6-1, and Ferrer’s three-goal answer to Chelsea’s demands

He answered with three goals, an assist and a performance of such authority that Middlesbrough’s goalkeeper, Mayer Tapasco, could not keep the score respectable. Chelsea won 6-1 at Drogba Arena on Thursday, and Ferrer was at the centre of almost everything that mattered.

The Spaniard had been given the starting place usually occupied by Nacho Valera, left on the bench and unused. Ferrer repaid that trust with nine shots, five on target and two key passes, as well as his three goals and assist. Chelsea’s attack poured forward; Tapasco made 11 saves, but even that resistance could not prevent a rout.

The scale of Chelsea’s pressure was plain in the numbers: 37 shots to Middlesbrough’s four, 15 on target to two, and 17 corners to five. Ferrer turned that weight of opportunity into a hat-trick, while Bruce Hilgers supplied two assists and six key passes. Roberto Baggio and Joaquín also scored for Chelsea; Kieran Nevin got Middlesbrough’s goal.

Ferrer’s perfect match rating was not a flourish attached to the result. It captured the difference between being present in a commanding team performance and directing it. Chelsea had 51 per cent possession, but the contest was defined by the repeated threat they created and Ferrer’s ability to make that threat count. Middlesbrough’s Tapasco kept producing saves; the Spanish forward kept finding the answers.

For Chelsea, now crowned English Premier Division champions, the result underlined the standards they expect even with the title already secured. Their next league test is against Manchester City on Saturday, before the Champions League semi-final second leg against Rotherham United on 7 May, with a 2-0 lead to protect. Ferrer has put himself squarely in the conversation as those bigger tests approach.

Yet on Thursday the numbers that mattered were immediate and emphatic. Ferrer took the place, made it his, and gave Middlesbrough no way to contain him.