Chelsea 4 - 0 Bordeaux

Headers from Frank Lampard and Joe Cole set Chelsea on their way as they cruised past Bordeaux to earn manager Luiz Felipe Scolari his first Champions League win.

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Joe Cole of Chelsea battles for the ball with Yoann Gourcuff of Bordeaux.

Failure in Europe's elite competition has signalled the end for the previous three Chelsea bosses but there were no scares for Scolari at Stamford Bridge, whose debut in the competition was straightforward after the hosts established a lead.

Florent Malouda and Nicolas Anelka added late goals to give a fair reflection to the scoreline.

With Didier Drogba to return from suspension, Scolari will head into the Group A matches against Cluj and Roma encouraged by their start to the campaign - they were comfortable winners but did not have to be at their vintage best to beat Bordeaux.

Although the scoreline was predictable, it was a minor suprise Scolari selected an named an unchanged starting line-up, the first time Chelsea had done so in 18 months.

More of a shock was the fact Chelsea's goals in the first half came from Lampard and Cole headers, with neither midfielders known for their aerial ability.

It would be enough to enrage Bordeaux coach Laurent Blanc, the World Cup-winning defender with France who has been tipped to take charge of Les Bleus.

It was also Blanc's first match in the Champions League and his team looked like a Premier League graveyard - ex-Liverpool midfielder Alou Diarra was in midfield and Souleymane Diawara, who was relegated with Charlton, was in defence. He even had David Bellion on the bench.

Brazilian Wendel had an early shot from long range that dipped over following a sloppy pass from John Mikel Obi - but after that it was all Chelsea.

They were ahead in the 14th minute when Lampard finished off a crisp move for his third goal of the season.

Deco had moved the ball inside to midfielder Cole, who in turn fed Jose Bosingwa on the right flank.

Bosingwa drove his cross in first time and Lampard sent his header in the far corner before wheeling off in celebration.

Anelka, looking to atone for his penalty miss in the final last season, forced a save from Ulrich Rame when he cut inside from the left and drove towards the near post, and the Bordeaux goalkeeper also had to work when midfielder Cole backhealed on target.

Captain John Terry then went close when he met Lampard's free-kick with a header.

The French runners-up had no answer to Chelsea's attacks, with Fernando almost scoring an own goal trying to cut out a Bosingwa through-ball. The second goal came on the half-hour mark through Cole, with the England midfielder beating centre-backs Fernando and Franck Jurietti at the near post to nod home Lampard's corner.

Chelsea's own wastefulness kept the scoreline down - Anelka raced beyond the Bordeaux defence and passed into open space when he could have shot, then Lampard screwed a volley wide from six yards.

Bordeaux's attempts to fight back consisted of three Yoann Gourcuff free-kicks, each of which was increasingly speculative and Petr Cech was not troubled by them.

Striker Marouane Chamakh started the second half by tripping over the advertising hoardings and into the crowd, and he required treatement after the fall.

The visitors were showing ambition to get back into the game but it left them prone to Chelsea counter-attacks.

Scolari gave Michael Ballack the final half-hour as he made his comeback from a foot injury, with the Germany captain replacing Deco in midfield.

Anelka came close to adding another, latching onto Lampard's reverse ball but firing into the side-netting.

Malouda added the third after a run from Mikel that took him around three defenders. He passed to Lampard, whose backheel invited Malouda to fire into the far corner.

Ricardo Carvalho hit the crossbar with a header before the end, and a goal would not have flattered the hosts.

Then Juliano Belletti hit the crossbar and Anelka tapped in for the fourth.

source: soccernet