If you want anything done properly, do it yourself is the adage, and Chelsea spurned the need of a helping hand from Roma yesterday to make their own way into the last 16 of the Champions League. They will not enter the draw on December 19 as group winners, which is a source of embarrassment, but tournament veterans such as Sir Alex Ferguson regard the order of qualification as pretty much irrelevant these days. As if to prove it, by coming second, Chelsea have avoided the possibility of an early meeting with the Inter Milan side now coached by José Mourinho. Inter somehow contrived to finish short of Panathinaikos in group B.

It is not time to pass round the cigars just yet, however. As it stands, Chelsea’s opponents could include the league leaders in Spain and France and a team that are joint top on points in Germany. A tie against Barcelona would renew old rivalries, although with Mourinho and Frank Rijkaard, the former coaches, now replaced, there will be no incendiary spark, while a pairing with Panathinaikos, of Greece, will be considered fortunate, considering the way Olympiacos from that country were brushed aside last season. Chelsea could also face one of Lyons and Bayern Munich, and one from Juventus and Real Madrid, although the Italian side are likelier to win the group, bringing the possible return to Stamford Bridge of Claudio Ranieri. Had Chelsea won the group, Inter, Atlético Madrid and Sporting Lisbon would already be lined up as potential opponents. Bread and bread, really. Ferguson probably has a point.

This was barely a return to form for Chelsea, although Yssouf Koné’s equalising goal in the 55th minute gave the tie a brief air of tension, before news came in that Roma were beating Bordeaux, meaning that Chelsea could lose and still progress. In the circumstances, then, perhaps the most pleasing factor was the return to the side, and to scoring form, of Didier Drogba, who was on the field for only seven minutes as a substitute before he relieved the pressure with a sublimely taken winner.

Drogba has not had the best year — sent off in the Champions League final, injured, banned by the FA for throwing a coin into the crowd against Burnley, fingered for allowing his agent to meet representatives of Inter — but beggars cannot be choosers and right now Chelsea followers, concerned that their season may be unravelling, will take a favour even if they are suspicious of its motives. Drogba, on his day arguably the finest striker in Europe, is capable of turning this campaign around almost single-handedly and, as such, received a welcome generally reserved for the sort of player who has been selfless and unassuming, not a royal pain in the neck.

It was a fantastic move that won the match and Drogba completed it with a flourish. John Obi Mikel carried the ball through the middle and fed Joe Cole, whose chip put Drogba in to bring the ball down and strike a stunning shot past Nuno Claro, the CFR Cluj goalkeeper, in one seamless move. “Welcome back, we’ve missed you,” a voice boomed through the Tannoy. It might not have been what Nicolas Anelka, the man who has done a creditable job filling Drogba’s boots, wanted to hear, but it was the truth.

As it was, Chelsea were the only team in the top eight seeds not to be through with a game to spare. It took a desperately fickle campaign to deliver this predicament, a boulevard of banana skins stretching out from what should have been a walk in the park. Luiz Felipe Scolari, the manager, went into the game denying claims, some from inside the club, that he is feeling the pressure. He did a fine job of hiding it if he was, although that might have changed had Cluj done more with two early chances.

Cluj are Champions League novices, but they deserve credit for making a game of this and in the seventh minute, Alvaro Pereira, the full back, broke down the left flank and struck a low shot that Petr Cech, the Chelsea goalkeeper, parried and then gathered at the next attempt. If that was too close for comfort, from the next attack, Hugo Alcântara headed the ball down and Eugen Trica almost forced it over the line, thwarted by desperate defence from Mikel.

From there, Chelsea enjoyed the bulk of possession and should have scored after 12 minutes when a free kick from Deco was met by Alex, unmarked, at the far post, heading the ball into the turf with such force that it bounced over the bar. Cluj looked vulnerable in the air, though, and in the 40th minute, so it proved.

Trica clumsily fouled Michael Ballack on the right of midfield, Deco’s free kick was deep and dangerous and the defence was more interested in dealing with John Terry, who has scored twice in the Champions League this season, bundling him to the floor but leaving Salomon Kalou unmolested. On his own in the six-yard box, he forced the ball past Nuno Claro.

Chelsea then made harder work of this than was necessary, conceding a goal when Koné — a member of the Rosenborg team who did for Mourinho last season — headed in a cross from Cristian Panin, but results elsewhere meant that they spent little time outside the comfort zone, mainly in the first half when the scores in both group A games were level.

It is this absence of surprise that is the great weakness of the Champions League group stage. Chelsea have not impressed in Europe this season, but that have not needed to and not one of the reforms designed by Michel Platini, the Uefa president, and implemented next season will make a damn bit of difference. If anything, as more minnows swim in the big pool, what Uefa terms match-day six (and who said romance was dead in football) will increasingly cease to matter.

Chelsea (4-1-2-2-1): P Cech — J Bosingwa, Alex, J Terry, A Cole — J Obi Mikel (sub: W Bridge, 87min) — M Ballack, Deco — J Cole (sub: J Belletti, 74), S Kalou (sub: D Drogba, 64) — N Anelka. Substitutes not used: C Cudicini, B Ivanovic, P Ferreira, M Stoch. Booked: Belletti, Mikel Obi.

CFR Cluj (4-2-3-1): Nuno Claro — C Panin, Cadu, H Alcantara, Alvaro Pereira — Dani, G Muresan — Juan Culio, E Trica (sub: S Peralta, 71), S Dubarbier (sub: E Kone, 59) — Y Koné. Substitutes not used: L Hirschfeld, Sanchez Prette, C Deac, De Sousa, Diego Ruiz. Booked: Trica.

Referee: P Frojdfeldt (Sweden).