footballworld

Chelsea booked their place in the Champions League quarterfinals despite wasting a host of chances in Wednesday's 0-0 draw against Copenhagen in the last 16 second leg match at Stamford Bridge. Carlo Ancelotti's side went through 2-0 on aggregate and their first leg victory in Denmark meant they were never likely to rue some woeful finishing. But far sterner tests lie in wait on the road to Wembley and there will have to be a significant improvement if the Blues are to reach the final. After three successive wins, Ancelotti must be concerned that his team returned to the kind of flawed display that has been the hallmark of Chelsea's inconsistent campaign. Nicolas Anelka's brace in the first leg had put Chelsea within touching distance of the last eight and Ancelotti clearly felt the job was all but done as he left Fernando Torres, Michael Essien and Florent Malouda on the bench. Chelsea had lost just one of their previous 25 home matches in the Champions League, so it was hardly surprising that Copenhagen coach Stale Solbakken admitted his side would need a miracle to go through. The only miracle in the first half was how Chelsea failed to put the tie completely beyond Copenhagen's reach.

Fabio Capello's move to reappoint John Terry as England skipper in place of Rio Ferdinand was given a resounding endorsement from the Chelsea fans who hailed their defender with chants of "there's only one England captain". But Terry had few chances to show his leadership qualities as Copenhagen's bright pink shirts left more of an impression than the players wearing it. Ancelotti's side created and then squandered chances from the start, with Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole both shooting wide when they should have at least tested Copenhagen goalkeeper Johan Wiland. Yuri Zhirkov had an even better chance to open the scoring after Didier Drogba's clever back-heel and Cole's pass carved open the Copenhagen defence, but the Russian winger curled his shot wide. Zhirkov almost made amends when he collected Ramires's sublime cross-field pass and slipped a perfectly weighted ball through to Anelka, whose shot lacked the power to beat Wiland from a tight angle. After spending 25 minutes penned into their own half, Copenhagen were agonisingly close to taking a shock lead when Dame N'Doye's whipped free-kick caught Petr Cech moving the wrong way and cannoned to safety off a post. The Danish defence was pierced moments later but Zhirkov was having a night to forget in front of goal and he was off-target from close-range after Anelka crossed from the touch-line.

Drogba fared little better when the Ivorian volleyed wide from Jose Bosingwa's deep cross early in the second half. John Obi Mikel had Chelsea's closest effort when he hit the crossbar after Terry and Anelka flicked on Lampard's corner. But Chelsea's profligacy spread to Anelka, who was twice played in by Drogba, only to dwell on the ball and give Copenhagen time to clear the danger. Torres, who had failed to score in five appearances since his £50 million move from Liverpool, was finally sent on to replace Anelka with 20 minutes to play. The Spaniard nearly made an immediate impact with a deflected shot that looped just wide.Torres also burst into the penalty area and forced Wiland into action with a rising drive, but his wait for a goal continues.

Chelsea and England midfielder Frank Lampard launched the FA Skills programme in July aiming to get more 5-11 year olds improving their technical ability. Sixty-six coaches will be going into schools to help players of all abilities and as Lampard explains, the methods he learned as a youngster have stayed with him throughout his career.At Chelsea I practise after training because I was given that advice when I was very young: train and work on your skills after everyone else has gone home, work on your weaknesses where you can. That lesson has become part of me.Instead of thinking 'I've had enough now', or 'I can't do it', or 'I can't hit it with my left foot', to try and do more on your own is a great thing to make you into a player. I do lots of shooting, passing and sometimes fitness work if we haven't played games. I'll basically work on anything I feel is relevant at the time. If something is letting me down I'll work hard on that and hopefully the improvement will show in the following weeks.

I know first-hand that dealing with someone with a great technical ability can help you. Gianfranco Zola had probably the best technique I've seen in a footballer I've played with and he was always willing to help others. Zola was a massive influence on me because he arrived when he was 35 and I was amazed how someone at that age could still have that hunger to improve and to take me with him and say 'come on let's do it together'. He was the most talented player I played with. He used to work on shooting with his left foot so he was as comfortable with it as he was shooting with his right. These are basic things but it shows you that players at the top of the game are still doing them.

Football has always been the biggest thing in my life so at any moment after school or during my lunch break I would be training or just playing with my mates as much as I could.Undoubtedly there are more skilful players than me, players like Joe Cole, Wayne Rooney, Gianfranca Zola - they're the more technical players. I like to put myself somewhere in between - a bit of skill and a lot of hard work as well. But what is important is that you make the best out of yourself. There will be players who might not be technically fantastic, but they work as hard as they can at their game and they get themselves to a good level. You have to be very strong. A lot of football is about confidence and believing in yourself.

There is no player who plays at the top level for a long time who doesn't have a period where they come in for criticism or stick - it comes with the territory. So you have to believe in yourself in the bad times and try and come through it - that's a good lesson for anyone I think.