Chelsea met Inter at the Rose Bowl, Pasadena. The game was dominated by Jose Mourinho's former club and the Special One could not hide his displeasure. Lampard, Drogba, Malouda, Sturridge and Essien kept the pressure up on the Nerrazurri. Drogba hit a speculative shot on goal which Belec was unable to get fully behind and only managed to deflect the ball into goal in the 10'. Cordoba then gave up a penalty in the 47' when he parried Daniel Sturridge's cross with his hand. Lampard made no mistake.
Inter's midfield endeavours led by Cambiasso and Zanetti were negated by Chelsea's physical midfield. One moment which captured it all was Mikel's roadblock of Vieira who crumpled to the ground under the challenge. It brought the testy undercurrent of this match to the fore as Inter players surrounded Mikel. Mourinho tried to sharpen the attack by bringing in Ibrahamovic but his surprising appearance despite all those rumours of being shipped to Barca did very little to change the course of the match. Balotelli also proved ineffective with very little supply to his feet as he kept drifting back deeper and deeper.
What must have galled Mourinho was not so much the loss to his former club and to a rival but the way Chelsea won. They retained their defensive strength made exemplary under his tenure while becoming more attractive in their attack with Drogba and Lampard, two former favourites rejuvenated under Hiddink and the talented Sturridge. After the match Mourinho made a foray into the field and got a tepid welcome from the Chelsea players. The match had its array of celebrities led by Charlize Theron and including Malcom McDowell, Will Ferrell, and Alyssa Milano.
Some additional thoughts: Inter is a bit behind the Premiership teams in preparation for the upcoming season but the pace and physicality displayed by Chelsea does not augur well for their CL aspirations with a poor record against English opponents.
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