After all, even though Damien Duff had complained before the game at being substituted too often, he responded perfectly to initially being on the bench with a sparkling second-half display.

Indeed, it was Duff who provided the cross from which Gallas scored Chelsea’s vital 85th-minute winner after Hernan Crespo had earlier wasted a hat-trick of clear-cut chances.

The French international, whose only previous Champions League goal was for Marseille against Manchester United, is hardly renowned for his scoring feats.

However, he insisted: “My goal is for everyone, for the whole squad. We have a good team and a lot of good players.

“It is very difficult to play but, when you do play, you must give the maximum. This time I scored but next time it might be one of the others.

“We won and everyone is happy. It was very difficult as we played against a good team but the most important thing is the three points.”

Gallas added: “I hadn’t played for one month so it was very difficult for me. In the first-half, my positioning was not very good, but in the second-half, I was much better.”

Claudio Ranieri certainly faces a tough battle in keeping his entire squad content but he was delighted at the impact which Gallas had made after being preferred to John Terry in defence.

He said: “William played very well and deserved to score a goal. It was a great display and a great attitude shown by not only William but the whole squad.”

Ranieri made seven changes to the line-up which defeated Tottenham 4-2 last weekend, with mostly players with proven European pedigree being selected.

Despite a tepid first-half display, he was therefore still delighted at the way that a relatively makeshift line-up had performed, with Crespo and Claude Makelele both making their full debuts.

The Chelsea boss told ITV2: “It was the first time that two or three of my players had played together with everyone else so it’s not easy to get it right quickly.

“But that is the reason I’m very happy now.”