JT takes another giant step towards ending his nightmare

Admittedly it didn't start too well when he was sent off against Manchester City on Sunday but Chelsea won the appeal which means he can play against United.

On top of that, the 4-0 win over Laurent Blanc's Bordeaux, was the perfect warm-up for United; not too taxing and no injuries. Chelsea's performance, though clinical, far from impressed Luiz Felipe Scolari, overseeing his first Champions League game.

Big Phil looked out of sorts from the off. Almost from the start he was shouting furiously and waving irritably at his right-back, Jose Bosingwa, to play further up the pitch and exploit the vast tracts of open space left by Bordeaux's flaky defence.

When the penny finally dropped, Bosingwa responded by crossing for Frank Lampard to head No1 in the 14th minute while Joe Cole made it two when he back-headed Lampard's corner home on the half-hour.

Scolari should have been mollified but was at it again after half-time, muttering darkly and eventually substituting Cole in the 73rd minute.
"The three points were important but we made many mistakes," said Scolari.

"In the second half we tried to attack without the ball and every time without connection.

"We did not play very well. At 2-0 after 45 minutes you need to control the game. They wanted to score more goals but it is still three points. Bordeaux had only one or two shots on our goal but still they had the ball more than us."

If the Chelsea players had any illusions about their manager, they may well have been dispelled on a balmy autumn night in west London.
Scolari has admitted he is hungry for trophies but the Champions League is top of everyone's list at Stamford Bridge this season.

It is the one major trophy that has eluded them. They've been close, so close last term, but this time Scolari and his team want to nail it.

In the meantime, the road to Rome should be entertaining for Chelsea fans. As is the Brazilian way, Scolari wants his full-backs marauding down that touchline whenever they can.
Against a team as inept as Bordeaux, they had free licence but things may not quite be so free and easy as the competition progresses. There was no rotation from Scolari for this match, though. His team were unchanged from the one which beat City and far too strong for last season's French League runners-up.

Scolari did replace Deco, who had been booked, with Michael Ballack on the hour, but it was the impressive Florent Malouda who made it three after 82 minutes, sending a sweet left-foot shot past Bordeaux goalkeeper Ulrich Rame.

Substitute Juliano Belletti played a major part in the fourth goal in the final moments when his thunderbolt rebounded off the crossbar for Nicolas Anelka to follow up. Scolari wasn't the only manager with a long face afterwards.
"We weren't aggressive enough," admitted Blanc. "When you fight as hard as we have to get here, it is disappointing when we didn't give more commitment. "We're too fragile and Chelsea demonstrated that there is a lot of work for us to do."

Scolari, meanwhile, did find time to single out Lampard for special praise.

"Lampard is fantastic," he said. "He loves football, he trains hard every day and when you do that, God helps you."

The England midfielder was certainly one of the better players on the night. He seems to have put all the uncertainty surrounding his future firmly behind him and is playing as well as ever as the season builds up a head of steam.

His disgruntled manager, in fact, also cheered up a little when he spoke of the Football Association's decision to uphold the appeal against Terry's red card against City.

"I am surprised and satisfied," he said. "It is the first time as a coach that this has happened to me. In other countries the referee is God.
"This is a surprise but a positive surprise and best for football. The FA has decided that the referee is not God."

So Terry has a reprieve and must be relishing the chance to lock horns with United for the first time since that tearful night in Moscow.

He will need to invoke those painful memories again this season, to help spur him on to what he hopes will be a Roman triumph next May.