Independent:
Torres revival gathers pace in rout of Rangers
Chelsea 6 Queens Park Rangers 1
Sam Wallace
When Fernando Torres scored his third goal of the afternoon, there were the kind of high-fives exchanged among Roman Abramovich and his entourage that you might expect on winning a trophy or buying an oil company. Relief? It is still a long way from the return they expected for £50m, but the last seven days for Torres have been a start.
The striker left the pitch yesterday with socks turned grey by the rain and the mud, 90 minutes under his belt and the match ball under his arm. His goal against Barcelona on Tuesday and this hat-trick against Queens Park Rangers have given the impression that there might yet be a route back to something like the form that made him the best striker in Europe four years ago.
He is still yet to score a goal that truly decides a crucial match for Chelsea. He will probably not start the FA Cup final or the Champions League final if Didier Drogba is fit. But to give Torres his due yesterday, this was much, much better. Luckily for him he was up against a QPR team that played as if relegation was an inevitability rather than, for the time being at least, just a possibility.
Torres advanced the theory after the game that his recent goalscoring had coincided with a drop in his form. "It was a different feeling I had in the past because I was feeling very good, with fitness and feeling sharp, but I could not score," Torres said. "So now to be honest I'm not playing as well as before but I'm scoring goals."
Having watched him struggle, albeit always work hard, this season it is hard to agree. Nevertheless, he has at least given Roberto Di Matteo a choice to make. Does Torres start against Newcastle on Wednesday, or against his former club Liverpool in the FA Cup final on Saturday? Or does Didier Drogba start both in Torres' place? The feeling remains that Drogba is still the man for the big games.
This was a great afternoon for Chelsea who are now in sixth place just a point behind Spurs and Newcastle. Should Di Matteo's team beat Newcastle on Wednesday then they will be two points behind Arsenal with two games to play and, at the very least, well in the running for the fourth Champions League place.
John Terry used his programme notes to apologise for his red card at the Nou Camp, and his gestures suggested the same after he scored Chelsea's second goal on 14 minutes. "I'm big enough to ... man up when I make a mistake and, clearly, I made a mistake on Tuesday," he said. "I'm sorry for that." As usual for him, it was characteristically dramatic.
At the end of the game he turned away to applaud the supporters in the Matthew Harding stand rather than walk among the QPR players proffering his hand. Not surprising given that this was a team that wholesale refused to take part in the pre-match convention in the FA Cup fourth-round tie in January
The bad feeling between the two clubs over the Anton Ferdinand incident in October, which led to the respective lawyers of the QPR defender and Terry successfully petitioning the Premier League for the cancellation of yesterday's pre-match handshake, was evident among the fans. But the game was so one-sided that after Daniel Sturridge scored Chelsea's first after 47 seconds, even the Terry-Ferdinand issue was pushed to the margins.
There were some unfortunate chants from elements in both the home and away support, and the booing of Ferdinand by some Chelsea fans was unpleasant. Of course, any abuse of that kind is too much but it was by no means the overwhelming factor of the afternoon. When it came to being overwhelmed, one needed look no further than the QPR defence.
The first goal was a brilliant strike from Sturridge, swept in with his right foot from the left side after the ball had ricocheted back off Ferdinand. Mark Hughes will have had greater cause for complaint for Terry's goal which was headed in direct from a corner over Clint Hill's weak challenge.
This QPR team have taken 11 of their 34 points away from home. They have to beat Stoke City at home on Sunday because the final game away at Manchester City looks hopeless. They were three goals behind on 19 minutes when Salomon Kalou stroked Juan Mata's pass into the stride of Torres, who went around Paddy Kenny and scored.
Joey Barton had a bad day and was fortunate that Howard Webb set the benchmark for a booking so high, although Barton got there in the end. Bobby Zamora, who has not scored in eight games, looked a long way from an England striker.
There was a misunderstanding between Nedum Onuoha and Kenny which let Torres in for the fourth goal. The excellent Mata played in Torres for his third goal on 64 minutes. The substitute Florent Malouda scored the sixth of the game from the cut-back of Ramires, another substitute, who was played in by Torres.
