Sereni Gives Blues Helping Hand  (Sky Sports)

SS Lazio 0 Chelsea 4

UEFA Champions League Group G

It was a night to remember for Chelsea, as they convincingly beat Lazio 4-0 at the Stadio Olimpico with a little help from goalkeeper Matteo Sereni.

Juan Sebastian Veron and Hernan Crespo returned to their former club and came away with a win which will certainly have the rest of Europe taking note.

Lazio started brightly, with Dejan Stankovic and Bernardo Corradi causing young Glen Johnson no end of problems on the Chelsea right.

But it was the London side who made the breakthrough on 15 minutes.

Verons free kick was not gathered properly by former Ipswich keeper Sereni and Crespo was on hand to poke the ball home.

Lazio defender Sinisa Mihajlovic then showed the ugly side of his game, as he repeatedly tangled with Adrian Mutu.

The Serbo-Montenegrin was shown quite clearly kicking out and spitting at the Romanian, but referee Valentin Ivanov did nothing on both occasions.

The Italian side tried hard to find the equaliser, with Stankovic going close with a volley which was well saved low down by Carlo Cudicini.

Corradi then got ahead of John Terry to put a clear headed chance narrowly over the bar.

Crespo had a golden chance in injury time when he found himself in front of Sereni from a Mutu cross, but his back-flick was well saved by the keeper.

The second half started in explosive fashion, with Cudicini pulling off a brilliant double save from Stankovic and Inzaghi in quick succession.

But once again, it was Mihajlovic who was involved in more controversy.

The big defender saw a red card on 52 after bringing down Duff twice in quick succession, with justice being done after his first half behaviour.

With Lazio down to ten men, Stankovic looked the most likely to grab the equaliser for Lazio but his shot on 59 went just wide.

Chelsea then effectively killed off the game on 70 minutes to end any hopes of a Lazio comeback.

Frank Lampard was given time and space to shoot, Sereni only managed to palm the effort straight to substitute Eidur Gudjohnsen who made no mistake.

Duff then grabbed a third on 75, weaving his way past the Lazio defence and curling in his shot past Sereni and into the bottom corner.

Lampard grabbed himself a well deserved goal, scoring the Blues' fourth on 80 with the home defence all but missing.

The England midfielder scored his second goal of Chelseas UEFA Champions League campaign, turning the ball into the empty net after Sereni had parried Gudjohnsens initial effort.

Johnson was sent off in stoppage time, but it made no difference as Chelsea romped home to take command of Group G with 9 points.

Teams

Lazio: Sereni, Zauri, Couto, Mihajlovic, Favalli, Stankovic, Liverani, Albertini (Muzzi 71), Fiore (Negro 58), Corradi, Inzaghi (Lopez 71).
Subs Not Used: Casazza, Dabo, Giannichedda, Sergio Conceicao.
Sent Off: Mihajlovic (52).
Booked: Mihajlovic, Liverani.

Chelsea: Cudicini, Johnson, Gallas, Terry, Bridge, Veron (Cole 76), Makelele, Lampard, Duff, Crespo (Gudjohnsen 67), Mutu (Gronkjaer 57).
Subs Not Used: Ambrosio, Huth, Geremi, Hasselbaink.
Sent Off: Johnson (90).
Booked: Mutu, Cudicini, Johnson.
Goals: Crespo 15, Gudjohnsen 70, Duff 75, Lampard 80.

Attendance: 50,000

Referee: Valentin Ivanov (Russia).