Formicola Fires Three as Chelsea Run Riot in Graz
A wounded Sturm side, and a Chelsea squad running on empty, promised a tricky European night; Marcelo Formicola made sure it was nothing of the kind.
Chelsea arrived in Graz unbeaten in the league and weary in the legs, and Sturm, missing their regular goalkeeper and unsettled in midfield, could hardly have been blamed for hoping the occasion might level things. Marcelo Formicola had other ideas. Three goals from seven shots in an hour's work, and the Brazilian was withdrawn on 61 minutes with the contest long since decided, the evening belonging to him even as Júnior and Lionel Messi each matched a perfect rating alongside him.
A 7-0 scoreline is rarely a story of one man, and the width of Chelsea's attacking play told its own tale; Billy Laing, on at the hour, added an assist and three key passes. But it was Formicola who kept arriving where it mattered. The transfer talk swirling around his team-mates can wait; on this evidence, Chelsea's depth is the real warning to Europe.