Djibril Cissé finished nicely for Rangers' one goal of the game by which time the sun had broken out over rainy west London, although the away team will barely have noticed.
Booked: Chelsea - none. QPR - Barton
Man of the match Torres.
Possession: Chelsea 60% QPR 40%
Attempts on target Chelsea 18 QPR 7
Referee H Webb (S Yorkshire).
Attendance 41,675
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Guardian:
Fernando Torres in hat-trick heaven as Chelsea make QPR feel the heat
Dominic Fifield at Stamford Bridge
Roman Abramovich had been missing at the Camp Nou, the oligarch absent as Chelsea so defied the odds to eliminate Barcelona and progress to the Champions League final. Yet, restored to his private box high in the west stand here, he still ended his week being treated to something exceptional. The high-fives clapped with those guests sharing the plush seats signified the moment Fernando Torres, the £50m forward turned folly, came good.
The locals had long been waiting for the Torres who had scorched defences during his time at Liverpool to revel in a Chelsea shirt. Now they may just believe that the forward, for all his travails since swapping Anfield for Stamford Bridge 15 months ago, has found form at the ideal moment. This team might have competed more coherently for the Premier League had the 28-year-old been this incisive all term. They could still claim the European Cup and FA Cup if the striker can summon displays this blistering from now on in.
Victory here thrust Chelsea back into contention for a top-four finish, particularly with Newcastle to visit south-west London on Wednesday night, for all that it was achieved against opponents whose defending was so feeble as to invite a thrashing. Torres and his supply line, the sublime Juan Mata principal among them, felt like flat track bullies with this a mismatch from the moment the visitors were breached in the opening 45 seconds. Chelsea had not previously won a league derby this season. They broke that duck by registering their best ever victory over these local rivals.
QPR teeter on the brink, though Chelsea will hardly care. This team's momentum builds with every contest, the squad inspired as players compete for places in two cup final lineups. The lack of a fit and available centre-half to partner John Terry went unnoticed as José Bosingwa stepped in adeptly.
In the latter stages, Sam Hutchinson was even granted his first senior appearance in two years – since when he has retired through injury and returned to the game – with the home crowd a permanent hubbub of celebration, even if their greatest acclaim was reserved for Torres. This was his first hat-trick since September 2009, the confidence of old visibly flooding back with each skip into space beyond dawdling defenders. Mata supplied him early possession and he delighted in his compatriot's delivery, yet QPR were so porous that the forward was supplied from all angles. Salomon Kalou's delicious angled pass, cutting out Taye Taiwo and Clint Hill, set the tone with Torres collecting, gliding round Paddy Kenny and finishing with calm authority. This was the instinctive Torres of a few years ago, rather than the player who had rather fretted at times when sent clear wearing Chelsea blue.
He was irrepressible thereafter, slamming in his side's fourth in the opening 25 minutes after Nedum Onuoha had headed against Kenny with the ball squirming loose. Chances had been passed up before Mata liberated the striker just after the hour- mark, the finish precise inside the far post to complete the treble. Abramovich's reaction was replicated all around the ground while the QPR players hung their heads.
Their lack of any defensive discipline had made this humiliation inevitable. A sixth successive away defeat – they have not prevailed on their travels since November – has left them precarious again. Even if they beat Stoke at Loftus Road on Sunday 6 May, they may need to pluck some kind of reward from Manchester City on the season's final afternoon. That already feels unlikely. They were prised apart at will. Daniel Sturridge had curled the hosts ahead in the opening minute, Kenny perhaps unsighted by Frank Lampard, with the substitute Florent Malouda registering the sixth. Djibril Cissé's consolation went almost unnoticed amid the glut.
Lost, too, was the reward chiselled by Terry in the game's opening exchanges. He had crunched a header beyond Kenny to extend Chelsea's early lead, the captain duly trotting off to the corner flag to pat, rather than thump, the badge on his chest and offer his hands out to the crowd as if accepting he had done wrong.
The apologetic reaction was for his dismissal in midweek, an idiotic red card that will cost him his place in Munich. He had used his programme notes to express a sense of regret. "I'm big enough to come out and man up when I make a mistake and, clearly, I made a mistake," he wrote.
