Chelsea will head off to the Champions League final in good heart after rounding off their Premier League campaign with a 2-1 victory over Blackburn Rovers at Stamford Bridge.
First-half goals from John Terry and Raul Meireles – both suspended for the meeting with Bayern Munich – put Roberto Di Matteo’s side in control.
Ayegbeni Yakubu’s second-half strike briefly gave relegated Blackburn hope they might end a disastrous season with an unexpected point but their efforts quickly faded.
That allowed Chelsea to run down the clock without exerting themselves as they secured a sixth place finish – ensuring they must win the Champions League to secure a place in next season’s competition.
With victory assured, the only concern for Blues caretaker manager Di Matteo was the injury sustained by Florent Malouda in the first half.
The midfielder was withdrawn with a minor hamstring injury and Di Matteo will hope the France international recovers quickly.
This was a game both sides would have happily done without.
Chelsea’s minds are understandably elsewhere while Blackburn’s relegation last week meant the end of the season couldn’t come quickly enough.
Di Matteo’s team sheet reflected the fact that in terms of personnel, this was an exercise in damage limitation ahead of the trip to Munich.
Terry and Meireles were joined by Ramires and Branislav Ivanovic, the other two members of Di Matteo’s squad who will watch from the stands in the Allianz Arena.
Of the other seven starters, only Malouda, Daniel Sturridge and Michael Essien had any chance of forcing the manager into a change of plan before next Saturday.
For Blackburn, goalkeeper Jake Kean was given his debut in place of injured Paul Robinson and Rovers attempted to sign off from the Premier League on a high. It quickly because apparent there was little chance of that happening.