Chelsea v Racing Club Genk: Petr Cech praises two-goal Fernando Torres for his hunger

Torres, serving a three-match domestic ban after being sent off against Swansea City, could not have hoped for a more accommodating side than the Belgians of Genk to rack up some game time and boost confidence while finding his goalscoring form with two goals inside 17 first-half minutes.

The Spaniard’s only regret will have been failing to complete what looked a likely hat-trick once he had put Chelsea 3-0 up inside the opening 25 minutes of a totally one-sided affair.

Raul Meireles opened the scoring with Bratislav Invanovic and Salomon Kalou also on the scoresheet.

“We were very good, we kept control of the game and created chances and converted them quickly which was important,” a delighted Cech said.

“We controlled the game they made a few mistakes allowing us to score more goals and 5-0 is a good result.”

Torres has endured a problematic start to life at Chelsea since his £50 million arrival from Liverpool. Cech believes confidence is growing both within the team and with the striker,“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy if the mentality wasn’t right. But the mentality was brilliant which is why we made it look easy.”

Cech added: “You saw his hunger to be on the pitch and score goals. It’s just unlucky he couldn’t get a third one.”

Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas added: “We felt confident from the beginning. We stayed focused and motivated to get going straight away. The opening gave us more stability.” Of Torres he added: “It was important for him to play for Spain this week, he’s kept his form well.”