Chelsea 1 Steaua 0: Ba secures top spot for Mourinho's Blues as Schwarzer makes Champions League debut aged 41

Chelsea 1 Steaua 0: Ba secures top spot for Mourinho's Blues as Schwarzer makes Champions League debut aged 41

Jose Mourinho might claim to be afraid of the training ground dummies but he probably won't mind playing Steaua Bucharest again.
The Romanian champions were the perfect antidote for a Chelsea team with strikers who cannot score and are leaking goals at a worrying rate.
They stepped aside as Demba Ba opened the scoring after 10 minutes and had the decency to step aside on numerous other occasions but Mourinho's team were unable to add to the lead.

Flying start: Ba (centre) celebrates with Frank Lampard (left) and David Luiz after his early strike

Match facts

Chelsea: Schwarzer, Ivanovic, Luiz, Terry, Cole, Oscar, Mikel, Lampard, Willian, Ba, Hazard.
Subs not used: Cech, Ramires, Torres, Mata, Schurrle, De Bruyne, Cahill.
Booked: Mikel.
Goal: Ba 10.
Steaua: Tatarusanu, Georgievski, Szukala, Gardos, Latovlevici, Chipciu, Iancu, Pintilii, Stanciu, Parvulescu, Kapetanos.
Subs not used: Nita, Prepelita, Cristea, Tatu, Piovaccari, Neagu, Varela.
Referee: Gianluca Rocchi (Italy)

It did not matter. Steaua, despite the occasional reckless charge out of defence at a speed that suggested they were escaping a fire in their own half.
Their finishing was equally erratic did not force a save from Mark Schwarzer for 72 minutes.
Often the match felt like nothing more than an elaborate training session and the mannequins used by Mourinho in his defensive drills might have done better after all.
Chelsea got the win they needed to take their place in Monday's draw for the Champions League knock-out rounds as group winners and improved on their last European performance, a defeat in Basle when they failed to get a shot on target.
They will avoid the best of the Europe and that should give them a fighting chance of reaching the quarter-finals of the competition, which ought to save face considering they crashed out in the group stage last season.
Mourinho's broader problems remain. They were never likely to disappear simply by beating a team already out of Europe but the victory was important.

Tribute: Players from both sides join together to pay their respects to Nelson Mandela

Tap-in: The Senegalese beats the Steaua goalkeeper from close range

Smiles better: Ba capped a rare start for Chelsea under Jose Mourinho with a goal

Aussie rules: Mark Schwarzer replaced regular No 1 Petr Cech in goal for Chelsea

Targeted: A laser pen is directed at Frank Lampard during the first half at Stamford Bridge

Foot in both camps: Former Chelsea and Steaua man Dan Petrescu waves to the crowd

Acrobatic: Steaua keeper Ciprian Tatarusanu just beats Ba to the ball