Chelsea return to Champions League in cracking form

LONDON (Reuters) - One year ago, former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho made his famous speech about omelettes and within a matter of days, the outspoken Portuguese manager whisked himself away from Stamford Bridge for the last time.

Mourinho's Chelsea opened last season's Champions League campaign with an uninspired 1-1 home draw against Rosenborg Trondheim -- a far cry from the 4-0 hammering this season's side handed out to Girondins Bordeaux on Tuesday.

Mourinho's eggs remarks implied he could not buy the players he wanted for his team and that Chelsea were suffering as a result. He departed two days later.

However, under his successor Avram Grant, Chelsea did reach last season's Champions League final and were only a penalty kick away from becoming European champions.

They also only narrowly failed in their attempt to regain the Premier League title, so despite Mourinho's protests, he had left behind a very strong squad of players.

Under new coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, Chelsea's opening salvo in their quest for a first Champions League title left the Brazilian as unsatisfied Mourinho ever was despite their convincing win over feeble French opponents.

MANY MISTAKES

Scolari was upset that Chelsea made too many mistakes and said they had to improve before their next Group A match on October 2 against Romanian upstarts CFR Cluj, who stunned AS Roma 2-1 on their Champions League debut at the Olympic Stadium.

"We know that we made many mistakes in the second half," the Brazilian told reporters.

"We tried to attack without the ball and with no good connections. But most important for us is the result."

He added: "It is important to start with a win because in this competition, you never know what will happen.

"You see that Cluj beat Roma. That is a warning for us for the next game. It is important to win and if you play well that is better, but we did not play very well."

"When you play in the Champions League and are winning 2-0 at half-time you need to work the ball and control the game. You don't need to win 5-0, it is still the same three points."

First half headers from Frank Lampard and Joe Cole and late goals from Florent Malouda and Nicolas Anelka completed an easy win for the Blues, who will be able to play Didier Drogba in Romania following his one-match suspension on Tuesday.

(Editing by John O'Brien)