Other issues clouded this occasion, chiefly the reality that Terry went face to face with Anton Ferdinand again here with his trial for allegedly racially abusing the QPR defender due to take place in July. There were boos from each set of fans for the opposition's centre-back over the course of the match, and the only visitors to shake Terry's hand were Joey Barton at the toss and the coach Marc Bircham in the aftermath. By then, the retreating captain could be satisfied in victory. For QPR, the ramifications of a horrible defeat are more troubling.
Man of the match Fernando Torres (Chelsea)
========================
Telegraph:
Chelsea 6 Queens Park Rangers 1:
By Henry Winter, Football Correspondent
As it poured goals in the first half, four within 26 minutes, Chelsea fans were singing in the rain, chanting, “There’s only one Di Matteo”.
As Fernando Torres swept QPR away with a hat-trick, a huge smile spread across the face of Roman Abramovich. All is well at Chelsea, finalists in the Champions League, FA Cup and FA Youth Cup.
Even the sun came out.
If Chelsea were good, QPR were shocking, often disorganised, occasionally seemingly disinterested. Jamie Mackie shouted at Djibril Cissé to raise his game. Anton Ferdinand lectured Taye Taiwo after another defensive lapse. Until Cissé’s late strike, the main show of defiance had come from the QPR mascot, who walked along the touchline kissing the club badge before kick-off.
Alarm bells ring loudly in QPR ears. Mark Hughes’s side are above the drop zone only on goal difference from 18th-placed Bolton Wanderers with awkward-looking fixtures remaining against Stoke City at home and Manchester City away. “We’re going to Germany, you’re going to Barnsley,” chanted the Chelsea fans.
Sadly, many of them embarrassed their club by taunting Anton Ferdinand, the QPR defender who is in dispute with John Terry. Chelsea’s captain was occasionally vilified by the away support but the abuse of Ferdinand was the more persistent.
More positively, Chelsea’s fans certainly seemed intent on demonstrating their backing for Di Matteo. The desire spilling down from the stands for the interim manager to be made permanent was unmissable.
“I’ve got a great relationship and connection with the fans since the days I was a player here,’’ Di Matteo said. “That will continue for the rest of my life.”
The man whose opinion matters most, Abramovich, certainly enjoyed it, beaming broadly and giving his friends high-fives as the six goals went in. Still the talk is of Chelsea considering an approach for Pep Guardiola, who is stepping down as Barcelona coach. Asked whether he could be “the Guardiola of Chelsea”, Di Matteo replied: “I’m not going to answer this question. Guardiola is one of the best coaches in the world and a true gentleman, and I think very highly of him.”
Di Matteo did reveal that he was slightly involved in transfers. “I tend to give my recommendation, but ultimately the club decides who they want to buy,’’ said Di Matteo, who welcomed the £7 million signing of Germany winger Marko Marin from Werder Bremen. “He’s an exciting player, technically very good, skilful. He will add qualities to this team.”
Marin’s arrival inevitably casts a cloud across the future of Daniel Sturridge, who began the rout within 47 seconds. Di Matteo had set Chelsea up in 4-2-3-1 formation, Sturridge cutting in from the left while Mata was in the hole behind Torres and Salomon Kalou on the right. Sturridge’s right foot does not feature regularly in his play but it was seen emphatically here.
Advancing towards the edge of the area, Sturridge got a lucky bounce off Ferdinand and then rifled a shot past Paddy Kenny. Lampard, jogging back from an offside position, ducked under the ball and had to be interfering with play, distracting Kenny, but Howard Webb signalled a goal.
One soon became two. Lampard almost scored, chipping the ball from the edge of the area, bringing a superb tip-over from Kenny. The danger remained. Terry escaped Clint Hill, reacting best to Mata’s corner.
Then came Torres at the double. He started the move for his first, linking with Mata before gliding into the box. Mata found Kalou, who judged his pass perfectly between Taiwo and Hill. This was classic, fertile Torres territory. He ran on to the ball with the keeper exposed. In a blur of blue, Torres rounded Kenny and angled the ball back in.
Chelsea were now toying with QPR, who were collapsing like a deckchair in a hurricane. A long ball from Mata should have been dealt with comfortably by Nedum Onuoha. His header was poor, catching Kenny out, allowing Torres to seize the ball, turn and strike it home.
