Lampard stars as Chelsea beat Bordeaux
Lampard stars as Chelsea beat Bordeaux
Frank Lampard scored a goal and set up two more as Chelsea beat Bordeaux 4-0.

London: Frank Lampard scored the first goal and set up two more as Chelsea cruised to a 4-0 victory over Bordeaux in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Lampard punished poor marking by the Bordeaux defence to head the Blues in front after 14 minutes and then provided the corner for Joe Cole to score at the near post in the 30th.

Lampard's backheel then set up a third for Florent Malouda in the 85th minute and Nicolas Anelka added the fourth in injury time to round off an impressive victory for last season's runner up.

With all but lone striker Marouane Chamakh behind the ball, the French league runners up did their best to try and stifle Chelsea's midfielders and forwards.

But they were still caught out twice before halftime.

The Bordeaux defenders failed to spot Lampard's run through the middle as he arrived unmarked to head home a rightwing cross by rightback Jose Bosingwa to open Chelsea's account.

Cole, one of the smallest players on the field, then met Lampard's leftwing corner in the 30th minute to guide a glancing header past goalkeeper Ulrich Rame.

The Blues should have been three goals ahead by halftime when the ball deflected off Malouda and found Lampard unmarked in front of goal, but the England midfielder fired wide of the far post.

The small band of Bordeaux fans nestled in a corner of Stamford Bridge had little to cheer, with the only threat from the visitors coming from long range shots from Wendel and Yoann Gourcuff which sailed too high, and one from Fernando early in the second half which went wide.

Having overcome the foot injury he picked up at Euro 2008, Chelsea's German midfielder Michael Ballack made his first appearance of the season as a second half substitute for Deco, who looked out of touch and had just received a yellow card.

The only real danger for coach Luiz Felipe Scolari's team appeared to be complacency and the Brazilian waved his arms in frustration when his players gave the ball away in tricky situations in their own half.

But Chelsea's third goal with five minutes to go sealed the result as Lampard's well timed backheel put Malouda clear and the French winger fired home with a left footed drive from 15 meters.

The fourth goal came in the second minute of injury time when substitute Juliano Belletti fired a 30-meter shot which Rame did well to push onto the crossbar only for Anelka to follow up and score into an empty net.

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At Bremen, Anorthosis Famagusta clinched a historic 0-0 draw at Werder Bremen as they made their debut in the group stage of the Champions League, the first by any Cypriot team.

Anorthosis were the heavy underdog going against a team playing in their fifth straight Champions League competition, but staved off some strong pressure to pick up their first point for Cyprus in Europe's elite club competition in the Group B match.

"Most of the action was really in front of their goal," Bremen's defender Per Mertesacker said. "We created pressure but it wasn't strong enough to force them into mistakes."

Two early chances came for Claudio Pizarro but first he shot just outside the post and then Anorthosis goalkeeper Arian Beqaj stopped his header from close range.

Anorthosis' Paulo Costa shot over Bremen's goal after a counterattack.

The Cypriot team allowed Bremen most of the possession and preferred to wait for openings to counter attack with fast breaks.

Bremen defender Sebastian Boenisch almost scored unintentionally when his cross attempt bounced off the top of the bar.

Pizarro wasted Bremen's best opportunity late in the first half when he failed to connect with a cross.

While Anorthosis had more attacks in the second half, Bremen still dominated but did not create any real chance until Mesut Ozil put Hugo Almeida through, but the striker - who had come on for Pizarro - shot high and wide with 12 minutes remaining.

Bremen's goalkeeper Tim Wiese had to come far off his line to get to the ball before Savio as the visitors sought to upset the Bundesliga runner-up.

Boubacar Sanogo, another substitute striker, then failed to connect from close range.

Wiese was tested again by a long-range effort from Traianos Dellas which Bremen goalkeeper Wiese fumbled, but his defenders cleared the ball.

Bremen had two more chances in added time, but Anorthosis keeper Beqaj stopped Ozil's shot from a sharp angle and then Sanogo headed another chance just high.

Meanwhile, CFR Cluj pulled off a stunning 2-1 victory over AS Roma in Rome in their Champions League debut thanks to two goals from Argentine midfielder Juan Culio.

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A 25-year-old journeyman playing his first Champions League match, Juan Culio scored in the 27th and 49th minutes after Christian Panucci had put Roma in front at the Stadio Olimpico, which will host this season's final on May 27.

"Starting this way at this level is incredible," said Cluj's Italian coach, Maurizio Trombetta.

Last season, Cluj finished one point ahead of Steaua to become the first team from outside Bucharest to win the Romanian league in 17 years, then added its first Romanian Cup title as well.

Roma reached the Champions League quarter-finals the past two seasons, and were eliminated by Manchester United each time.

Roma have also had a rough start to Serie A, taking only one point from its opening two matches, including a 3-1 loss to Palermo at the weekend. In the Italian Super Cup last month, Roma was beaten by Inter Milan on penalties.

"At the moment things are not working," midfielder Daniele De Rossi said.

"Some of it is bad luck, but we're making things complicated all by ourselves. But we'll get through it - we've done great things in the past."

Cluj also had a rough start this season, resulting in coach Ioan Andone being replaced by his assistant Trombetta, who has now won his first two games in charge.

"We did all we could to shut down Roma's play on the wings, where they like to play low balls in from," Trombetta said. "And we continued to play like we know how to after allowing the first goal."

With Roma captain Francesco Totti starting on the bench, his replacement at forward Mirko Vucinic threatened at the start.

A Vucinic free kick was gathered calmly by Cluj goalkeeper Eduard Stancioiu in the eighth minute, he missed a volley wide in the 13th and hit the post in the 15th.

Cluj never appeared intimidated and had two shots on goal before Roma's Panucci headed in a pass from De Rossi in the 17th minute for his 13th goal in 99 European matches.

Roma goalkeeper Alexander Doni had to push over the bar a powerful, rising shot from Argentine forward Sebastian Dubarbier in the 22nd and Juan Culio strode through Roma's porous defence to equalize six minutes later, splitting two defenders with a diagonal shot from the edge of the area.

Two minutes into the second half, the 35-year-old Panucci hobbled off with a back problem and was replaced by Simone Loria. Seconds later, Juan Culio struck again, pounding in a loose ball from the center of the area with a thundering volley.

Totti came on for Norway defender John Arne Riise in the 52nd as Roma added an extra forward and he immediately had a chance, with a header deflected high in the 55th.

Totti threatened again in the 68th, when he protested briefly for a penalty after getting tripped up inside the area, then missed a header wide a minute later.

Another Argentine for Cluj, Sixto Peralta, nearly made it 3-1 when his header hit the crossbar in the 71st, prompting Roma fans into a chorus of boos and whistles that only grew louder after the final whistle.

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