Salomon Kalou double helps Chelsea

Chelsea's Salomon Kalou, right, celebrates with Frank Lampard after scoring against Atletico Madrid. Photograph: Kieran Doherty/Reuters

The Champions League ought to be a stern test and, in due course, it will bring severity to bear on Chelsea but this encounter was more of a therapy session. Atlético Madrid, worn down in the end, posed a challenge and the victors could tell themselves that the solidity missing in the 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa had been recovered.

There were nuances, too, that had the resonance to warn everyone that Carlo Ancelotti is more ruthless than his benign manner would suggest. The manager was determined to drop Ricardo Carvalho, who had floundered at Villa Park, even though the natural alternative Alex was not quite fit enough to displace him.

Ancelotti instead put Branislav Ivanovic at the core of the defence with Juliano Belletti at full-back. Carvalho will do well to realise that talk of his being rested is mere euphemism. The squad now appreciate the steep price to be paid by those who let the manager down. The win will be recalled for sunnier reasons as well.

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Frank Lampard, for instance, got his first goal from open play for the club in this campaign when he put a low shot into the corner of the net after 69 minutes to stretch the lead to 3-0. Atlético, bright and incisive at times, were ultimately despondent. In stoppage time, Luis Perea diverted a free-kick from the substitute Florent Malouda into his own net.

There had been encouragement for Chelsea, as well, in the sight of Salomon Kalou shedding initial haplessness to claim the first two goals. Atlético were ideal adversaries. They had more than enough ability to merit respect but the inherent brittleness ensured that they would succumb in the end.

That team is 15th in La Liga and has so far collected a single point in the Champions League. Even the goalless draw should make them cringe since they had been at home to Apoel Nicosia. The Atlético players were either stirred initially by the sense of occasion at Stamford Bridge or just angry with their lacklustre efforts.

They could have been ahead when Simão crossed for Diego Forlán, whose header had to be saved smartly by Petr Cech. The goalkeeper also needed to beat away a drive in the middle of the first-half from the same attacker, who has long since demonstrated that he is far from the misfit he appeared in his Manchester United period. Ancelotti must have fretted that something must soon go right for such opponents. Chelsea, after all, were faced by a line-up with a glaring potential for goals in the attacking partnership of Forlán and Sergio Agüero.

In the wake of events at Villa Park, the manager must have hoped that this competition would be a setting in which the team donned its customary vigour. With Atlético committed to an attacking style in the quest for revival, Chelsea could not afford simply to be patient.

They went in search of the visitors' defects. A fine move opened up the Spaniards and Kalou can be relieved his bungled finish in the 12th minute was irrelevant since he had wrongly been ruled off-side. The officials seemed skittish and Agüero had wasted an opening when his marginally off-side position was overlooked after 10 minutes. Kalou's goal did not call for forensic examination. A dummy by Michael Ballack let a Lampard ball run to Ashley Cole and the cut-back was forced home by the Ivorian after 41 minutes.

There had been indications of Kalou locating composure when Sergio Asenjo made a particularly good save from his deflected drive in the 36th minute. Atlético had come up with some of the spirit that, presumably, had been dormant until now but it was no longer enough to hinder Chelsea once they held the lead.

There was a hungry persistence to Ancelotti's line-up. Asenjo made an excellent save from a Nicolas Anelka drive but was merely delaying the second goal that Chelsea sought so urgently. After 52 minutes, an unmarked Kalou struck again as he headed in a Lampard corner.

Atlético had been worn down and the brittleness that has typified them in this campaign started to become apparent once more. They were also hurt, too, by bad challenges here and there from Michael Essien. He was not cautioned by the referee, Florian Meyer, even when a tackle on Paulo Assunção ended the midfielder's involvement.

The visitors flickered into life on occasion and Agüero made space before firing at Cech from an angle on the left. To their annoyance, the Atlético players would have appreciated that they were doing no more than giving Chelsea a work-out for which Ancelotti will have been grateful.