Some nasty moments came and went. Michael Essien slid across the soaked turf, forcing Cissé to take emergency action, leaping clear. Then Joey Barton left his foot in on Mata.
QPR showed signs of life. Mackie, always determined, was denied by Petr Cech but the focus remained on El Nino. After 64 minutes, Torres ran on to a Mata pass, controlled it twice with his right foot and then drilled it past Kenny.
Now Torres became involved in the creative work, releasing the substitute Ramires down the right. The Brazilian drove the ball across, it rebounded off Ferdinand and fell to another substitute, Florent Malouda, who placed it past Kenny.
The bond between Di Matteo and the players was clear. When he became caretaker in March, he had to fend off questions that he was not popular, and he answered that he did not have many friends in football. Not now. He has loads, starting in the Shed and spreading to the pitch.
Each Chelsea player who came off was greeted fondly by Di Matteo. The warmth was reciprocated.
Demonstrating his human values further, Di Matteo allowed Sam Hutchinson a late run-out. The young centre-back suffered a serious knee injury, was forced to retire in 2010 after only three appearances but was kept on by the club in the academy. Hutchinson never stopped working on strengthening his knee, never stopped believing, and was rewarded with nine minutes remaining.
QPR did break through. Onuoha crossed to Cissé, who scored the scantiest of consolations. “You’re not singing any more,’’ chanted the visiting fans. They did. About Di Matteo.
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Mail:
Chelsea 6 QPR 1: Fernando hat-trick is more proof Di Matteo has the magic tough
By Matt Lawton
With every game, Roberto Di Matteo presents Roman Abramovich with another reason to give him the manager’s job permanently.
After Tottenham at Wembley, after Barcelona at Stamford Bridge and then the Nou Camp, where victory over the best team in the world was completed, came this — proof that the Italian can draw the best out of Fernando Torres.
On Sunday the quality of the opposition was not quite as high. A QPR side now perilously close to slipping into the bottom three were awful. From one to 11, or one to 52 in their case, they were abject, impotent, utterly hopeless. Rarely can Mark Hughes have suffered greater humiliation.
But under the guidance of their ‘interim first-team coach’ Chelsea were still excellent, somehow managing to play with real fluency and finesse when the pitch was so waterlogged there was talk of a possible postponement before kick-off. Never mind the flooding, from the moment Daniel Sturridge scored after 47 seconds the QPR floodgates opened.
Abramovich missed the game in Barcelona but the Chelsea owner was here to see his £50million striker lead the demolition and how he enjoyed himself, high-fiving with his lieutenants up in the directors’ box when Torres completed his first hat-trick for the club.
Seriously, what more does Di Matteo have to do? He has taken a team in a state of complete disarray and revived them to such an extent they are now scoring for fun, preparing for two major finals and still very much in the hunt for a top-four finish.
In the 16 games that amount to his brief but brilliant tenure this was his 11th victory, his only defeat coming at Manchester City on a night when Chelsea could consider themselves a little unfortunate.
Unless Pep Guardiola does suddenly decide he wants a new challenge, unless Jose Mourinho suddenly fancies coming back, Abramovich might struggle to come up with a reason for recruiting yet another new manager when Di Matteo seems to know how to inspire as well as organise these players. Never mind come up with contrasting tactical approaches — defensive against Barcelona, more offensive here — and still get the same end result.
Hughes would clearly give anything for a bit of that magic dust, such is the predicament he is in. QPR are only ahead of 18th-placed Bolton on goal difference, and Owen Coyle’s side have a game in hand. They meet Tottenham at home, West Brom at home and then Stoke away, while QPR host Stoke before going to Manchester City.
Chelsea were not the greatest hosts. The Premier League might have cancelled the customary handshake to avoid any legal complication with John Terry’s impending trial. But it did not spare Anton Ferdinand from a deluge of abuse from a large section of home supporters before, during and after this game. It was shameful, even if QPR’s fans gave Terry some stick too, some of it directed towards the Chelsea captain’s family.
