Chelsea's Fernando Torres cannot hide his delight after scoring a hat-trick against QPR. Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP
Roman Abramovich had missed Chelsea's eye-catching performance in midweek, the oligarch absent at Camp Nou as his team defied the odds to eliminate Barcelona and progress into the Champions League final. Yet, restored to his private box high in the west stand here, he still witnessed something exceptional: there were high fives shared with the guests occupying the plush seats as Fernando Torres, the £50m forward turned folly, came good.
The locals had been waiting for the Torres who had so scorched defences during his time at Liverpool to revel in a Chelsea shirt. There was little resistance offered up by Queen's Park Rangers here, the visitors' display so feeble as to leave the impression Torres was nothing more than a flat track bully, but a first hat-trick since September 2009 suggested the old confidence is flooding back. This team might have been contenders in the league had their record signing mustered form this devastating all season. As it is, Roberto di Matteo will cling to the hope that Torres has timed his return of form to perfection for the end of the season.
A weight has undoubtedly been lifted from the 28-year-old's shoulders. The goal pilfered on the break so breathlessly in stoppage time at Barcelona on Tuesday offered a reminder of the striker's class. It has cajoled self-belief from a player who has shrunk at times in his 15 months at this club. His first here, a dart on to a glorious Salomon Kalou pass with an assured touch around Paddy Kenny and calm finish into the net, set the tone. Nedum Onuoha's mistake, nodding on to the advancing Kenny with the ball bouncing free of the bodies, offered an easy second with Juan Mata, this team's creative hub, sending Torres clear for his third just after the hour-mark. Suddenly, Torres felt irrepressible.
QPR's shambolic defending, of course, made all this possible. A side who had not won away since mid-November had seen their game-plan shattered after 45 seconds here, Daniel Sturridge curling into the corner with Kenny possibly unsighted by Frank Lampard in the penalty area. They wilted even more thereafter and, outside the relegation places only on goal difference, went on to ship a sixth near the end to the substitute Florent Malouda. Djibril Cissé's consolation went almost unnoticed amid the glut.
John Terry, the Chelsea captain had leapt above Clint Hill and crunched a header beyond Kenny to extend the hosts' early lead, the captain duly trotting off to the corner flag between the Matthew Harding and west stands to pat, rather than thump, the badge on his chest and offer his hands out to the crowd as if accepting he had done wrong.
The apologetic reaction was for his dismissal in midweek, an idiotic red card that will cost him his place in Munich next month. Other issues clouded this occasion, chiefly the reality that the derby had thrust Terry up face to face with Anton Ferdinand with his trial for racially abusing the QPR defender due to take place in July.
There were boos from each set of fans for the opposition's respective centre-back over the course of the match, and the only visiting players or officials to shake his hand over the course of the afternoon were Joey Barton at the toss and the coach Marc Bircham in the aftermath. By then, the retreating captain could be satisfied with a victory that took Chelsea to within a point of Newcastle in fourth. For QPR, the ramifications of a horrible defeat are more troubling. |
