Luiz Felipe Scolari sent out an ominous warning to Chelsea’s Champions League rivals about the standards he expects by criticising his team despite a 4-0 win over Bordeaux last night.

An excellent day for Chelsea, which began with John Terry being cleared to face Manchester United on Sunday when a three-match ban was overturned, appeared to have reached a perfect conclusion as Bordeaux were routed at Stamford Bridge, but Scolari was far from impressed with their performance. “It’s important to win, but today we didn’t play very well,” Scolari said. “If they had had more quality, it would have been dangerous for us. We know that we made many mistakes.

“When you’re 2-0 up at half-time in the Champions League you have to work harder. You need to control the game more and we didn’t control it very well in the second half.”

Chelsea’s position in group A was strengthened by a surprise 2-1 win away to AS Roma for CFR Cluj, the Romanian minnows, after Scolari had been boosted by Terry’s unexpected availability to face the champions. The Football Association’s independent regulatory commission ruled that the Chelsea captain was not guilty of serious foul play in dragging Jô to the ground during Saturday’s win over Manchester City, a decision that led Sir Alex Ferguson to react with fury.

The United manager accused Keith Hackett, the head of the Professional Game Match Officials Board, of interfering in the verdict. A spokesman for the board insisted that Hackett played no part in the appeals process, but The Times understands that Mark Halsey, the referee, did not accept that he made the wrong decision, making the appeal decision even more unusual.

Scolari welcomed Terry’s reprieve, but even the Brazilian was taken aback by the verdict. “I am surprised, but satisfied,” Scolari said. “It’s the first time that I’m coach and they’ve changed the resolution from the referee. That would only happen in England. It’s positive for football. The FA have their men who understand that the referee is not God. They make mistakes sometimes, like I do and the players. It’s important to say this.”

While Chelsea’s goals were shared between four players, Liverpool had one man to thank for their 2-1 victory away to Marseilles in group D: Steven Gerrard. The captain equalised with a superb dipping shot and won the match with a twice-taken penalty. They were the 98th and 99th goals of his Liverpool career. “The real heroes were the keeper and back four,” Gerrard said. “We were hanging on more than we should have been.”