For Ferdinand, this amounted to a miserable afternoon. He played a part in Sturridge’s opening goal, the ball rebounding off the defender’s shin before the Chelsea forward beat Paddy Kenny at his near post with a stunning 18-yard strike, and the following 89 minutes were not much better.
In Kenny’s defence, Frank Lampard might have blocked his view in what was an offside position for that first goal.
But Chelsea were so, so dominant, and when Lampard forced Kenny to concede a corner with a super chip, Chelsea struck again. The excellent Juan Mata delivered from the right, with Terry rising above Clint Hill to head the ball home with ease.
Terry had apologised to the fans for his red card in Barcelona in his programme notes but he did again after scoring, pressing his hand against the club badge. By the 25th minute Chelsea had doubled their lead. First when Torres accelerated on to a ball from Salomon Kalou before skipping past Kenny and slotting the ball into an empty net; and then when the Spaniard seized on a mistake by the QPR goalkeeper, who dropped Nedum Onuoha’s header back to him.
No part of QPR’s game was working. Passing, defending. They were shockingly disjointed, only displaying any accuracy when Joey Barton left his foot on Mata’s ankle.
Another Mata ball enabled Torres to score his third in the 64th minute, the Spain striker producing a classic finish to complete his first hat-trick since scoring one for Liverpool against Hull in 2009. At that point Chelsea’s fans delivered a chorus of ‘There’s only one Di Matteo’. Under him, Torres has scored seven goals. Florent Malouda scored Chelsea’s sixth, in the 80th minute before Djibril Cisse finally responded for QPR in the 85th. That Cisse celebrated wildly was bizarre to say the least.
Less of a surprise was the sight of Terry avoiding any potential embarrassment by going to the fans at the sound of the final whistle and so steering clear of the QPR players who might have declined the offer of his hand in support of Ferdinand. That said, Barton had shaken hands with him when the two captains met for the coin toss and QPR coach Marc Bircham did so as Terry disappeared down the tunnel.
Down the tunnel and into a jubilant dressing room that has been lifted by a young manager who has proved better suited to the job than someone Abramovich paid millions of pounds to free from his contract at Porto.
If Andre Villas-Boas was worth a gamble, then so too is Di Matteo.
===================
Mirror:
Chelsea 6-1 QPR: Hat-trick hero Torres turns on the style
Chelsea put on a thrilling display of attacking football far removed from their negative tactics against Barcelona
So the ‘anti-football’ beasts of Barcelona can play after all.
With a swagger, with a sense of style, with captivating quality – and maybe causing a few shivers in Munich, too.
If Roberto Di Matteo wanted to showcase his managerial claims in front of Roman Abramovich, he could hardly have picked a better way of doing it than this brutal West London derby destruction which pushed QPR closer to the drop.
Yesterday Di Matteo gave Abramovich the thrilling attacking football he has always wanted, proof that Chelsea do not have to rely on dogged resistance to get what they want.
Instead, they were terrific, outstanding, unstoppable, too good from the first minute – when Daniel Sturridge rifled home – to the last when Fernando Torres could have had his fourth goal of the game.
This was the sort of predatory display that Torres used to produce wearing Liverpool red, which persuaded the Russian to make his most expensive vanity purchase, and brought a guffawing Abramovich to his feet in the directors’ box.
Maybe, just maybe, Di Matteo has found the way to unlock the Spaniard, at exactly the right time.
Tuesday’s goal in the Nou Camp was the killer blow for Barca, although there have been so many false dawns that nobody talked about a ‘turning point’.
Yesterday, though, as Chelsea went for QPR’s exposed jugular, Torres was their executioner in chief. Clinical, classy, brilliant, despite an awful, sodden pitch.
Yes, it helped that Mark Hughes’ men were a shambles, demonstrated within 48 seconds as Sturridge took a rebound off Anton Ferdinand – shamefully jeered throughout – to explode a right-footer past Paddy Kenny.
It was the worst possible start for Rangers – maybe they could have done with the pre-match handshakes to remind them what was coming – but Chelsea took full advantage as Juan Mata teased, Frank Lampard drove on, Salomon Kalou added poise and Torres skewered them.
John Terry rose above the alleged challenge of Clint Hill to nod home the second, pointing to his club crest and publicly apologising for his moment of Catalan red card madness.
