Chelsea cruised to three Champions League Group G points as they humbled minnows NK Maribor 6-0 at Stamford Bridge tonight.
As expected the Slovenia side proved to be canon folder for the Premier League leaders with a brace of goals from Eden Hazard, and a goal apiece from Loic Remy, John Terry, Didier Drogba's and an own goal, just to rub salt into the visitors' wounds.
A win in Maribor in the next match will see the Blues through to the second round phase.
Chelsea started off like they meant business dominating possession, but the first serious effort in goal came on six minutes from Damjan Bohar, who received a left byline cross from Mitja Viler.
Luckily for Kurt Zouma, who missed the cross, the striker's header was weak and just a little too high and trickled over Petr Cech's crossbar.
No 70, I kid you not, Ales Mertelj then tried a speculative effort from 25-yards which sailed into the top tier of the Matthew Harding stand.
A fine build-up by the home side on 12 minutes saw Loic Remy get his first sniff on goal. His right footer was not powerful enough to trouble goalkeeper Jasmine Handanovic, but 30 seconds later and following a clever through ball by John Terry, French striker Remy was on hand to curl a low, left-footer from just inside the Maribor penalty area past the disparity dive of the goalkeeper and into the bottom left hand corner of his net to put the Blues 1-0 up.
That was the last action from Remy as he limped off the pitch with what looked like a painful groin strain - Didier Drogba entered the fray as his replacement.
Mertelj was soon in the action for all the wrong Eason on 23 minutes when he handled a clipped ball by Willian in his own penalty area. RefereeDanny Makkelie pointed to the spot.
Regular penalty taker Eden Hazard generously tapped the ball to Drogba who duly dispatched the spot kick with consummate ease.
It was Drogba's first Champions League goal for the Blues since his winning Champions League final spot kick against Bayern Munich in Munich on May 19, 2012.
The Blues hit number three on 31 minutes and it was a beauty. John Terry, showing a swift-heeled turn of pace raced the length of the pitch and was perfectly placed to slide the ball home from close range from a cute Cesc Fabregas pass.
No changes were made at half-time by either manager, but the game restarted in much the same vein as the first, Zouma had a close-range glancing header, two minutes in, well saved by Handanovic.
But the inevitable came on 53 minutes when Felipe Luis danced though the Maribor defence on the left. his byline cross was met at the far post by Hazard who cut the ball back.but the hapless Mitja Viler was on the near post and the ball deflected off his calf and into the net for an own goal, who for his sins, was immediately subbed for Dare Vrsic.
Mourinho decided that it was time for a change and off came Fabregas for Nathan Ake 60 minutes.
A lifeline of sorts was given to Maribor four minutes later when Nemanja Matic upended Agim Ibraimi to win a soft penalty. Unfortunately for him, he smacked the resultant spot kick off Cech's left-hand post and the chance was gone.
The final substitutions for both sides took place with 18 minutes to go. Maribor replaced Tavares for Jean-Philippe Mendy while 17-year-old and one month striker Dominic Solanke made his Chelsea debut at the expense of Oscar.
Willian smashed a 20-harder off the crossbar as the Blues went in search of a fifth goal to match their complete dominance of the game.
That chance came on 77 minutes when Ivanovic was taken down in the penalty area by Marko Suler.
This time Hazard snaffled the ball and tucked the spot kick home with little trouble
Hazard finished the game off in style on 90 minutes, when, after latching onto an Ake pass the Belgium midfielder twisted the blood of Suler by turning him inside out before smashing the ball home.
There will be tougher games for the Blues this season, but this was was easy as the scoreline suggests.
Teams: Cech, Ivanovic, Luis, Fabregas, Zouma, Oscar, Hazard, Remy, Matic, Willian, Terry
Subs, Courtois, Ake, Drogba, Salah, Cahill, Azpilicueta, Solanke
NK Maribor: Handanovic, Suler, Filipovic, Majac, Tavars, Ibraimi, Rajcevic, Viler, Stojanovic, Bohar, Mertelj
subs, Cot,an, Ndiaye, SallLich, Zahovic, Mendy, Vrsic, Arghus
Referee, Danny Makkelie Netherlands