27/09/2001  Levski Sofia 0 Chelsea 2 (Agg: 0-5)
 
Chelsea marched into the second round of the UEFA Cup with 
another polished performance against the Bulgarian champions, 
as goals from John Terry and Eidur Gudjohnsen gave them a 5-0 
aggregate win. 

England Under-21s captain Terry scored his first goal of 
the season, sweeping home after 32 minutes following Emmanuel 
Petit's corner and Mario Melchiot's nod down.

Icelandic striker Gudjohnsen - whose two goals in last 
week's first leg put the Blues in the driving seat - then 
struck with a superb individual effort on the stroke of 
half-time.

It was also a night to remember for promising England 
Under-21s striker Leon Knight, who came off the bench for the 
last half-hour to make his Chelsea debut.

The pitch in the Gueorgi Asparuhov stadium had been 
saturated by heavy rain in the last 24 hours, and that 
prompted mistakes at both ends in the early stages.

Gianfranco Zola, starting in place of suspended striker 
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, won a corner after just 40 seconds as 
his nimble feet almost saw him get the better of Stanislav 
Angelov - but Petit's deep cross was headed clear.

Then Terry slipped in his own box as he tried to cut out a 
third-minute cross but he recovered to concede a corner. That 
was cleared for a second corner to raise the spirits of the 
10,000-strong partisan home crowd, but Ed de Goey made a clean 
catch when the cross came over.

The Blues dictated the pace of the game and had a golden 
chance to grab an away goal and kill off the tie after 26 
minutes.

Following a left-wing corner, Melchiot played a clever 
backheel into the box. Chelsea would have hoped the ball might 
find an attacking player, but it fell perfectly for Terry who 
drove his shot straight at the goalkeeper from 15 yards.

Terry was able to celebrate six minutes later when Petit's 
deep corner from the right was nodded down by Melchiot and he 
swept home his first goal of the season.

That away goal silenced the home crowd and had Chelsea's 
350 travelling fans celebrating.

Chelsea completed their job as the first half edged into 
injury time thanks to a brilliant solo effort by 
Gudjohnsen.

Fed by William Gallas, the Icelandic striker twisted and 
turned his way past two defenders before firing into the roof 
of the net.

The second half was a mere formality, and the only notable 
event was the introduction of Knight after 59 minutes for 
Zola.

Levski went into the match with one eye on Sunday's derby 
against rivals CSKA Sofia in the Bulgarian league.

Their night was summed up after 65 minutes when there were 
then ironic cheers from the home fans as Dimitar Telkiiski had 
a low shot on target from 25 yards which was comfortably saved 
by de Goey.

There is clearly some reorganising to do for Levski, who 
had a new man in charge of the team since last week's match - 
their third coach in a fortnight.

Chief executive Nasko Sirakov was moved back upstairs 
following the 3-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge and replaced by 
Georgi Todorov.

The changes came on the back of the enforced resignation of 
Ljubo Petrovic, after Levski were knocked out of the Champions 
League qualifiers by Turks Galatasaray.

If Chelsea are looking for omens there is a good one to 
come out of their adventure against the Bulgars.

The last time they faced a team from this country was in 
1970 when they beat CSKA Sofia and went on to lift the 
European Cup-Winners' Cup.