Chelsea 1 - 0 Porto

Chelsea defeated FC Porto 1 - 0 in the UEFA Champions League last night. Nicolas Anelka proved Chelsea can survive and prosper without banned Didier Drogba as the France international settled their opening Champions League qualifying game against Porto with a second half winner.

Anelka, given the task of filling a lone role in attack in the absence of the suspended Ivory Coast international, struck three minutes after the interval to dispel any lingering doubts that Chelsea cannot cope without the talismanic Drogba.

Drogba is banned for the first three Group D games following his foul-mouthed rant after the semi-final defeat to Barcelona last season, but Anelka, as he has so often done in the past, made the most of his opportunity to shine.

For the first time in the game, Carlo Ancelotti's side looked distinctly vulnerable as Porto launched a succession of counter-attacks.

They almost equalised when Guarin tested Cech with a powerful drive in the 75th minute and the Chelsea goalkeeper then produced another superb save to prevent substitute Silvestre Varela from finding the net with an angled drive.

It was an anxious time for the home side and Ancelotti was quick to see the danger, taking off Kalou and replacing him with defender Juliano Belletti.

Regarding the win, Ancelotti claimed the result was good, but added that the performance was not worthy of commendation. However, he claimed that Porto were the toughest contenders in their group, so it was important to start by accumulating maximum points in the first round of group action.

Regarding the performance of Salomon Kalou, who was deputising for the suspended Didier Drogba, Ancelott said: "Didier is an important player for us but Kalou did a very good job.

"Nicolas is a great player. He can play without Didier and with Didier. He has no problem."