MTNFootball

Without John Terry and Frank Lampard, Chelsea recorded a fantastic 2-0 Champions League win over Bayer Leverkusen at Stamford Bridge.

Second-half goals from David Luiz and Juan Mata gave Chelsea the ideal start to their Champions League campaign, giving new coach Andre Villas-Boas his first win in the competition.

Chelsea now turn their focus to next Wednesday's trip to Valencia in their tricky Group E.

Fernando Torres, who is still struggling for goals at Stamford Bridge, sent an early shot over the crossbar and soon afterwards a cross found its way into the Chelsea net via the head of Simon Rolfes. But the referee spotted a foul on Torres. No goal.

Then Raul Meireles had the ball in the net, but the officials conferred and agreed that the touch from Meireles made him offside and another potential goal was disallowed.

Michael Ballack, who was given a memento before kick-off for his service to Chelsea, was relatively quiet for Leverkusen in the first half. A chance did come his way, but Petr Cech managed to clear the danger.

The breakthrough came quickly, but not from an obvious source. David Luiz let fly from the left side of the penalty box and his shot beat Leno low to his left.

Then Torres provided the ball on a plate for Juan Mata to double the lead moments before the final whistle.

It remains to be seen whether Chelsea veterans Terry and Lampard will be back in the mix for the next match, but tonight's win will certainly send them both a message.