Chelsea swept aside by brilliant Falcao

Atletico Madrid 4 Chelsea 1

Atletico Madrid lifted the Uefa Super Cup courtesy of Radamel Falcao’s stunning first-half hat-trick in Monaco.

Falcao, who has consistently been linked with a move to Chelsea in recent months, also hit the woodwork twice in a totally one-sided opening 45 minutes that left the Blues 3-0 down at the break.

Gary Cahill’s 74th-minute goal was a mere consolation for Roberto Di Matteo’s side, who were soundly beaten.

Falcao put his team ahead in the seventh minute when he drifted away from David Luiz to collect Gabi’s pass before deftly lifting the ball over the onrushing Petr Cech and into the net via the outside of the post.

The goal came shortly after Falcao had hit the bar after getting in front of Ashley Cole to connect with Adrian’s cross.

He continued to cause Chelsea all kinds of problems after his opener – and found the net again on 19 minutes.

An off-balance Luiz failed to prevent Adrian’s pass inadvertently finding the Colombian striker, who curled a delightful shot beyond Cech from just inside the penalty area.

He almost completed a hat-trick when he headed the loose ball against the post after Adrian had miscued following Arda Turan’s cross.

But Falcao made no mistake a minute before the interval, racing on to Turan’s pass and firing through Cech’s legs.

Chelsea’s defence, missing the suspended John Terry, were all at sea again on the hour mark, when Miranda netted Atletico’s fourth.

The European champions failed to clear their lines at a free-kick and Cahill succeeded only in helping the ball into the net while trying to clear Miranda’s close-range shot off the line.

Cahill had more success in the opposing six-yard box when he fired home following Frank Lampard’s right-wing corner.

Atletico’s night was almost capped by an injury-time own goal by Luiz, who poked Emre Belozoglu’s low cross on to the post.

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