The 25-year-old, who signed from FC Porto this summer, managed only 20 minutes of Wednesday's game against Guangzhou Pharmaceutical as Luiz Felipe Scolari's side began their pre-season tour with a comfortable 4-0 win.

Chelsea initially insisted the Portugal full-back was withdrawn as a precautionary measure after complaining of a minor thigh problem, but it was later revealed he would undergo a scan to determine the extent of the injury.

Bosingwa looked at home on the Chelsea right side and pushed forward from his right-back role on regular occasions during his brief but encouraging debut.

Joe Cole and Andriy Shevchenko were not included in the matchday squad as they are short of match fitness, but while Scolari revealed the Ukrainian will not feature in Saturday's friendly in Macau, he was more hopeful over the inclusion of the England midfielder.

Salomon Kalou, Frank Lampard, Argentinian teenager Franco Di Santo and Shaun Wright-Phillips all scored as Chelsea began their five-game tour of Asia and Russia with a professional performance at the Guangzhou Olympic Stadium.

"I think it is normal for a first game," added Scolari. "The players have trained well for the last two weeks, more fitness than technical training."

Following the win, Scolari refused to respond to Sir Alex Ferguson's comments Chelsea would struggle to mount a challenge for the Premier League title due to the age of their squad.

He said: "I think I have a lot of experienced players and also some young boys in my team but I feel we have experience for the Premier League or whatever league."