When Chelsea supporters arrived at Stamford Bridge last night, they were treated to an early Christmas present from Roman Abramovich – a blue and white scarf awaiting all 40,000 of them on their seats.
But for Luiz Felipe Scolari, the real gift will be his side’s victory over FCR Cluj, and their place in the knockout stages of the Champions League.
Goals from Salomon Kalou and Didier Drogba – who cancelled out Yssouf Kone’s fine equaliser - capped off a somewhat nervy performance against the Romanian minnows, but one that banishes any uncertainty surrounding Scolari’s immediate future.
Amid rumours of training ground disquiet, increasing disgruntlement at a shortage of personnel and reports of the club censoring critical comments he made about their transfer policies, the Chelsea boss has shown signs of anxiety recently, and his side have faltered in recent weeks.
Scolari may have led Brazil to victory at the 2002 World Cup, but not without enduring some difficult moments along the way, most caused by the huge expectations of his native country’s population.
And it was much the same last night.
While the Blues’ supporters would not have expected the tie to be one with any significance in the first place, their nerves transpired to the players on the pitch.
Chelsea started anxiously, creating few chances and failing to link together passes in the final third, leaving many fans wearing their scarves – not swinging them in support as Abramovich might have hoped.
And two close calls from Cluj early on, did little to ease the tension inside Stamford Bridge.
After seven minutes, left-back Alvaro Pereira surged forward, but Petr Cech got down early, getting his strong hands behind the Uruguayan's swerving daisy-cutter.
And the Transylvanians continued to surge forward.
After leaving Bosingwa for dead, Culio sent in a deep cross, which was headed brilliantly by Alcantara and hacked desperately off the line by John Obi Mikel.
Chelsea’s dominance however began to show - they looked confident and were attacking much more freely.
And after Joe Cole wasted their first chance of the game following a neat cutback from Michael Ballack, Chelsea broke the deadlock on forty minutes.
Deco swung a forty-yard free-kick into the Cluj penalty area, and horrific defensive mix-up that followed allowed the ball to drop beautifully for the unmarked Salomon Kalou, who had the easy task of putting the ball in the back of the net from six yards.
But after the break, the game turned on its side.
After Nicholas Anelka brought a smart save out of Nuno Claro from a narrow angle, Cluj broke away, and after Cristian Panin curled a deep cross to the back post, the unmarked Yssouf Kone who headed in from a tight angle.
The Cluj striker has become used to scoring at Stamford Bridge - he contributed to Jose Mourinho's departure with the assist for Rosenborg's shock equalizing goal last season – and for a moment at least, it seemed that he might repeat the feat.
Chelsea were becoming increasingly frustrated - they were peppering the Cluj penalty area with crosses and through-balls - but were creating little much in the way of shots on goal.
But the arrival of Didier Drogba – who Scolari resisted pairing with Anelka from the outset - revolutionized the Blues’ almost immediately.
After Joe Cole dinked a delicate, perfectly weighted pass between two defenders and into the path of Drogba, he prodded it effortlessly past Claro before the goalkeeper even had a chance to settle himself.
The goal meant Chelsea fans went home content with their side’s display and equipped with a thermal scarf providing extra warmth for the journey home.
But after last night’s victory, which brought the club a whopping £15 million windfall, who knows what Chelsea fans will be getting for Easter.
A trip to Rome will most probably top most supporters’ lists.
