Queens Park Rangers, with their regiment of newly-signed players, gave Chelsea
a thorough run for their money in this London derby, going down to a single,
freakish goal which came after 28 minutes. Chelsea’s Claudio Pizarro drove
in a right-footed shot, Lee Camp, the QPR goalkeeper, seemed to misjudge it
as he dived and had the mortification of deflecting the ball into his own
net off his arm as it came back off the left-hand post.
After that, the floodgates never opened. Indeed, in the second half, QPR made
more chances than Chelsea, prompting the Chelsea manager, Avram Grant, to
praise his third-choice goalkeeper, Henrique Hilario. He also paid tribute
to the visitors and underdogs. He said: “It was a typical cup game. We did
our job, that is most important for me. We are in the next round.
“QPR played tactically very well. They were very clever and closed the space
very well. It was a game like we expected. We held the ball most of the
time. They tried to score at set-pieces. We scored one goal and created more
chances but what is important is to be in the next round. In the cup it is
important to do your job and we did that.”
Satisfied, too, up to a point, was Rangers’ shrewd Italian manager, Luigi De
Canio, who has, as a coach, covered his own peninsula from top to bottom,
from Udinese in the northeast to Napoli in the southwest. He may not be a
Capello or a Lippi, but in the relatively short time since he took over at
Shepherd’s Bush, he has guided what was a failing team out of trouble and
now, with all his new faces, he will doubtless hope for more. “Chelsea
demonstrated they are a great team,” he said. “They behaved well. I think we
did what we were expected to – we were quite tidy on the pitch. We tried to
take advantage of every possible chance that we had.
“I am very satisfied with the performance. We worked well and it just shows we
are on course to grow in the way we want. We put them under pressure and did
our job well but unluckily we didn’t win. It is never nice to lose but
Chelsea are the great champions they are and they were good at creating
chances.”
Asked about the super abundance of new players, De Canio confessed that he had
simply acted on advice before signing them. A modest, charming, but decisive
man, his own appointment, after it was rumoured that the more prominent
Francesco Guidolin would arrive, now looks to have been almost an inspired
one.
The sudden influx of money to Shepherd’s Bush could enable him at this stage
to buy the kind of players he seldom had in Italy except perhaps with
Udinese and Napoli.
It was a pity, yesterday, that one of the best he inherited, the gifted
Hungarian playmaker Akos Buzsaky, should hurt his ankle and depart early in
the second half having recently made formal his transfer from Plymouth for
£500,000. Peanuts, of course, to the big hitters who have now taken Rangers
over.
De Canio is already looking forward with optimism. “I know we can do a lot
better,” he said. “Certainly, we had only a few training days. I’m
satisfied, but there’s a lot more work to do. We kept them in suspense.”
As to the somewhat farcical goal, he observed philosophically: “When you are
up against a great team such as Chelsea, you have to expect it. That’s the
law of sport.” And to give the unfortunate Camp his due, he did make a
couple of excellent saves in the second half.
Not only did QPR defend with resolution and organisation in the second half,
they also had their moments in attack, not least in the shape of lively
central midfielder and captain Martin Rowlands.
After a first half largely devoid of dramatic incident, despite the goal,
Rowlands was admirably ready to shoot on sight every time he got anywhere
near Hilario’s goal.
Chelsea began the second half by testing Camp with Alex’s fierce, low,
long-range free kick that the keeper turned round his right-hand post, but
Rowlands then came vigorously into the picture. Three minutes later, he sent
a shot whistling only just above the bar. Four minutes after that, he made
himself space and opportunity for a left-footed drive that was blocked by
Hilario.
Playing with only one forward in the first half, in the shape of the
resourceful and determined Dexter Blackstock, QPR at half-time brought on
another of last week’s acquisitions in the shape of former Preston striker
Patrick Agyemang, who, on 58 minutes, resiliently made himself the
opportunity for a forceful right-footed shot, but Hilario saved that, too.
Alex’s attempt apart, Chelsea did not threaten much in the second half. On 56
minutes, Pizarro was clean through, cutting inside Chris Barker, only to
shoot wildly over the bar. Didier Drogba, brought on to great applause as a
60th-minute substitute, took a pass from Joe Cole in stoppage time and
rapped in a low shot, again turned round a post by Camp. Drogba has clearly
recovered from his knee operation, but he and Chelsea’s other gifted
Africans will all too soon be taking part in the African Cup of Nations.
One should also mention in the first half a thundering, right-footed shot by
Steve Sidwell, looking far more confident and assertive than he did the
other day at Fulham. When Shaun Wright-Phillips and Salomon Kalou set him
up, his drive beat Camp, only to come back off that same, ill-omened post.
In a colossal irony, even Chelsea’s billionaire owner, Roman Abramovich, seems
likely to be overshadowed and overtaken by QPR’s new, imposing triumvirate:
motor-racing men Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone and now one of the
richest men in the world in steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal and his vast
company. But at present, Rangers, for all their activity in the transfer
market, are not going for the major stars.
But De Canio, having guided them away from relegation, could well be soon in
receipt of massive financial backing. By the time QPR come back to Stamford
Bridge, who knows what stars may glitter in their ranks? Shades of the days
when Rangers were pipped only on the post for the championship by Liverpool
in 1975-76, when they lost so fatefully on a goalkeeping error at Norwich.
Chelsea v QPR: the world's richest derby
The men who own the west London rivals have a combined wealth of over £32
billion. Roman Abramovich’s Chelsea squad was assembled for £227m. Andriy
Shevchenko is their costliest signing at £30.8m, the same sum QPR owner
Lakshmi Mittal paid for his daughter’s wedding. QPR splashed out only £3.8m
on their squad, but with Mittal, Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore
taking over last year the balance of power could be about to shift.
LAKSHMI MITTAL
Age 57
Worth £19.25 billion The Indian steel magnate topped the Sunday
Times Rich List last year and is reputedly the world’s fi fth richest man. He
began with the family fi rm in Calcutta, but with his father’s backing
founded his own steel plant. By the mid1980s he was a serious player in the
world market. He now lives in London while keeping his Indian passport. He
paid a world record £70m for a private house when he bought Bernie
Ecclestone’s London home
FLAVIO BRIATORE
Age 57
Worth £110m The poor relation of the Loftus Road trio. Briatore,
managing director of Renault’s F1 team, counts many of the world’s jet set
among his friends ... supermodel Naomi Campbell, right, was his guest at a
recent QPR match. He made his fortune as a business partner of Luciano
Benetton, founder of the Italian clothing company. Briatore was later
convicted of fraud and headed for the Virgin Islands rather than serve a
jail sentence. As MD of Benetton’s F1 team, he won two world titles with
Michael Schumacher. Joining Renault, he won two further titles with Fernando
Alonso. Also involved in fashion and pharmaceuticals
BERNIE ECCLESTONE
Age 77
Worth £2.25 billion CVC, a private equity giant, bought control of
Formula One in 2005 and set up a new company, Alpha Prema, to run the sport,
appointing Ecclestone as chief executive. He made his fortune from TV rights
and F1 spin-offs. He also donates about £50m a year to charity
ROMAN ABRAMOVICH
Age 41
Worth £10.8 billion Abramovich, Britain’s second richest man,
started in Moscow making cheap plastic products.
His career took off when he bought the Sibneft oil company with Boris
Berezovsky in 1995 for £120m. Ten years later Sibneft was sold, earning
Abramovich and his partners about £7.5 billion
