Radamel Falcao showed exactly why Chelsea have been coveting his signature, smashing a sumptuous hat-trick as Atletico Madrid thumped the Champions League winners 4-1 in the UEFA Super Cup in Monaco.
Falcao put the game beyond Chelsea in the first half, netting three wonderful goals, for the second-straight game, and also hitting the woodwork twice. Miranda made it 4-0 in the second half, before a late consolation strike from Gary Cahill.
The first goal nearly came inside five minutes, when Falcao got on the end of a nice cross from Felipe Luiz, but saw his header crash off the crossbar. Falcao, however, soon made up for that miss, slotting past Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech, after receiving a pass from Gabi.
Adrian Lopez then came close for Atletico, before Falcao grabbed his second of the game. The Colombian striker cut inside onto his left foot, and curled an unstoppable strike past Cech to swell the lead. With ten minutes of the first half to go, another header from the brilliant striker struck the post; but like his previous miss, Falcao made up for it soon after.
Chelsea were now dominating possession, but were finding it difficult to carve out any real opportunities, with Atletico looking dangerous on the break. As expected, a quick counter-attack from the Europa League winners saw Falcao finish off the move to put the result beyond doubt.
Miranda made it 4-0 in the 60th minute, before Cahill pulled one back in the 75th minute.
Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo was, understandably, unhappy with his side's performance. "In the first half we were very poor, whereas Atletico were extremely sharp. We started very slowly and sloppily and they penalised us," Di Matteo told ITV.
"In the first half we gave away three goals and you simply cannot do that against a team like Atletico Madrid.
"The effort was there, but they were just much better than we were. The players have a lot to learn -- we have to get much better. It is a shame we cannot be competitive in a European final like this.
"We will continue to try and slowly change the team's style, but we did not play well at all here. We will bounce back. It was a bad defeat but we have had some good days before this one."
Di Matteo felt his side failed to cope with the attacking prowess of Falcao and thought all the goals were very much avoidable. "We gave Falcao far too much space and time," the Italian said.
"You cannot give him any space because he is too dangerous. If you give him half a yard he can put it in the top corner.
"He did score a very good goal with the second one but we still should have blocked it before."
