22/03/2003  Chelsea 5 Manchester City 0
 
Chelsea got their Champions League challenge back on course 
with a 5-0 demolition job on Manchester City at Stamford 
Bridge.

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink stabbed home a Gianfranco Zola 
cross to fire the Blues into a 37th-minute lead and John Terry 
headed a second from a Graeme Le Saux corner three minutes 
before the break.

There was no way back for City in the 59th minute when a 
Terry flick-on from Hasselbaink's corner gave Stanic a 
tap-in.

And the Blues piled on the agony with further goals from 
Frank Lampard (69) and William Gallas (79).

City's misery was complete when substitute Sun Jihai was 
dismissed after picking up a second yellow card at the 
death.

Chelsea boss Claudio Ranieri had opted to play three up 
front with Zola operating behind Eidur Gudjohnsen and 
Hasselbaink and Marcel Desailly was given more time to recover 
from a hip injury.

City were boosted by Sylvain Distin's recovery from a flu 
bug especially as former England defender Steve Howey had been 
left at home having refused to travel merely as a 
substitute.

Chelsea won a corner with their first attack and from 
Hasselbaink's flag kick on the left, Stanic was up highest at 
the far side of the area only to put his downward header wide 
of a post.

Peter Schmeichel soon had to grab another teasing cross 
from the same flank, this time fashioned by Gudjohnsen.

It took 10 minutes for City to threaten and Ali Benarbia, 
despite being fouled, did well to force a corner on the right 
from which Foe put in a firm downward header which was blocked 
almost at source.

Zola invited Lampard to try a low drive from 25 yards which 
thudded into Schmeichel's arms on the 17-minute mark.

Schmeichel had to be at his sharpest to prevent Gudjohnsen 
twice in a minute galloping clear onto long clearances before 
Gudjohnsen collected a scuffed shot from Hasselbaink and 
turned inside Gerard Wiekens and Kevin Horlock before hitting 
a waist-high blast which Schmeichel blocked.

On 33 minutes Anelka hit a lofted diagonal ball from right 
to left and Fowler volleyed wide.

The escape roused Chelsea again and Schmeichel had to claw 
away Stanic's corner under a hail of flying bodies in the six 
yard box.

But the breakthrough was not far away. In the 37th minute 
Zola crossed from the left and Hasselbaink was far quicker to 
react than Distin at the far post, the big Dutchman poking the 
ball home via Schmeichel's stretching arms.

Schmeichel turned a Zola drive round the post and from the 
resultant flag kick by Le Saux in the 42nd minute skipper John 
Terry was allowed to net a straightforward close-range header 
as the City defenders stood off.

The ineffective Fowler was substituted at half time by 
Shaun Goater and within three minutes of the restart City 
should have clawed a goal back.

Anelka stooped to nod a low ball into the path of full back 
Niclas Jensen who had arrived deep in the Chelsea area, but he 
jabbed the ball hopelessly wide of the far post with 
Cudicini's goal at his mercy.

Chelsea had to survive another escape when Cudicini finally 
grabbed the ball in a hectic goalmouth scramble after Goater 
became involved.

In the 59th minute, though, City looked dead and buried by 
another piece of magical Terry head-work which handed Stanic 
the third Chelsea goal on a plate.

The move could not have been simpler. A corner by 
Hasselbaink on the left, Terry's clever flick as he raced 
across the face of goal and Croatian Stanic was left all alone 
to slot home from short range.

No wonder Chelsea could afford to take off Hasselbaink and 
Le Saux soon afterwards, sending on Carlton Cole and Boudewijn 
Zenden instead. And on 65 minutes even the mercurial Zola was 
removed to bring on Quique de Lucas.

City's frustration was reflected in a yellow card for Kevin 
Horlock's pointless foul on Stanic.

City were undone again in the 69th minute when Cole and 
Frank Lampard zipped through in a lightning exchange and 
Lampard touched the fourth goal past the helpless 
Schmeichel.

And 10 minutes later Gallas sidefooted home a Lampard cross 
from six yards.

The final straw for City was Sun Jihai's dismissal for a 
second bookable offence.