Shevchenko saves Chelsea blushes

Chelsea's Andriy Shevchenko (R) heads the ball over Rosenborg goalkeeper Lars Hirschfeld (L) to score the equaliser during their Champions League match at Stamford Bridge in London on Tuesday.Photo: AFP

Andriy Shevchenko scored an equalising goal which could salvage his Chelsea career as the Blues drew 1-1 with Rosenborg in the Champions League match at Stamford Bridge here on Tuesday.
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho is alarmed by his expensively-assembled team's dramatic loss of goal scoring form which has dented their domestic and European title hopes.
The Blues have scored just once in their last three matches -- hardly the sort of form likely to scare their next opponents: English Premier League champions Manchester United, who host Chelsea in Sunday's crunch match.
And the Blues' main goal scorers, Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba and England midfielder Frank Lampard, who have missed the last two games through injuries, are unlikely to make the trip to Old Trafford.
Hosts Chelsea dominated possession in Tuesday's 1-1 draw at home to unfancied Norwegian champions Rosenborg in the Champions League Group B match at Stamford Bridge.
But despite a hatful of chances, only Ukraine striker Andriy Shevchenko -- restored to the Chelsea first team in the absence of Drogba and Peru forward Claudio Pizarro -- managed to get on the score sheet.
"I'm very disappointed," Mourinho said.
"We had about 20 chances and scored one goal. So to score two, maybe we need 40 chances; to score three, maybe 60.
"From the 20 chances, maybe 15 of them were not even on target. One in the net and some others the goalkeeper saved.
"We can speak and speak but the history of the game is we couldn't score more than one goal in 20 shots.
"I'm alarmed, I'm not happy."
The lack of sharpness in attack in the 2-0 defeat at Aston Villa, 0-0 draw with visitors Blackburn and the Rosenborg stalemate is playing on Mourinho's mind.
"For me, the drama is in three matches where we played with attacking teams, dominating games, creating chances and we scored one single goal," the Portuguese said.
"That's the reality of this team. Drogba and Lampard mean more than 50 percent of the goals Chelsea score. They are not playing. Good news is not arriving from the medical department.
"So I have to fight with these people, to make the team the best possible."
Against Rosenborg, Shevchenko scored an equaliser which could salvage his Chelsea career.
Mourinho had bizarrely compared the under-performing striker to a second-grade egg before the match, but Shevchenko left the Portuguese with just a little egg on his face as he rescued a point.
Finland centre-half Miika Koppinen flicked in a free kick cross in the 24th minute before Shevchenko equalised with a 53rd-minute header, his 56th Champions League goal in 90 appearances.
Chelsea hit the woodwork twice but a draw at home against the unfancied Norwegians could prove costly in a group featuring Germany's Schalke and Spain's Valencia.
The Blues were intent on winning the Champions League this time round, having reached the semifinals in three of the last four seasons, but Mourinho now has a glum outlook.
"It's more difficult to qualify from the group stage because this is the kind of game you have to win," he said.
"It's the kind of game that normally you win, when you play at home against a team that normally should be the weakest in the group.
"So it's not a good result.
"We are not scared of the situation in the Champions League. It may be more difficult to finish first. Maybe we need to win something like four points against Valencia."
Shevchenko, a 30-million-pound (60-million-dollar, 43-million-euro) purchase from Italian giants AC Milan in May 2006, has been criticised for scoring only 15 goals in 53 Blues appearances.
He might have hoped his equaliser would have earned a pat on the back from his boss.
But when asked about the Ukrainian's performance, Mourinho stared blankly for a while then shrugged.
"My team didn't win," he said, eventually.
"Shevchenko is part of my team and I don't like to speak about individuals. We couldn't win, so I have nothing special to say."
Meanwhile Rosenborg boss Knut Torum reckons the Troillongan can certainly reach the Champions League knock-out phase.
"I thought that before the match and I said we don't have to win at Chelsea to go forward, so of course it was a good result for us," he said.
"The boys are having a good time in the locker room. They say we have a schedule now, draw away and win at home. We believe in that. That's one of the strengths of Rosenborg after so many years in the Champions League."