JAKARTA: Chelsea turned on the style in an 8-1 rout of Indonesia All-Stars Thursday as they completed their Asian tour with a 100 percent record under returning manager Jose Mourinho. Two belters from Brazilian midfielder Ramires and another brace from back-from-loan striker Romelu Lukaku swelled the Chelsea scoreline, as Indonesia’s lone score came from a late Tomas Kalas own goal.
Belgian dangerman Eden Hazard got the opener with a penalty, captain John Terry nodded a trademark header, teenager Bertrand Traore scored a beauty and Demba Ba was also on the scoresheet.
The emphatic score, in front of 80,000 fans at Jakarta’s Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, and the crowd-pleasing performance of his emerging team buoyed Mourinho as he plots the season ahead. “We are talking about some of the best players in Europe against an inexperienced team, so the result was not the most important thing,” said Mourinho. “But I was very pleased with the attitude of my players, trying always to play, trying always to improve, trying always to score goals, trying always to please the crowd.”
Hazard, Ba and Victor Moses all had early attempts, and Ramires should have opened the scoring but saw his downward header turned away by Indonesia goalkeeper Kurnia Meiga.
But Chelsea’s first goal came the easy way after Terry was hauled down in the box.
Hazard’s penalty sent Meiga diving in the wrong direction and put the visitors 1-0 up after 21 minutes.
Nathaniel Chalobah smacked a shot off the upright from distance and Brazilian defender Wallace also tested the woodwork after being teed up by a Hazard counter-attack.
And Indonesia’s wilting resistance crumbled when Chelsea fired two goals in two minutes, courtesy of Ramires’s rifling shot into the roof of the net and then Ba’s rebound effort on 32 minutes.
Terry made it 4-0 at the break when he headed in Gary Cahill’s flick-on from a free-kick in first-half injury time.
The rout was on and Chelsea, despite wholesale changes, accelerated further away early in the second period with three more goals in the space of just six minutes.
Exciting prospect Traore, 17, curled a sumptuous strike round the ‘keeper from the edge of the box on 51 minutes and just a minute later, Romelu Lukaku nodded home from close range.
Ramires got another for his highlights reel with a screaming shot from well outside the box which bent away from the ‘keeper and buried itself in the bottom corner.
The Indonesian Dream Team were beaten 7-0 by Arsenal this month, but Lukaku put Chelsea 8-0 up when he side-footed a simple chance after Lucas Piazon’s cute reverse pass.
However, the All-Stars had their say — and the night’s biggest cheer — when Tomas Kalas parried the ball into his own net, to the despair of newly signed Australian ‘keeper Mark Schwarzer.
The huge win rounds off a successful Asian tour for Chelsea, who were also victorious in Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur as Mourinho, back after spells at Inter Milan and Real Madrid, tests out his squad.
They now head to the United States for four more friendlies — including against Mourinho’s ex-club Inter — before the start of the Premier League season in mid-August.
