Drogba hat-trick helps Chelsea defeat Levski

Paris, September 28 :

A hat-trick from Didier Drogba and a brace from Peter Crouch gave English sides Chelsea and Liverpool win over Levski Sofia and Galatasaray respectively in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Chelsea saw off Levski 3-1 while Liverpool — the 2004 champions — had to withstand a late Turkish comeback to win 3-2 to give British clubs a highly satisfactory week in the Champions League with five wins from five.

However it was quite the reverse for Italian clubs as both Inter Milan and AS Roma were defeated. Inter reduced to nine men being beaten 2-0 by Bayern Munich and Roma losing 2-1 away at Valencia. It was Bayern’s first win in Italy in seven matches since 1988.

While Valencia maintained their unbeaten start to the season, their Spanish rivals Barcelona left it late to draw 1-1 at Werder Bremen, Argentinian teenager Lionel Messi scoring with a minute remaining.

That leaves Barca two points adrift of bitter Champions League rivals Chelsea, who they face on October 18, with both sides having eliminated each other one apiece over the past two seasons.

Drogba’s hat-trick — his first for Chelsea in the competition and second in his career in the Champions League — once again showed up in rather painful fashion the lack of goals and morale from his £30 million strike partner Andriy Shevchenko.

Indeed the Ukrainian superstar - with just one goal in five matches for the Blues in the Premiership - could only show a bloodied face after being elbowed in the first-half.

However, despite the victory manager Jose Mourinho was not totally satisfied with all his players despite it being the first time that Chelsea had scored three goals in the Champions League. “We have six points and lead our Champions League group and lead the Premiership, but we still have players with space to improve,” he said.