Chelsea thrashes Maccabi Tel Aviv 4-0 in European soccer

Four goals from visiting English soccer team Chelsea on Tuesday further underlined Maccabi Tel Aviv’s woeful campaign in the group phase of the European Champions League.

The outclassed Israeli team faced their London-based opponents in Haifa’s Sammy Ofer Stadium for a late-night match that offered further proof of the gap in abilities, as the goals kept coming, even into injury time.

Maccabi has yet to register a point in this group stage, and again failed even to score.

The win — the same scoreline by which Chelsea beat Maccabi in London in September — meant Chelsea remained in the hunt to advance from Champions League Group G, easing past 10-man Maccabi.

Chelsea’s win, and Porto’s loss to Dynamo Kiev, tied the first two teams on 10 points, two more than Kiev.

In the final round of group games next month, Chelsea hosts Porto in a likely winner-takes-all match, and Kiev hosts winless Tel Aviv.

Tel Aviv started strongly, creating two chances in the first five minutes. Dor Peretz headed a Tal Ben Chaim cross over the bar, and Eli Dasa squandered a close-range shot.

But Gary Cahill put the visitors up in the 20th minute, reacting first to his initial header which was palmed onto the post.

Tel Aviv was reduced to 10 men five minutes before halftime when former Chelsea defender Tal Ben Haim was sent off for a rash challenge on Diego Costa.

Tel Aviv goalkeeper Predrag Rajkovic kept his side in the match with quick successive stops from Eden Hazard and Cesar Azpilicueta, and it took Chelsea more than half an hour to double its lead, when Willian curled in a free kick.

“I know if we win we finish first,” Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho said. “I know if we lose we go to Europa League. I don’t know with a draw – I need a calculator. We have to win our match.”

Mourinho blamed the poor quality of the field at Sammy Ofer Stadium for the late ankle injury which caused Chelsea captain John Terry to be taken off on a stretcher. He’s doubtful for the English Premier League match against Tottenham on Sunday.

Midfielder Ramires was also injured while training on the same field late Monday.

Terry fell awkwardly in the 75th minute and was taken off on a stretcher, and a minute later midfielder Oscar headed past Rajkovic for 3-0.

Substitute Kurt Zouma secured the victory in injury time with a header from a corner.

Mourinho had said before the game, “Their pitch is really bad, and with the support of a stadium that is behind them, we are not waiting for an easy match.”

Afterwards, he mused: “Such a beautiful stadium, such a fantastic public – they deserve a better surface because that was bad and dangerous. Yesterday we tried to protect. We trained just a little bit, but Ramires slid and has a muscular injury. Then, to my surprise, Maccabi trained after us on it and, after the warm-up before the game, the pitch was really bad.

“John has an ankle injury I think down to the pitch.”

According to the Guardian, Mourinho “walked on to the turf while his players celebrated their opening goal to stamp in some of the divots.”

Tel Aviv coach Slavisa Jokanovic was proud of his team’s performance.

“We are 11 years outside this competition. It is a complicated and tough competition for us. We don’t have this experience,” he said. “We are not solid at the moment but we showed character.”

Mourinho said Monday that none of his players had been concerned about coming to Israel for the game, despite British Home Office warnings about the current surge in Palestinian terror attacks.

Everybody “just wanted to come” and nobody had any fears, Mourinho told a pre-match press conference. “I had even a player who maybe tomorrow or after tomorrow, his wife is having a baby. And he’s here to play, because he knows how important it is for us.”

The presence of the full squad contrasted with a visit to Israel by Chelsea in 2011, for a game with Hapoel Tel Aviv, in which six players — Marcel Desailly, Emmanuel Petit, William Gallas, Albert Ferrer, Eidur Gudjohnsen and Graeme Le Saux — stayed away.