Blues battle out bore draw

The result will make them favourites to progress into the last eight of the competition when the two sides meet in the second leg in a fortnight's time.

But there was little to enthuse about in a game which failed to produce one real clear-cut chance for either side.

Olympiacos proved they were no pushovers after qualifying for the knockout stages from a group that included Werder Bremen, Lazio and Real Madrid.

It took Chelsea just 31 seconds to have the first shot on goal but unfortunately Michael Essien's effort was well wide.

Chelsea were lucky to escape in the seventh minute when Ieroklis Stoltidis tried to find Darko Kovacevic only for Ricardo Carvalho to react quickest and cut out what would have been a goalscoring opportunity for the Olympiacos forward.

The Greek side were clearly capable of unsettling the visiting defence but for most of the half, it was Chelsea who dominated possession.

It was a measure of their frustration that a shot from Claude Makelele was way off-target when the France veteran, and captain on the night, tried his luck from 30 yards.

Chelsea sent on Nicolas Anelka, Frank Lampard and Salomon Kalou in the closing stages in a bid to find a goal from somewhere but it was much too late for them to make an impact.

Now Chelsea will have to finish the job on home soil to reach the quarter-finals of a competition Grant is desperate to win.