By ROB BEASLEY
NOW Chelsea know why it is so difficult to defend the Champions League crown.
No team has ever managed it.
And after this mauling, no one will be surprised if the Blues fail, too.
But it would be a huge shock if the reigning champions did not make it through the group stages.
That has never happened to the holders before either — it could now.
Shakhtar Donetsk are now runaway leaders in Group E.
Chelsea and Juventus trail them with the Blues just one point ahead of the Italian giants but with a trip to Turin to come.
That is why the Blues needed some sort of result here.
But it very quickly became clear that was out of the question.
Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo had warned before kick-off of the real and present danger Shakhtar posed to the reigning champions. He knew they were a team to be feared in Ukraine.
But even he must have believed that his Premier League leaders would hold firm for more than three minutes.
They didn’t.
The Blues were blitzed by a storming start from Shakhtar and were in danger of being swamped during an astonishing early onslaught.
Skipper John Terry returned, as expected, but that did not help much.
Luiz Adriano’s early shot cannoned off him and on to Alex Teixeira who swept home.
It was a terrible start but it could have been even bleaker if Willian had not blazed wildly over the bar with the visitors again exposed.
More woe quickly followed as Frank Lampard, making a record 100th European appearance for Chelsea, limped out of the frantic action after just 18 minutes.
It is feared the midfielder has suffered a recurrence of his calf problem and he will have a scan today.
Lampard had been a surprise inclusion ahead of Eden Hazard but the Belgian was soon back alongside Oscar and Juan Mata in Chelsea’s much-vaunted attacking midfield trio.
Here at the Donbass Arena they spent more time heading back towards their own goal than they did attacking.
Willian was to the fore for the home side but luckily for Chelsea his early efforts were wayward.
He pinged one shot wide and hitting another straight at keeper Petr Cech.
The Londoners had another let-off when Fernando Torres dribbled in to the Shakhtar box, saw his cross blocked and then watched the Ukrainians counter-attack aggressively.
Willian left John Obi Mikel for dead before releasing Henrik Mkhitaryan but Terry cut out the cross with Darijo Srna waiting in the middle.
Centre-back Terry then blocked from Srna before saves by Cech from Mkhitaryan and Fernandinho.
But the brilliant keeper’s best stop came five minutes before the break — a point-blank save from Tomas Hubschman to keep his team in it.
The half-time score line did not tell the real story.
And any hopes of a Chelsea improvement after the interval were quickly swept away.
Shakhtar have not lost at home for 11 months and you can see why.
Immediately they were on the attack, pushing Chelsea’s backs to the wall yet again.
Blues could not cope. But the depressing thing was that the home side’s second came after Chelsea gifted them possession.
This season we have watched the Stamford Bridge side swagger their way through matches.
A joy to watch with the ball at their feet. But here one of their early-season stars, £32million man Hazard, was caught trying to be clever in his own half.
He was duly punished for his over-elaborate play.
The Belgian tried a feint and trick to escape the attentions of Adriano but only succeeded in giving him possession.
A quick surge forward then pass to Fernandinho from the striker and Chelsea were deeper in trouble as the midfielder’s shot flew beyond Cech into the bottom corner.
Chelsea stirred briefly with Hazard and then midfielder Ramires testing home keeper Andriy Pyatov.
But Shakhtar were soon sweeping forward again, Fernandinho firing wide with the champions again exposed.
The brilliance of their attacks only amplified the shortcomings of Chelsea’s forwards, especially a hopelessly out of touch Torres.
No wonder he made way for Daniel Sturridge midway through the second period. It was a big ask for him to turn it around though.
The odds were more in favour of a rout, but somehow Chelsea avoided utter humiliation.
Mainly because of a superb goalkeeping display from Cech.
Two superb back-to-back saves to keep out strikes from Mkhitaryan helped keep it respectable.
Oscar’s 88th-minute side-footer made the scoreline respectable but it was no real consolation.
It was a night on which England’s finest were overwhelmed.
