Steaua Bucharest 0 Chelsea 4
Ramires scored twice as Chelsea got their Champions League campaign back on track with a resounding victory in Romania.
The Blues, beaten at home by Basel in their opening Group E match, never looked back after Ramires put them ahead in the 19th minute after good work on the left by the outstanding Andre Schurrle.
Daniel Georgievski’s own goal just before the interval put them in complete control and Ramires struck again 10 minutes into the second half.
And a great night for Jose Mourinho’s side was rounded off by Frank Lampard’s injury-time fourth.
They suffered an early setback when Fernando Torres was taken off after 11 minutes with what looked like a knee injury.
But his replacement, Samuel Eto’o, was involved in three of the goals.
The Cameroon striker was picked out by Schurrle and nudged the ball towards Ramires, who slotted home the opener from close range.
And there was no way back for Steaua Bucharest after Georgievski inadvertently poked the loose ball into his own net after Eto’o’s shot had been saved by keeper Ciprian Tatarusanu.
Eto’o was set up by Juan Mata, who was back in the Chelsea starting line-up and put in a solid performance while showing glimpses of his class.
The third goal was a beauty, with Schurrle showing great skill to beat his man and find Oscar, who teed up Ramires for another emphatic finish.
Oscar then set up Mata, whose shot struck the post.
Petr Cech hit the post too – the Chelsea keeper was clearly in pain after clattering into the woodwork after tipping away an effort from Cristian Tanasa.
But he recovered sufficiently to produce a brilliant save to keep out Nicolae Stanciu’s shot.
Those were rare moments of concern for the visitors, who were unlucky not to score a fourth when Oscar’s powerful strike from the edge of the area clipped the bar and when Schurrle shot narrowly wide.
But Lampard made no mistake, firing in off the post from 10 yards after nice link-up play involving Eto’o and substitute Willian.
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This post was last modified on 02/10/2013