Chelsea show their mettle

Ranieri, often criticised for over-tinkering with his teams, had to make an enforced change after 25 minutes when big German central defender Robert Huth suffered a cut over his eye following a collision with Malaysia's Hairuddin Omar.

Huth went off to have stitches inserted in the gash to be replaced by former West Ham defender Johnson, also making his debut.

Johnson went to his favoured position of right-back with Mario Melchiot switching to the centre of defence.

Among the crowd in the stadium were Sir Bobby Robson, whose Newcastle team awaited the winners in Sunday's Final.

Chelsea survived the early scares however to take the lead in the 35th minute through Frank Lampard.

Zenden fed Mikael Forssell and the Finnish striker found the advanced Lampard, who coolly shot home.

There was certainly a suspicion that Lampard had strayed offside and the crowd hooted their derision, especially when the offending referee's assistant was shown in a close up on the stadium's big screen.

The enthusiastic fans forgot their frustration four minutes later however when, from a corner from the left, Omar headed goalwards.

The Malaysian striker made good contact but he was a long way out and Ambrosio got both hands to the ball before it finished up in the back of the net.

Ambrosio made amends early in the second half however, when a free-kick from Akmal Rizal eluded the flimsy Chelsea wall and the Italian keeper, who saw the ball late, did well to punch clear.

Ranieri rang the changes after 61 minutes with Duff coming on for Zendenthe striking partnership of Eidur Gudjohnsen and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink replacing Cole and Forssell while Sebastian Kneissl replaced Jesper Gronkjaer on the right.

It was the first opportunity for the two new boys, Bridge and Duff, to work together but it was Hasselbaink, looking trim and fit, who wasted no time in making an impact.

The Dutch striker had only been on the pitch eight minutes when he slammed home a trademark left-foot shot from 25 yards out.

Harris, the Malaysian national coach, said he was expecting a near sell-out crowd in the 70,000-capacity National Stadium so it was a big disappointment to see so many empty seats.

The opening match between Birmingham and Newcastle attracted only 13,000 spectators and today's contest failed to entice significantly more Malaysians to abandon their televisions.

The Premier League were keen for this experiment to work as they sought to raise their profile in Asia but the disappointing attendances at the first two matches may make them consider seriously whether to continue with the competition next year.

Chelsea, in their new away strip of white shirts with a central, vertical blue stripe, began reasonably enough and could have scored when Boudewijn Zenden tried to find Carlton Cole from the left only for the danger to be cleared.

Ranieri said: "It was very hard, I wanted to preserve my strikers but we needed the victory and the last half an hour was very good for us.

"It was a very good victory, the first half was hard and we found the humidity difficult. I really appreciated the football played by the Malaysian team.

"Both Damien and Wayne Bridge need to work more because it is only their first match and they have only had a few days training, it was a very important fitness test."

Meanwhile, Chelsea have failed in an audacious bid to sign Raul from Real Madrid, according to the striker's agent. Gines Carvajal said: "FIFA agent Marc Roger, on behalf of Chelsea, asked me if Raul would be interested in entering negotiations for a transfer to Chelsea. I spoke to Raul, my client, and he said 'no'."