Chelsea welcomed back talismen John Terry and Frank Lampard for their latest pre-season fixture, against Frankfurt in the Commerzbank-Arena on Sunday.
But the return of Petr Cech can not come sooner following another howler from a back-up Chelsea goalkeeper.
Following Ross Turnbull’s error against Ajax, Hilario was passed the torch to start in Germany and it took just over 10 minutes for the Portuguese keeper to slice the ball into touch from a harmless backpass on 25 minutes to exhibit a familiar characteristic of poor decision-making, which inevitably cost the Premier League champions a goal.
Carlo Ancelotti has spent more time than he would have liked during his time as Chelsea manager defending the goalkeepers who deputise in Cech’s absence. Expect more of the same in the next few days.
A positive for the Italian, however, is that Cech is expected to start Sunday in the Community Shield curtain-raiser against Manchester United – so Turnbull and Hilario will have to wait another day to demonstrate the gulf in class between them and Chelsea’s number-one goalkeeper.
In the early exchanges, both teams struggled on a tattered pitch which still bore the scars from an American football game held previously. Chelsea welcomed back their World Cup players and also provided their new acquisition, Yossi Benayoun, with a starting place.
But the Chelsea regulars were unable to show the same fluidity and efficiency that led them to the Premier League and FA Cup double last season.
The home side’s pressure finally paid off, and with a helping hand from Hilario, they took the lead.
John Terry placed his trust in the 34-year-old with a simple backpass, but instead of clearing his lines, the Portuguese player attempted to push the ball past the onrushing Patrick Ochs, but the German read Hilario’s feeble example of a dummy, nipped the ball to a teammate, who played the ball back to Ochs, and the midfielder was left with the simple task of finishing into an empty net.
The home side would take the lead into second-half, but the Premier League champions went close to grabbing the equaliser within five minutes of the restart.
French international Florent Malouda collected the ball on the left flank before cutting inside in typical fashion, before curling a thurnderbolt at goal, which just drifted over the crossbar.
But Malouda chance would only spurn on the Blues, as Michael Essien looked to bag another pre-season strike, but fired his low-drive wide of the post three minutes later.
Nonetheless, Frankfurt continued to look dangerous on the break, and almost doubled their lead on the hour mark, when a cross-field pass was collected by Theofanis Gekas, who sped away from Carvalho, but the Greek striker dragged his effort wide.
And they would live to regret that missed chance, as Chelsea found their equaliser on 63 minutes.
Young Dutch full-back Patrick van Aanholt broke free down the left flank, and after cutting inside played a neat pass to Frank Lampard, who had started the move, and the England man chested the ball past the onrushing defenders before slotting home. 1-1.
They match looked destined to end in a draw, until a moment of madness from Nemanja Matic, saw the home side awarded a penalty kick, and the defender dragged hims opponent needlessly to the ground, after a deep free-kick. Up stepped Turkisk international Halil Altıntop to smash it home past Hilario.
And Frankfurt almost scored another after a defensive mix-up between Carvalho and Hilario. mancienne played a pass back to the Portgual defender, who decided to leave it for Hilario. The onrushing goalkeeper fired his clearance straight to his opponents, and without a recovering block from the centre back, Altintop would have had his second.
*
Hilario; Ferreira (Matic 46), Bruma (Van Aanholt 46), Terry (Mancienne 46), Cole (Ivanovic 46); Benayoun (Essien 46), Mikel (Carvalho 46), Zhirkov (Lampard 46); Kalou, Anelka (Borini 46), Malouda (McEachran 59)
Source: Goal UK
Frankfurt 2 - 1 Chelsea
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