And Ranieri asked the Chelsea faithful to be patient with new boy Crespo following his move from Inter Milan.

He said: “Crespo is in a difficult position because he had a different pre-season to the rest of the squad and is not in a condition to score goals yet.

“But he’s a clever player and he will get better. He had a couple of great chances but I’m not disappointed he didn’t score.

“That can happen to any striker. He will always create chances and soon enough he will get goals for Chelsea,” quotes The Sun.

Chelsea struggled in the first half but looked a more balanced side after the break once Damien Duff and Frank Lampard had replaced Emmanuel Petit and the injured Adrian Mutu.

“I wanted to give Sparta very little space and try to play them on the counter-attack,” said Ranieri.

“But they closed us down better than I expected and at half-time I had to make changes.

“In the second half I changed the system of my team and we played with two wingers, Duff and Geremi.

“When they were playing, they created two good chances for Crespo, so I think we deserved to win.”