there. John Terry went up front with Shevchenko operating in midfield where he soon won the ball.

Advancing 20 yards, he slipped the ball wide to Kalou who cut in and struck the post with a left-foot shot.

The young Ivorian found too many bodies between him and goal when received Belletti's cross and shot with four minutes remaining.

Kone was booked in the 89th minute for a foul on Belletti but by this stage Chelsea were desperate for a goal, not a caution. It didn't come.

Chelsea Cech; Belletti, Alex, Terry (c), A Cole (Ben-Haim 72); J Cole (Wright-Phillips 72), Makelele, Essien, Malouda; Kalou, Shevchenko.
Scorer Shevchenko 52
Booked Essien 65

Rosenborg Hirschfeld; Strand, Basma (Kvarme h-t), Koppinen, Dorsin; Sapara (Ya 68), Riseth, Tettey; Skjelbred (Iversen 84), Koné, Traoré.
Scorer Koppinen 24
Booked Dorsin 65, Koné 89

REACTION: 20 TO 1 SHOT NO WINNER

Faced with a third straight game without a win, José Mourinho had little trouble identifying the problem behind the latest set-back.

It was a conversion rate in front of goal that fell far below the standard set that troubled our manager, even if unlike the Villa and Blackburn games, the target was found at least once.

'The history of this game is 20 chances, one goal - so to score two goals we need maybe 40 chances and to score three, we need maybe 60!' he said just a few minutes after the final whistle has sounded on a 1-1 draw against Rosenborg.

'In 90 minutes, you don't normally have the time to create 40 chances and 20 were not enough.

'It is not my strikers, it is my team,' he was quick to emphasise.

'We played against a team that played like the smaller teams do when they play the better teams and come to defend. Rosenborg were well organised and they have my respect.

'But I think I am not wrong when I say we produced 20 chances and 15 were not even on target.'

From his words, it didn't take a genius to work out that the absence of last season's two top scorers is proving a difficult handicap to overcome. Mourinho could offer little comfort on that.

'Drogba and Lampard mean more than 50 per cent of goals Chelsea score. The news I want is that players train tomorrow and that news is not coming.

'I am not happy because we cannot score goals and I have no good news from the medical department. I don't think those players can play at the weekend.'

Even Andriy Shevchenko's solitary strike in the second-half would have been enough had Chelsea not conceded from a free-kick on 24 minutes.

'Every player has known for three days what his responsibility is at a set-piece and somebody made a mistake. I am not going to say who,' Mourinho commented.

Rosenborg coach, Knut Torum, revealed that his team had identified this possibility as their most likely source of joy.

'If the top players are a little bit down mentally in their head, then it often shows in the box and at set pieces,' the Norwegian said.

'The last 10 minutes was long, of course. We were tired. We tried to do smart substitutions, and they did a very good job, but the last 10 minutes was tough. If Chelsea had scored we would have just had to congratulate them, but today we did enough.'

Alongside all the specific analysis of the game, there was a wider Champions League group stage picture at which to look. Mourinho gave his view on the early running.

'Of course it is more difficult for us now because normally this is the game you have to win, when you play at home against the team that normally should be the weakest.

'But we are not scared of the situation. Schalke lost at home so maybe it is more difficult to be first now. We need to win something like four points from Valencia for that, but in relation to the second position, Schalke also had a bad result.'