Goals: Ballack 6'; Lampard 25'; Kalou 48'

Chelsea cruised into the quarter-finals of the Champions League with a 3-0 demolition of Olympiakos Piraeus at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday.

After a tepid goalless draw in the first leg in Athens two weeks ago, the Londoners went ahead in the fifth minute when Michael Ballack headed in a Frank Lampard cross and from then on the outcome was never in doubt.

Further goals by Lampard after 25 minutes and Salomon Kalou in the 48th made the second half a stroll for Chelsea who dominated the Greek champions throughout to record their sixth clean sheet in a row in the competition.

Olympiakos did not have a shot on target until the 61st minute when substitute Fernando Belluschi fired a free kick at goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini, deputising for Petr Cech who injured his ankle in training on Tuesday and faces up to three weeks on the sidelines.

That was one of the few things to worry Avram Grant’s side on a night when they joined English rivals Manchester United and Arsenal in the last eight.

Liverpool, who hold a 2-0 lead from the first leg, will complete an English quartet if they come through against Inter Milan next week.

Grant told a news conference: “We held the ball well, we were patient and quick when we needed to be. I was happy because we played some clever football.”

Olympiakos manager Panagiotis Lemonis said: “There are some very big differences between Chelsea and us. We are thinking of this year as a start to try and get closer to these very strong teams.

“I said yesterday the first 20 minutes would be very important—and that’s how it turned out with their two early goals.”

EFFECTIVELY OVER

On Saturday, Chelsea raced into a 3-0 lead at West Ham United after 22 minutes before winning 4-0 and this game was also effectively over midway through the first half.

Ballack opened the scoring when Olympiakos left him with time and space to powerfully head past goalkeeper Antonis Nikopolidis.

Olympiakos, who were unbeaten in their four previous Champions League games, had lost by at least two goals on each of their seven previous visits to England, scoring only once and conceding 24.

That awful record was sure to be maintained after Lampard doubled Chelsea’s lead.

Olympiakos failed to clear a cross and the ball eventually came back to Ballack whose shot rebounded back off Nikopolidis for Lampard to make no mistake from two metres.

Chelsea sealed victory when woeful Olympiakos defending from a Lampard corner allowed Kalou to pick his spot for the third goal.

Belluschi went close again for the visitors when he shot powerfully against Cudicini’s crossbar from long range in the 83rd minute.

Chelsea: Cudicini, Ferreira, Terry, Carvalho, A Cole; Ballack, Makelele, Lampard (Essien 75'); J Cole (Wright-Phillips 78'), Drogba, Kalou (Malouda 70').

Olympiakos: Nikopolidis; Pantos, Julio César, Antzas, Zewlakow; Djordjevic (Leonardo 56), Stoltidis, Ledesma (Belluschi 52), Patsatzoglou, Torosidis (Sisic 75); Kovacevic.