A point gained, but a good man lost. Chelsea visited little Cluj, and no little calamity on Wednesday night. Luiz Felipe Scolari's side dodged a bullet in the Wild Wild East ofthe Champions League, but Didier Drogba has been left nursing a shrapnel wound from its ricochet. After a 0-0 draw in the Dr Constantin Radulescu Stadium, the Ivory Coast striker is in need of a good doctor. At the outset of the second half, Drogba collided with Andre de Souza and fell to the ground in some pain. He was left wincing before being carted off. He has suspected ligament damage.
In the land of Vlad theImpaler, the London club have been left well and truly impaled. The projected absence of such a player for six weeks or so does not bode well for future outings in the Premier League, or the Champions League. Cluj live in Transylvania, home, of course, to the fictional blood sucker Count Dracula. If he is the stuff of nightmares, Drogba's injury may leaveScolari awake, shuddering in the heat of the night. In the heat of the game, the local fans wore the red garb of Manchester United. As an insipid and tetchy first half wore on, some Cluj fans could be spotted sporting august T-shirts touched by the name of Chelsea's English foes. On an eerie sort of evening, Chelsea were also spotted in yellow away shirts that bore a close resemblance to the national team of Romania.
Cluj had only three Romanian players in their side, three more than the visiting side. For most of the night, Chelsea huffed and puffed, but could not blow Cluj's house down. Such a side are not winded easily. Scolari admitted that he was content with a draw. Cluj were worthy of their point with the goalkeeper Petr Cech making a notable save to halt a flaming De Sousa shot late on. Apart from the injury to Drogba blighting Chelsea's night, Cluj also made a point that Group E is going to be a three-way dash to the line between themselves, Chelsea and AS Roma, who won 3-1 at Bordeaux to gather their first three points of the section. Perhaps it is also time to start treating CFR Cluj with respect befitting a country's national champions, rather than willing bumpkins. After winning 2-1 at Roma in their opening match and holding Chelsea, Cluj are well in the hunt. Their bounty hunters are well equipped to handle such evenings. dkane@thenational.ae
Bordeaux 1 Roma 3 CFR Cluj 0 Chelsea 0 Anorthosis Famagusta 3 Panathinaikos 1 Inter Milan 1 Werder Bremen 1 Shakhtar Donetsk 1 Barcelona 2 Sporting Lisbon 2 Basel 0 Atletico Madrid 2 Marseille 1 Liverpool 3 PSV Eindhoven 1