Enter Torres, first to complete a terrific, surgical move he started in his own half before rounding Kenny to slide home following great interplay with Mata and Kalou.
Then, after Kenny spilled Nedum Onuoha’s panicky back-header – he rifled in to make it 4-0 inside 25 minutes.
There could have been more before the break – Hughes’ decision to play Djibril Cisse on the left of a midfield five was a debacle – with QPR a dreadful mess whenever Chelsea had possession.
Just after the hour, though, the dam broke once more. Mata, relishing his preferred position in the hole, sending his compatriot through for another composed finish.
It was merely a question of how many Chelsea would get and they settled for six. Florent Malouda came off the bench to find the back of the exposed Rangers net after fellow-substitute Ramires galloped down the vacant right flank.
Cisse got one back near the end but it was irrelevant. Chelsea, revitalised and reborn, are getting better and better. Di Matteo, surely, is coming close to making his case unarguable. Wembley and Munich may prove it.
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Sun:
Chelsea 6 QPR 1
By MARK IRWIN
Fernando Torres is swinging in the rain but QPR are in danger of drowning after this Stamford Bridge deluge.
Chelsea’s much-maligned record signing opened the floodgates on this West London grudge match to claim his first hat-trick since September 2009.
And the £50million striker must feel like doing a rain dance every day after washing Rangers’ survival hopes down the plughole.
Don’t forget that Torres’ long-awaited first goal for Chelsea came when the ball stuck in a puddle against West Ham this time last year.
Now he is into double figures on a day when the heavens opened again.
After five months without a goal Torres has now scored four in five days, knocking Barcelona out of the Champions League and lifting Chelsea to within a point of the Premier League’s top four.
This was a day that was supposed to be all about John Terry versus Anton Ferdinand. But that proved little more than a squalid sideshow to the headline story of Britain’s most expensive player rediscovering his form.
Ferdinand soon realised that it was not going to be his day when he inadvertently teed up Daniel Sturridge for Chelsea’s opening goal after just 47 seconds.
Sturridge’s attempted pass inside deflected off Ferdinand’s leg and the England striker stepped inside to curl a beautiful right-footer inside Paddy Kenny’s near post.
Frank Lampard, standing in an offside position and directly in Kenny’s line of vision, ducked out of the way of Sturridge’s shot and QPR were so bewildered by their dismal start they forgot to appeal to the linesman.
That was bad enough for Ferdinand, but it got a whole lot worse when Terry rose above Clint Hill to head in Lampard’s 13th-minute corner.
With the game effectively over before it had hardly got started, it quickly became a damage- limitation exercise for a QPR team who are only out of the relegation zone on goal difference.
Yet the visitors were an accident waiting to happen every time the ball came into their half.
And it came as no surprise when Chelsea extended their lead after 19 minutes.
Juan Mata’s pass was quickly moved on by Salomon Kalou behind the static Rangers’ defence, where Torres skipped round the stranded Kenny to score.
The next goal came after 25 minutes, when Kenny came out to gather Mata’s chip but was undone by a Nedum Onuoha header which bounced off his chest into Torres’ path.
The Spaniard could have had his hat-trick wrapped up by half-time but lashed Lampard’s pass just wide of the target.
But he did not have to wait too long to get his hands on the match ball, racing through a huge gap in Rangers’ defence to coolly shoot inside the far post from another slide-rule Mata pass.
Cue Roman Abramovich high-fiving with his cronies up in his executive box. Chelsea’s billionaire owner might have missed Tuesday’s miracle in the Nou Camp but three goals from Torres was not a bad consolation for football’s most demanding boss.
QPR were reeling like a punch-drunk brawler wondering where the next blow was coming from.
If Mark Hughes could have thrown in the towel, he would have.
Unfortunately for Sparky, there was still another 25 minutes to go, more than enough time for Chelsea to inflict further damage. And a sixth goal duly arrived 10 minutes from time when Ferdinand got a leg to Ramires’ low cross but only teed up sub Florent Malouda to lash home from close range.
Djibril Cisse reduced the arrears six minutes from the end of a miserable afternoon. But it was not enough to deny Chelsea their biggest win of this craziest of seasons.
