European SuperCup:
Atletico Madrid beat
Chelsea 4 -1

European
champions Chelsea crashed
to a 4-1 SuperCup defeat to
Atletico Madrid here on
Friday, with the Spanish
side’s Colombian hotshot
Radamel Falcao the star of
the show at the Stade Louis
II stadium.
Falcao’s first half hat-trick
had Chelsea, featuring
Atletico old boy Fernando
Torres, reeling and Miranda’s
second half offering
compounded the misery for
Roberto di Matteo’s men.
The tone of the encounter
was set as early as the fourth
minute when Falcao, known
as El Tigre (the tiger), hit the
crossbar in front of a crowd
including Prince Albert of
Monaco and England
manager Roy Hodgson..
Three minutes later the red
hot 26-year-old put the
Europea League winners in
front, latching onto Adrian
Lopez’s long ball to cheekily
chip over Chelsea goalkeeper
Petr Cech.
On 19 minutes he was at it
again, this time curling the
ball in from 15 yards with his
left foot into the far corner,
the ball out of reach of Cech’s
outstretched hand.
That was Falcao’s 41st goal
from 53 appearances since
joining Atletico from Porto,
with goal number 42 coming
on the stroke of half time.
On the counter attack from a
corner at the far end Falcao,
bought by Atletico from
Porto for 40 million euros
last year, rushed onto Arda
Turan’s square pass across
the penalty area to slot home
clinically.
This was Falcao’s second hat-
trick in as many matches
having fired three past
Athletic Bilbao on Monday in
the Spanish league in a
rematch of last season’s
Europa League final.
And it could have been a first
half four-timer if the upright
hadn’t got in the way of his
35th minute header.
Chelsea, outshone and
outplayed by their Spanish
rivals before the break, tried
to assert control on the
game in the second half, but
despite greater possession
they fell further behind on
the hour mark, with Miranda
getting on the scoresheet
from a setpiece, the ball
deflected off the sliding Gary
Cahill.
Defender Cahill got a 75th
minute consolation goal for
Chelsea, shooting low past
Thibaut Courtois from close
range from a corner taken by
Frank Lampard, captaining
Chelsea in the absence of the
suspended John Terry.
Terry was handed a three-
match ban, reduced to two
matches on appeal, when he
was sent off for an off-the-
ball clash with Alexis Sanchez
in the Champions League
semi-final second leg at
Barcelona, which kept him
out of the final against
Bayern Munich.
Having won his appeal he
will now be able to play from
the start of Chelsea’s title
defence against Juventus this month