Villas-Boas pleased with performance

Andre Villas-Boas was delighted to notch his first Champions League win with Chelsea and see Fernando Torres return to form.

Torres drew the ire of his manager during the week for his ‘old and slow’ team-mates jibe but set up both goals as the Blues swept aside Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 in their opening Group E game at Stamford Bridge.

Defender David Luiz and Juan Mata profited from Torres’ work with strikes to continue Chelsea’s unbeaten start to the season.

Villas-Boas admitted he spoke to striker Torres regarding the midweek controversy, but was eager to focus more on the performance of his side.

He said: “The investigation is over. We had a chat. Hopefully these things won’t arise again in the group but, if they do, the manager will deal with them.”

“I wasn’t worried (that Torres opted to pass rather than shoot for the goals). I think he took a wise decision. I’m very pleased with the effort of everybody and particularly with the way the game was played – the passing and the fluency.”

“We created so many opportunities to win the game by more. It was a game for us to win. If there was a fair result it would have been Chelsea winning. It was just a shame it took a long time for the second to arrive.”

Chelsea will now turn their attention to Sunday’s blockbuster clash with Premier League leaders Manchester United, something Villas-Boas described as an entirely different challenge.

“Sunday is a different kind of challenge. We face Man United in perhaps their most tremendous moment of motivation, flair and style – and a team that has made its impact in the beginning of the Premier League.”

“Motivation will be a key factor. It’s about the capacity of players to transcend themselves.”

Villas-Boas started captain John Terry, Frank Lampard and Nicolas Anelka on the bench and revealed Didier Drogba would resume light training on Thursday after the concussion he suffered more than two weeks ago.

Meanwhile, Leverkusen coach Robin Dutt had few complaints about his side’s defeat in a match where stalwart Michael Ballack returned to face his former club.

“Chelsea deserved to win the game but my team gave a very good performance,” Dutt said.

“Chelsea’s defence just didn’t make any mistakes. But the more experience my team get the better they will get.”