BELGIAN STRUGGLE
GENK (1) vs CHELSEA (1)
● Chelsea condemn Ferdinand fan chants
● Luiz misses penalty as Chelsea blow lead
● Cech admits Blues must qualify hard way
CHELSEA goalkeeper Petr Cech admitted his side will have to seal qualification for the knockout stages of the Champions League the hard way after they threw away a lead for the second time in three days.
Ramires fired the visitors ahead in the 26th minute and the Blues had the opportunity to kill off their opponents five minutes before the break, only for David Luiz to strike his penalty too close to Genk goalkeeper Laszlo Koteles.
The Belgian champions, beaten 5-0 in the reverse fixture a fortnight ago, were far more competitive after the interval and equalised just past the hour mark through Jelle Vossen.
Chelsea must now pick up four points from their remaining two fixtures, away at Bayer Leverkusen and at home against Valencia, to book their place in the next round, and Cech knows that will represent no easy task. “We could have put the game beyond their reach but we didn’t do and that’s why they came back into the game,” he said.
“For their comeback they deserved a point. For them it was a fantastic game and they had nothing to lose.
“When you get the opponent into this sort of mood it’s difficult.
“We could have done it the easiest way possible and play four games and be qualified so now we have to do it the hard way.”
Chelsea, meanwhile, condemned chants by their own supporters about QPR defender Anton Ferdinand during last night’s match. The travelling fans repeatedly sang about Ferdinand, who it is alleged was racially abused by Blues captain John Terry last month.
A Chelsea spokesman said in a statement: “The chanting was wholly inappropriate and we don’t condone it.”