Drogba puts Blues in command

Drogba pounced in the 12th minute when he collected a pass from Salomon Kalou and despatched a vicious shot beyond Gianluigi Buffon from 12 yards.

Chelsea could have won by a bigger margin but failed to make the most of their chances while Juventus captain Alessandro Del Piero saw a first-half effort superbly saved by Petr Cech.

The home side made the first inroads towards goal after eight minutes when Drogba almost opened the scoring when he got ahead of his marker to turn a cross from Jose Bosingwa just over the crossbar. But the Ivorian put the home side in front in the 12th minute when a superb through ball from Kalou provided him with a clear-cut shooting opportunity and Drogba supplied the required finish in style.

It required a fine save from Petr Cech to preserve Chelsea's lead in the 21st minute, when Del Piero tried to find the corner with an angled drive that was tipped round the post.

In the 41st minute, Pavel Nedved tested Cech with a 20-yard low drive that the Chelsea goalkeeper dealt with adequately enough.

Two minutes before the interval a handball by Drogba gave Del Piero the chance to level the scores but his free-kick was hit straight at Cole. An away goal would have tipped the tie in favour of the Italians and Nedved again tried to outwit Cech with a long-range effort but the Chelsea keeper was at his most alert to deal with the threat.

Chelsea felt they should have had a penalty when Drogba was brought down by Nicola Legrottaglie in the 53rd minute but Portuguese referee Olegario Benquerenca rejected their appeals.

Cech was in trouble with a free-kick from Del Piero in the 59th minute. The Czech Republic international twice failed to gather the ball before it was eventually cleared by Terry.

Anelka almost gave Chelsea the cushion of a second goal when his 20-yard effort flashed inches wide of an upright in the 87th minute. Nedved was wide by a similar margin in stoppage time but Chelsea held on for a deserved victory.