Champions League Group G / Lazio 0 Chelsea 4: Roman Abramovich may have spent the money well, after all.

The new-look Chelsea of Russian millionaire Abramovich pulled off by far its most significant success since the roubles began to flow towards Stamford Bridge when humiliating Lazio in an emphatic trouncing at the Olympic Stadium in Rome last night.

Before you head to the bookies though, determined to put the mortgage on Chelsea winning either the Premiership or the Champions League this season, let us urge caution. Chelsea's task last night was made much the easier by a hapless Lazio defensive display that, on occasions, verged on the suicidal.

It required no genius to predict that Lazio's reshaped defence, deprived of goalkeeper Angelo Peruzzi, right back Massimo Oddo and central defender Jaap Stam, might encounter problems. Not everyone, however, could have foreseen that Lazio reserve goalkeeper Matteo Sereni would offer Chelsea a total gift of a goal after only 15 minutes.

After midfielder Fabio Liverani had fouled Adrian Mutu wide on the left, Juan Sebastian Veron fired the resultant free-kick straight at Sereni. Rather than catch the straightforward shot, however, the goalkeeper attempted a punch, driving the ball onto the chest of incoming striker Hernan Crespo, who had bundled the ball into the net before he knew what happened.

Lazio reeled and it was only in the final 15 minutes of the first half that the home side finally stepped up the pace, winning a series of corner kicks as they vainly tried to break down the Chelsea defence.

For all the Lazio effort, however, Chelsea goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini went in at half-time having had to make only one save, and that not especially difficult as he dealt with an ambitious first-time volley from Serbian midfielder Dejan Stankovic.

Two minutes into the second half, Cudicini finally had to stretch himself with two good saves in seconds. First, he made a good stop off a well-struck, 20-yard drive from Stankovic, and then did even better to deny Bernardo Corradi when the Lazio striker seemed certain to score from the rebound.

If Corradi's miss had seemed to indicate that fortune had turned its back on Lazio, that impression was confirmed five minutes later when Sinisa Mihajlovic was sent off following a foul on Damien Duff.

Easily outpaced by Duff, and with the Lazio defence stretched, Mihajlovic's foul was more inevitable than cynical but it earned him a second yellow card.

The longer the second half went, though, the more easy it became for Chelsea to make good use of the empty acres offered by both Lazio's deficit in personnel and their commitment to attack. The alarm bells rang loud and clear in the 69th minute when Jesper Gronkjaer, on for Mutu, flashed a low shot just wide.

A minute later Veron sent Lampard through, who fired in a low, hard shot that Sereni could only deflect to the feet of Eidur Gudjohnsen, who slotted home Chelsea's second of the night, three minutes after coming on in place of Crespo.

At that point Lazio were just about dead and buried, but lest there be any chance of a home team revival, Duff finished them off with a brilliant individual goal which saw him slalom his way past three Lazio defenders before beating Sereni with a well-placed shot in the 73rd minute.

Lazio and Sereni's nightmare night did not end there, however. The final humiliating blow came via Lampard, who hit Chelsea's fourth in the 81st minute after latching onto the rebound from a good save by Sereni from a Gudjohnsen shot.

LAZIO (4-4-2): Sereni; Zauri, Couto, Mihajlovic, Favalli; Fiore (Negro 59), Albertini (Muzzi 71), Liverani, Stankovic; Corradi, Inzaghi (Lopez 71). Subs Not Used: Casazza, Dabo, Giannichedda, Sergio Conceicao. Sent Off: Mihajlovic (52). Booked: Mihajlovic, Liverani.

CHELSEA (4-4-2): Cudicini; Johnson, Terry, Gallas, Bridge; Veron (Cole 73), Lampard, Makelele, Duff; Mutu (Gronkjaer 57), Crespo (Gudjohnsen 67). Subs Not Used: Ambrosio, Huth, Geremi, Hasselbaink. Sent Off: Johnson (90). Booked: Mutu, Cudicini, Johnson. Goals: Crespo 15, Gudjohnsen 70, Duff 75, Lampard 80.

Referee: V Ivanov (Russia).