Flying high ... Didier Drogba of Chelsea celebrates his hat-trick of goals in the Champions League clash against Valencia.
Photo: Scott Heavey
Didier Drogba's double fired Chelsea to a 3-0 victory over Valencia at Stamford Bridge, sending the Blues into the Champions League knockout stages as Group E winners.
Andre Villas-Boas's side knew a defeat or score-draw in this qualification shootout would put Valencia through at their expense, but two goals from Drogba either side of a Ramires strike eased Chelsea's path into the last 16.
Drogba's early goal settled any nerves and Ramires's strike midway through the first half put the Blues in a commanding position they never looked like squandering.
Drogba netted again in the closing stages and there was even better news from Belgium where Genk held Bayer Leverkusen to allow Chelsea to leapfrog the Germans into top spot.
That means Chelsea will avoid the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Inter Milan in the draw for the last 16.
After a troubled start to his reign in west London, Villas-Boas had admitted the prospect of becoming the first Chelsea manager to see his side eliminated from the group stages of Europe's elite club competition was unthinkable.
With that in mind, Villas-Boas took a major gamble by leaving England midfielder Frank Lampard on the bench and selecting Raul Meireles in his place.
His critics have already been sharpening their knives after Chelsea's sputtering run and Villas-Boas would have been lambasted if the Lampard move had backfired.
But Chelsea's 3-0 victory over Newcastle on Saturday had contained glimpses of the attacking style Villas-Boas employed so successfully at Porto and his decision to axe Lampard didn't affect the Blues' rhythm.
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