TWO costly errors by John Mikel Obi sent ten-man Chelsea crashing to a shock defeat to Serie A strugglers Roma.
The hosts stormed into a three-goal lead inside 58 minutes thanks to Christian Panucci and two goals from Mirko Vucinic.
Chelsea r
educed the deficit through captain John Terry in the 75th minute but it was not enough to save them from a humiliating defeat, their worst in Europe since their 5-1 extra-time thrashing by Barcelona in 2000.
Their miserable night ended in more woe as Deco was dismissed for a second bookable offence in the 80th minute.
Roma had posed little threat to the visitors but, against the run of play,
former Blue Panucci reacted first to sweep a cross into the net in the 33rd minute.
Vucinic put Roma two in front three minutes after the re-start, sending a rising 25-yard drive into the net beyond Petr Cech.
Roma added a third in the 58th minute when Mikel lost the ball to Vucinic, who ran the length of the Chelsea half, beat Mikel again, and fired home past Cech.
Roma: Doni, Cicinho, Mexes, Juan, Panucci, Perrotta, De Rossi, Brighi, Pizarro, Totti, Vucinic. Subs: Artur, Taddei, Loria, Riise, Julio Baptista, Tonetto, Menez.
Chelsea: Cech, Bosingwa, Terry, Alex, Bridge, Deco, Mikel, Lampard, Joe Cole, Anelka, Malouda. Subs: Cudicini, Ivanovic, Di Santo, Drogba, Ferreira, Kalou, Belletti.
Referee: L Cantalejo (Spain)
The full article contains 254 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