No wonder the fans are singing Roberto Di Matteo’s name in a way they never did for Andre Villas-Boas. Abramovich, high up in his West Stand lair, could hardly miss such a public show of support for his interim manager.
Chelsea have now lost just once in 16 games under the Italian.
Their prospects are in stark contrast to QPR, who have now lost their last six aways and taken just one point on their travels since Hughes arrived in January.
And they will not be safe when they go to title-chasing Manchester City on the final day of the season, no matter what happns at home to Stoke next Sunday.
DREAM TEAM
STAR MAN — FERNANDO TORRES (CHELSEA)
CHELSEA: Cech 7, Ferreira 7, Bosingwa 7 (Hutchinson 5), Terry 8, Cole 7, Mata 7 (Malouda 6), Essien 7, Lampard 7, Sturridge 7, Torres 9, Kalou 7 (Ramires 6). Subs not used: Turnbull, Romeu, Drogba, Meireles.
QPR: Kenny 5, Onuoha 4, Ferdinand 4, Hill 4, Taiwo 4, Mackie 4, Barton 4, Derry 4, Buzsaky 4 (Traore 5), Zamora 4 (Wright-Phillips 5), Cisse 5. Subs not used: Cerny, Gabbidon, Campbell, Young, Smith. Booked: Barton.
REF: H Webb 7
=================
Express:
CHELSEA 6 - QPR 1: CHELSEA ON FIRE AS FERNANDO TORRES RUNS RIOT
By Tony Banks
THE purists condemned Chelsea for the backs-to-the-wall nature of their Champions League triumph over Barcelona. The “death of football” it was branded in some quarters.
Yesterday, Roberto Di Matteo’s men proved they can play football, can attack and can score goals. And they can also fight on more than one front.
And as for Fernando Torres, he has not had many good weeks in his 15 months at Chelsea, but this was certainly one of them. El Nino is coming good at just the right time.
The £50million Spaniard’s first hat-trick anywhere since September 2009 came just days after his extraordinary goal in Barcelona that confirmed Chelsea’s place in the Champion League final. If Carlsberg did weeks...
This match had banana-skin written all over it – Chelsea coming into it on the back of all the euphoria of that miraculous semi-final in Barcelona, missing several key players, having failed to win a London league derby all season; QPR battling against relegation.
The chase for fourth place has not gone away, never mind the prospect of two finals after the glory of the Nou Camp added to an FA Cup final date with Liverpool.
As for Fernando Torres, he has not had many good weeks in his 15 months at Chelsea, but this was certainly one of them. El Nino is coming good at just the right time
Champions League football is vital for Chelsea next season and victory over Bayern Munich in the final on May 19 is no gimme. League points are still critical. There was no Branislav Ivanovic, still banned, no Gary Cahill, David Luiz or John Obi Mikel, all injured. But in the end it did not matter that they had only a makeshift side. Rangers, unfathomably, did not turn up. It was a total disaster.
Away from home they have been miserable, securing just 11 points all season. Now they have just two games left to save themselves, at home to Stoke and away to Manchester City. Knife-edge is not the word. They never got to grips with Torres. Gone were the slumped shoulders, the stumbles and the miskicks, even the forlorn pleas to the referee were rare.
This was more like the real thing, the good times finally here after what seems an eternity of waiting.
Suddenly Di Matteo has decisions to make, not just for Wednesday’s visit of Newcastle but for the FA Cup final next Saturday, and perhaps even for Munich, despite Didier Drogba’s immense performances in the Champions League semi-final.
It was Daniel Sturridge who bagged the first after just 47 seconds with his third goal this year, the ball bouncing to him off Anton Ferdinand before he lashed it home.
Mark Hughes had set up Rangers to have a go at Chelsea, but instantly his plans were in tatters.
Then Juan Mata swung in a corner, John Terry thumped in a header and the game was as good as over.
The sub-plot of the court case Terry faces in July after allegations he racially abused Ferdinand in the league game between these clubs in October produced some ritual booing from both ends but, such was Chelsea’s dominance, it became a side issue.
