Luiz Felipe Scolari's Chelsea reign began with a comfortable 4-0 win over Guangzhou Pharmaceutical in southern China on Wednesday.
Salomon Kalou, Frank Lampard, Argentinian teenager Franco Di Santo and Shaun Wright-Phillips scored to secure their win over the Chinese Super League side.
The Blues dominated the opener of their five-game pre-season tour of Asia and Russia at Guangzhou Olympic Stadium, with the only concern for Scolari seeing summer signing Jose Bosingwa substituted after 20 minutes with a slight thigh injury after a brief but impressive debut at right-back.
Scolari fielded a strong side from the start, with Deco making his debut in midfield alongside Lampard, who played the entire game, with Joe Cole and Andriy Shevchenko not included in the squad due to minor injuries.
Lampard and Deco pulled shots wide in the opening minutes as Chelsea completely controlled the opening stages with the Portugal international dominating midfield and compatriot Bosingwa looking lively pushing forward from right-back.
Michael Essien also drilled a shot narrowly over the bar after 14 minutes.
The visitors were rewarded as they opened the scoring six minutes later when Mikel Jon Obi's defence-splitting through-ball caught the home side flat-footed, allowing Kalou to coast in unmarked to fire into the bottom corner across Guangzhou goalkeeper Li Shuai.
Guangzhou came into the game as the half progressed, to the delight of the passionate 35,000 crowd, but Chelsea's chances continued to come as Essien was denied from close range before the Ghanaian saw a snap shot from outside the area saved by Li.
As half-time approached, Nicolas Anelka hit the Guangzhou upright from inside the area, while at the other end Petr Cech turned a free-kick from Xu Liang onto the post.
Following five half-time changes, substitute Wayne Bridge saw his deflected shot hit the post before Lampard showed brilliant vision to double the lead by chipping Li from 30 yards, the Guangzhou keeper only just outside his six-yard area.
Half-time substitute Florent Malouda fired wide twice in quick succession before Di Santo, a second-half substitute, struck the upright after weaving his way through on the edge of the area.
With 12 minutes remaining Frenchman Malouda broke down the Guangzhou left and pulled a low cross across the face of the goal for a sliding Di Santo to net.
Wright-Phillips sealed the win with a shot on the turn from inside the area in the closing minutes.


vicmackey (Aston Villa) : "...Easy on Capello people he's doing as well as he can with what he's got. And what he has just isn't much cop i'm afraid. When you see that our two most naturally gifted players (Cole and Rooney) can't even stick to tactic..." view full comment
David Moyes, Frank Rijkaard and Jose Antonio Camacho have joined Gianfranco Zola and Roberto Donadoni as frontrunners for the West Ham vacancy.
More from today's press
TEAMtalk admits the jury is still out on England coach Fabio Capello after a less-than convincing 2-0 victory over part-timers Andorra.
Read today's Column
lewis_nufc_23 (Newcastle United) : "...albami who is as rich as city owners will buy newcastle for 200 million and this will spark mass changes as SJP Seeing Wise out and Frank Rjigard Brought into manage team..." view full rumour

| LATEST PHOTOS | THE INSIDER | SUPER 6 |
![]() |
|
|
| Go to the Gallery | TEAMtalk Insider: TEAMtalk Top 10 | Win £100,000 |
Betting | Casino | Poker | Bingo
Your Comments
hotvikram (Manchester United fan)
"yes zendenling becuase we did not play of starting eleven that started against u hahahaaaaaaaaaa. common kiddoo grow up... we are the champions of england and europe.. mind it...buddy"
gregcooper31 (West Bromwich Albion fan)
"its just a fitness run out... united didnt beat kaiser chiefs, who are probably equilavent to Burnley, and only beat The Pirates 1-0, who looked like an average championship/league 1 side... friendlies are just a fitness exercise..."
zendenling (Chelsea fan)
"htvikram - if I'm not mistaken, MU lost to Urawa Reds 3 years ago during the pre season. "
All comments on this story
The Chelsea Your Say main pageThe General Your Say main page