Fernando Torres strikes first blow for England after three blanks but Chelsea still look short of the firepower to win the competition

1 Chelsea show early on that they are a team with a striker

Much of the build-up was dominated by José Mourinho’s comments that he “does not have a striker” but it took Fernando Torres only nine minutes to score. There is no denying that the Spaniard has been a huge disappointment since his £50m move from Liverpool but he did at least look fired up and did not hesitate when César Azpilicueta presented him with a chance that was more difficult than it looked. In fact, the strange goal celebration, when he and Branislav Ivanovic pressed their foreheads against each other for about 10 seconds with mad, staring eyes, almost seemed to say: “In your face José, you do have a striker.”

2 José Mourinho on hand to save the Premier League

Perhaps it should come as no surprise that it was Mourinho, below, who salvaged some pride for the so-called “Best league in the world” in these first legs of the Last 16. The other three teams all lost, all without scoring a single goal. True, Manuel Pellegrini and Arsène Wenger did have much tougher assignments but there is no escaping the fact that Mourinho is a winner as a manager and the other three are not. Wenger’s last trophy came in 2005 and Pellegrini’s in 2004 (and even that was the InterToto Cup). As for Moyes, does anyone seriously think that Mourinho would have lost against Olympiakos – even if he had started with the same XI as Moyes did? No chance.

3 Can Roy Hodgson afford to leave out John Terry?

The England manager, who names his squad for next week’s friendly against Denmark on Thursday, must have watched this match with a wry smile on his face. Surely he must privately wish that he could call on Chelsea’s John Terry, especially when the options are Phil Jones, Chris Smalling, Phil Jagielka, Michael Dawson and Joleon Lescott. But just as the Chelsea captain was on his way to provide yet another reminder of his leadership qualities and excellent defending he switched off and allowed Aurélien Chedjou to score. Maybe Petr Cech should have come for the ball but maybe Hodgson is better off after all with Gary Cahill/Jagielka in his central defence when England start their World Cup campaign.

4 Have we seen the best of Wesley Sneijder?

The wonderful Dutch playmaker is 29 now and it is likely that he will never dominate a game at this level in the way he used to. He was not bad against Chelsea but neither was he outstanding. For the first 25 minutes he was starved of the ball, and even when things improved he struggled to get the better of Ramires et al in the Chelsea midfield. And that is a shame because these are the kind of games he need to dominate in order for Louis van Gaal to make him a key player for Holland at the World Cup. But, apart from the corner which lead to Galatasaray’s goal, he was peripheral. More Volvo than Jaguar. More tattoos than tricks.

5 Chelsea will not win the Champions League

A draw is not a bad result away from home and Chelsea are likely to advance into the last eight of the competition but there are, at the moment, teams that are in better shape. Real Madrid showed what they are capable of doing by defeating Schalke 6-1 on Wednesday night and, even though the German side were abysmal, it is fair to say that the Spaniards have more firepower than Mourinho’s side. Equally, one would say that Bayern Munich and Barcelona are better teams than Mourinho’s and, even though that did not stop Chelsea winning the tournament in 2012 in Munich, one would have to agree with Mourinho that this side is a work in progress. Maybe next year …

• Chelsea
• Galatasaray
• Champions League

Marcus Christenson

theguardian.com