Chelsea 1 Galatasary 0

Chelsea lacked all sense of finishing power against the Turkish champions and were lucky not to blow the whole game to let Galatasary claim at least a draw.

The London side can do most things well but shooting at goal is not among them.

Time and again - and with the advantage of an extra man - they poured into the box only to hit the ball at reserve goalkeeper Mehmet Bolukbasi or drive wide or delay their shots completely.

The game changed in the 32nd minute when Brazilian World Cup winning goalkeeper Claudio Taffarel stunned all the players and certainly the crowd by running from his penalty area and handling a pass to prevent a through pass reaching Dan Petrescu. He was immediately sent off and the reorganisation saw Arif substituted for Bolukbasi who played very well. Arif had tormented the Chelsea back line with his speed and movement and the Turks ere well on top in the opening half hour. The Chelsea show was stumbling and filled with misplaced passes but with the help of the extra man they gradually puled their passing game together and created chance after chance in the second session.

Life is too short to be spent cataloguing Chelsea misses. They fluff more chances in one decent spell of possession than most sides do in two months. Romanian international Dan Petrescu produced the one shot wide of Bolukbasi when he collected a rebound from his own 55th minute effort to curve the ball into the net.

The form of Hertha Berlin in Group H means both these sides may now only be playing for the spurious honour of a UEFA Cup place in December with a third place finish.