Torres notched his first five minutes later as he latched on to Salomon Kalou’s pass and rounded Paddy Kenny. Then Nedum Onuoha got in a tangle with Kenny and the ball dropped perfectly for the Spaniard to fire in. Just 24 minutes had gone by.
Shortly after the hour Mata put Torres through and he stroked his shot gloriously past Kenny for his hat-trick. Number six arrived as Ramires crossed and Florent Malouda scored. Rangers managed a consolation, from Djibril Cisse. But they’ll want to forget this.
======================
Star:
CHELSEA 6 - QPR 1: ROBERTO JUST DI JOB, ROMAN ABRAMOVICH
By Paul Brown
WHO needs Pep Guardiola?
Chelsea are unstoppable right now under Roberto Di Matteo, who has transformed a side in chaos and could still bring home two trophies this season.
Goals from Daniel Sturridge, John Terry and a brace from Fernando Torres blew sorry QPR away inside half-an-hour in a deadly Blue tidal wave of destruction.
After the break Torres completed his first hat-trick since Liverpool’s 6-0 rout of Hull in September 2009 and substitute Florent Malouda grabbed another.
So why even consider the outgoing Barcelona boss, when for all intents and purposes you have the ideal man in charge already?
Owner Roman Abramovich was certainly all smiles in the directors’ box yesterday.
Shambolic QPR scored a late consolation goal through Djibril Cisse – but it was their worst-ever defeat in this fixture and dealt a hammer blow to their survival hopes.
After the miracle of the Nou Camp last Tuesday night, this was Barcelona in reverse.
QPR were forced to play with their backs to the wall as Chelsea ripped them apart ruthlessly to boost their chances of finishing fourth.
That would put them back in the Champions League next season if the Blues fail to beat Bayern Munich in the Allianz Arena in the final on May 19.
The match had added spice because of the row that blew up at Loftus Road in October when Terry was alleged to have racially abused Anton Ferdinand. And the supporters made their feelings known well before kick-off.
Each man was booed as he took the field, while Hoops fans sang “You are scum” at the former England captain.
Di Matteo made six changes from the side which came back from the brink after Terry’s red card in Barcelona, and one of the new faces gave Chelsea the lead.
The game was only 44 seconds old when Sturridge played an unintentional one-two off Ferdinand, before firing past Paddy Kenny from just outside the box.
Frank Lampard was lurking in an offside position right in front of the QPR keeper as the ball was struck – and had to duck to avoid the shot – but referee Howard Webb ruled he was not interfering with play.
That was a hammer blow to QPR, who came to Stamford Bridge with their tails up after recent victories against Liverpool, Arsenal, Swansea and Tottenham.
The only trouble is, all those victories came at home and were followed by away defeats and the pattern looked like continuing when Terry made it 2-0 in the 13th minute.
Kenny had just tipped over a beautiful chip from Lampard and when Juan Mata swung in the corner, Terry rose above Clint Hill to bury a header.
Six minutes later it was three, Salomon Kalou picking out Torres with a wonderful pass, allowing the Spaniard to round Kenny and slot home just like he did in stoppage time against Barcelona.
QPR went further behind when Nedum Onuoha tried to head a Mata lob to Kenny.
He only succeeded in nodding it off the keeper to Torres, who made no mistake with the finish.
Rangers did not trouble Petr Cech until the 54th minute, when the Chelsea keeper saved magnificently from Jamie Mackie. His long-range effort was heading in until Cech got a fingertip to it.
But normal service was quickly resumed when Torres bagged his hat-trick.
Picked out again by Mata, he took two touches before guiding a sweet finish into the far corner.
With a five-goal lead, Di Matteo had the luxury of being able to rest players, with Newcastle to come at the Bridge on Wednesday, before Saturday’s FA Cup Final with Liverpool at Wembley.
The outstanding Mata and the hard-working Kalou were replaced by Malouda and Ramires.
And the two substitutes combined to make it 6-0, with Ramires teeing-up for the Frenchman to slam home.
By the time Cisse finally found a reply, the game was up and everyone in the ground knew it.
How QPR pick themselves up from this is anybody’s guess in a roller-coaster season for them.
But Chelsea’s juggernaut simply shows no sign of stopping.
