José Mourinho has insisted all along on treating them as two separate challenges, but he would not have wanted to warm up for this weekend’s daunting trip to Old Trafford in this manner. Like Manchester United, the champions will go into the most eagerly awaited match of the Barclays Premiership on the back of a defeat in the Champions League, with Per Mertesacker’s first-half header humbling the tournament favourites.
More worrying than Chelsea’s disjointed performance are the injuries to Didier Drogba and Michael Ballack that could keep them out of Sunday’s summit meeting. The Ivory Coast striker is known for going to ground easily, but he rarely stays down, so it was a surprise to see him hobble off after 59 minutes in the wake of a clash with Torsten Frings, while Ballack could not be accused of feigning injury after suffering a nasty gash to his right leg in a collision with Pierre Womé.
“Ballack’s injury is nothing special,” Mourinho said. “It is only painful. Drogba’s injury is to his ankle, but again it is nothing serious. You’re never happy with a defeat, but in this very difficult group, to be safe going into the last game is an achievement.” Drogba was hobbling heavily as he boarded the team bus, but a smiling Ballack was more positive. “I hope to be fit for Sunday,” he said.
The meeting of the Premiership’s top two at Old Trafford has always been Chelsea’s pressing concern this week, no matter Mourinho’s claims to the contrary, and the portents are not good. Chelsea’s previous away loss in Europe, against Real Betis 13 months ago, was followed by defeat by United five days later in the corresponding fixture last season, although the potential absence of Drogba is more unsettling than any quirk of fate. The African powerhouse has been Chelsea’s player of the season, with 14 goals merely the finishing touches of a formidable all-round game, and he is one of the few players who cannot be adequately replaced.
Despite having an impressive squad, Mourinho is short of options up front, with Andriy Shevchenko lacking form and fitness after starting on the bench last night, and Salomon Kalou out with a knee injury. Such is Mourinho’s predicament that Joe Cole played as an out-and-out striker in only his third start of the season last night and did not enjoy the experience, being given a buffeting by Mertesacker and Naldo, the huge Bremen centre backs.
Cole’s travails summed up Chelsea’s disjointed performance, to which Mourinho contributed himself with his erratic team selection. Having veered from protocol by naming his team in advance, he changed his mind, with John Obi Mikel coming in for Shevchenko. The suspicious minds in Barcelona will not have been surprised, however, because on the only previous occasion he announced his starting XI, Mourinho pulled off a similar trick, with Damien Duff making a remarkable recovery to play at the Nou Camp 18 months ago. This supreme schemer has not been compared to Machiavelli for nothing.
Having fallen out with Mourinho over his poor timekeeping, Mikel’s third start for Chelsea represented his second — and possibly last — chance to impress. Cole appears to have been through more lives than a particularly careless cat, but he keeps coming back for more and was determined to put on a show on his first Champions League start of the season and third in all competitions. His first contribution was to be caught offside in the fourth minute, chasing a through-pass from Drogba, and he struggled thereafter.
Chelsea created the better early chances, Michael Essien shooting across goal after an intelligent pass by Drogba, while Mikel should have given his team the lead two minutes later, heading over the bar from close range after John Terry had nodded Gérémi’s free kick back across goal. A dose of early-morning target practice beckons for the Nigerian.
Having survived such scares, Bremen began to dominate, with Diego to the fore. The Brazilian revelled in the freedom he was given behind his two strikers, shooting wide after a one-two with Clemens Fritz and playing Hugo Almeida through a huge gap, only to see him miss the target.
With Diego controlling midfield, a goal seemed inevitable, but the way it arrived was a surprise because it came from a routine set-piece. Chelsea do not often concede goals in such a manner. After Frings’s 27th-minute header was deflected wide by Khalid Boulahrouz, the visiting team failed to mark the Germany player’s subsequent corner, with Mertesacker escaping the attentions of Drogba and Ballack head home.
However, Mourinho was not happy with the award of a free kick to Bremen in the build-up to Frings’s corner, accusing the Germany player of diving. “Frings went down like somebody pushed him, but nobody did it,” Mourinho said. “Every year in this competition since I won it (with FC Porto in 2004) I haven’t had a lot of luck.”
Chelsea’s start to the second half was strangely subdued, perhaps subconsciously settling for the single-goal defeat that would guarantee them qualification. Their predicament worsened shortly before the hour when Drogba was replaced by Shevchenko, with Arjen Robben also coming on for Mikel. Shevchenko was lively enough, twice nipping ahead of Mertesacker and having a free kick saved by Wiese, but Drogba would be missed far more in Manchester.
Bremen’s victory heaps the pressure on Barcelona despite the Spanish club’s 2-0 win against Levski Sofia and the holders must beat Werder at the Nou Camp next month to avoid an early exit. Chelsea need a win against Sofia at Stamford Bridge to guarantee their progress as group leaders but must do so without Terry, who collected a late booking for throwing the ball away.
Werder Bremen (4-4-2): T Wiese — C Fritz, P Mertesacker, Naldo, P Womé — T Borowski, T Frings, Diego, D Jensen (sub: A Hunt, 79min) — M Klose (sub: I Klasnic, 90), H Almeida (sub: C Schulz, 87). Substitutes not used A Reinke, P Pasanen, J Vranjes, L Andreasen. Booked Borowski.
Chelsea (4-2-3-1): C Cudicini — Gérémi, K Boulahrouz, J Terry, A Cole — C Makelele, M Essien — J O Mikel (sub: A Robben, 59), M Ballack (sub: S Wright-Phillips, 76), J Cole — D Drogba (sub: A Shevchenko, 59). Substitutes not used Hilário, L Diarra, P Ferreira, N Morais. Booked Terry.
Referee L Michel (Slovakia).
What next?
Chelsea remain favourites to finish top of the group as they entertain Levski Sofia on December 5. Barcelona, though, must beat Werder Bremen at the Nou Camp if they are to deny the German side qualification.
Lone-star state
For only the third time this season, Didier Drogba had neither a strike partner nor two wingers to supply him and, perhaps as a result, the Ivory Coast striker struggled to get involved, touching the ball only 20 times in the Werder Bremen half before limping off on the hour. Chelsea have won none of those three matches, the others being away to Barcelona (which ended in a 2-2 draw) and Tottenham Hotspur (a 2-1 defeat).
