Chelsea edged out Russian opponents Zenit in a closely-contested Champions League group stage opening fixture on Tuesday night at Stamford Bridge.
Romelu Lukaku’s goal was key to the hosts prevailing over Zenit who looked set to snatch a stalemate from their travels to the English capital city before the new Chelsea signing found the back of the net.
MATCH PROCEEDINGS
The visitors looked the more likely of either side to gain the first footing in the opening group stage outing as Chelsea looked to create some spark of their own while going forward.
Zenit created the first meaningful effort on goal just before the half-time break as Yaroslav Rakitskyi curled his effort at the Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy who had no trouble saving it.
On the other end of the pitch, it was the ever-present Lukaku who headed the ball over the goal with both teams going into the break with the scoreline nil-nil.
Thomas Tuchel’s men looked fired up after half-time with the likes of Lukaku and Ziyech going close to finding the back of the net and taking the lead.
And it was Lukaku only who broke the deadlock a little over the hour mark with the Belgium international rising to convert a delivery into the box from Cesar Azpilicueta to make it 1-0 for the Blues.
Artem Dzyuba went very close to finding the leveller for Zenit with ten minutes left to play for but he was unable to get the necessary contact on the ball to get it past Mendy.
The final whistle marked the win for the defending Champions of Europe who will be patting themselves on the back for seeing through a stern-looking opposition to get their European campaign underway.
