ZILINA, Slovakia: Chelsea's new multi-million-pound team look set for Champions League progress after securing a 2-0 first-leg win in their third round qualifying match against Slovakia's MSK Zilina on Wednesday.

The Londoners, starting with five new faces from the 74 million-pounds' worth (US$118.7 million) of talent bought since the arrival of Roman Abramovich six weeks ago, avoided any repeat of their recent UEFA Cup embarrassments by comfortably easing past the Slovakian champions.

Chelsea had been knocked out of the secondary competition by Viking Stavanger, Hapoel Tel Aviv and St Gallen in the last three seasons but now look ready to take their place among Europe's elite in the 32-team group stage.

After a cautious start, Icelandic international striker Eidur Gudjohnsen slid in the opening goal three minutes before halftime.

Chelsea, looking better as the match progressed, got the second 14 minutes from time when defender Michael Drahno, under pressure from Gudjohnsen, steered the ball into his own net 14 minutes from time.

Midfielder Damien Duff, the most expensive of the new signings at 17 million pounds from Blackburn Rovers, was pick of the bunch as Chelsea made most of the running against the defensively-minded hosts.

Happy Ranieri

Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri said he was pleased with how his new acquisitions performed and had particular praise for Duff: "He was the best. Every ball that he played was very dangerous," the Italian said of his Irish international.

"It was very important for us to win. We knew Zilina very well. We knew that they had very good organization and deep defence.

"We won tonight because my players were very focused on this match," added Ranieri, whose side start their premier league campaign at Liverpool on Sunday.

Ranieri, who picked Mikael Forssell and left striker Jimmy Hasselbaink on the bench, played down suggestions that there might be unrest in his squad as so many internationals would not be playing regularly.

"I had to choose and I chose another two strikers with different qualities than Jimmy," Ranieri said.

Dutch international Hasselbaink responded by saying: "I want to stay at Chelsea.

"I am not interested in any other club, I am going to stay and fight for my place here."

Newcastle United completed a good night for English clubs with a 1-0 away win over Partizan Belgrade with Nolberto Solano scoring the only goal in the first half.

The match saw a renewal of old rivalries with the Partizan coach, the former German skipper Lothar Matthaeus, coming up against former England manager Bobby Robson and Newcastle skipper Alan Shearer.

Celtic, one of five former European champions bidding to reach the competition proper, effectively did just that with a 4-0 away win over MTK Budapest in Hungary.

Tough task

That is more than can be said for the Glasgow side's arch-rival Rangers. Starting a British record 43rd season in European competition Rangers were held to a 1-1 draw at home by FC Copenhagen and now face a tough task to make the group stage.

Olympique Marseille, European champions a decade ago, went ahead after only four minutes with a Dmitri Sytchev goal at Austria Vienna - and held on for a 1-0 away win.

But Borussia Dortmund, champions in 1997, have a tougher fight on their hands after losing 2-1 at Club Bruges.

Benfica, another former European champion, are also in trouble after losing 3-1 at Lazio where an 80th-minute free-kick from Sinisa Mihajlovic tipped the balance of the tie in the Italian club's favour.

One of the stars of the night was former Czech international Karel Poborsky, who scored twice in Sparta Prague's 3-2 away win over Vardar Skopje, netting the winner a minute from time.

In arguably the most exciting match of the night, the former Manchester United player gave his side the lead in the 36th minute with a perfect free kick. Four minutes later Vladimir Glusevic added the second Sparta goal from another 25-metre free kick.

But Vardar's Brazilian Rojerio Oliveira scored early in the second half and Slavco Georgievski equalized with a header in the 75th minute before Podborsky's winner.

Agencies via Xinhua

(China Daily 08/15/2003 page8)