Deco dismissed as Chelsea fall in Rome
Terry got a late consolation goal for Scolari's men
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Tuesday, 04, Nov 2008 10:38
Chelsea suffered a shock setback as they fell to a comprehensive 3-1 defeat to AS Roma in the Olympic Stadium.
To make a bad night worse Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari saw midfielder Deco sent-off in the second-half for two bookable offences and he will now miss what will be a crucial tie away to Bordeaux in three weeks time.
Chelsea had started brightly and Roma goalkeeper Alexander Doni was forced into action to save twice from Frank Lampard and once from Deco.
Uncharacteristically it was poor defensive play by Chelsea which led to the home side's opener.
Brazilian full-back Cicinho crossed from the right and Christian Panucci, the former Chelsea player, was unmarked in the box to head past Petr Cech.
Joe Cole may have conceded a penalty shortly before half-time, but the referee gave him the benefit of the doubt when he appeared to bring down David Pizarro.
Drogba made an appearance at half-time but he was unable to change things and Roma doubled their lead soon after the restart.
Mirko Vucinic hit an unstoppable shot from twenty yards which flew past Cech in the Chelsea goal.
Vutonic doubled his tally for the evening when he made a fool of Jon Obi Mikel before slotting past Cech to make it three.
John terry pulled one back with 15 minutes remaining when he deflected a Deco shot towards goal only to see Doni make an acrobatic save, but the Chelsea captain was on hand to slot the rebound home for what was never anything more than a consolation.
Deco saw red with nine minutes remaining when he received his second yellow card for attempting to take a free-kick before the referee was ready.
It was a harsh decision, but the final nail in the coffin of a night that Chelsea will wish to forget.