Chelsea downs lackadaisical Inter

• by Paul Kennedy  @pkedit, Jul 22, 2009

[WORLD FOOTBALL CHALLENGE] For its first game against its coach Jose Mourinho's former team since the Portuguese coach came to Italy, Inter Milan put on a stunningly lackadaisical performance. Chelsea strolled to a 2-0 win over the Italian champions Tuesday night before 81,224 fans at the Rose Bowl in a boost for the Blues' new coach, Carlo Ancelotti, Mourinho's archenemy during his days at AC Milan.

Chelsea won on goals by Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard, two of the players most identified as Mourinho's boys during his stint at Stamford Bridge. It could have been worse as Chelsea had almost all of the play.

Drogba scored in the 11th minute with a shot that beat 19-year-old Slovenian keeper Vid Belec to the far post.

Lampard scored from the penalty spot early in the second half after a shot by Daniel Sturridge hit Argentine defender Nicolas Burdisso's arm.

The game brought back memories of big-time soccer at the Rose Bowl -- complete with long delays for fans traveling by car through the Pasadena roads to the site of the 1994 World Cup and 1999 Women's World Cup.

Chelsea 2 Inter Milan 0.
Goals: Drogba 11, Lampard (pen.) 50.
Chelsea -- Cech (Turnbull, 63); Ivanovic (Mancienne, 63), Terry, Carvalho (Alex, 46), A Cole (Hutchinson, 79); Mikel; Essien (Belletti, 63), Lampard (Di Santo, 88), Malouda (Deco, 46); Kalou (Anelka, 46), Drogba (Sturridge, 46).
Inter Milan -- Belec; Santon, Cordoba, Burdisso, Chivu (Mancini, 59); Zanetti, Cambiasso (Krhin, 80), Vieira, Motta (Ibrahimovic, 59); Obi (Milito, 46), Balotelli (Quaresma, 80).