Chelsea emerged as the winners against Krasnodar in Wednesday’s Champions League Group stage face-off with a 4-0 scoreline. Chelsea’s new summer signing, Hakim Ziyech scored his debut goal for the Blues on his first time starting a match that helped his side ease past the unknown Russian team.
Frank Lampard could not win his previous three games but managed to keep clean sheets in two of them. But there were concerns over the Chelsea attacker who couldn’t find the net in two consecutive matches. This was all gone in this match where they found the perfect rhythm and balance in their attack as well as defense.
Lampard’s starting XI had four changes that resembled a 4-2-3-1 formation. Chelsea’s defender, Toni Rudiger made his first appearance of this campaign as he got the chance after such a long time and Ziyech played the full 90 minutes of the match. Other fresh faces include Croatian midfielder, Mateo Kovacic, and Callum Hudson-Odoi who came as a late substitute in the previous game draw against Manchester United.
A goalkeeping error from the home side’s keeper, Matvey Safonov helped Callum Hudson-Odoi to score his first goal in the Champions League. Hudson-Odoi cut inside Igor Smolnikov and struck a weak shot on target at the 23rd minute of the game that got through the grasp of Safonov. That goal made the Russian team come out of their shell and they almost equalized just 10 minutes before the second half when Gazinskiy struck the bar with a superb volley.
These occurred after the Chelsea midfielder Jorginho missed a golden opportunity to score from the spot-kick. It was his 2nd miss of this season- the first being against Liverpool. After Jorginho missed’s penalty attempt, Werner was clipped by a Krasnodar player in the box, yet the ball went inside the goal. Yuri Gazinskiy’s strike struck the crossbar, but striker Timo Werner didn’t commit the same mistake when he got his opportunity to score a penalty. He calmly scored to increase the lead for the west London club.
Krasnodar was featuring in the Champions League for the first time at home and they had their best efforts when Marcus Berg’s shot was saved by Chelsea’s keeper, Edouard Mendy. Aleksandr Martynovich got an unfortunate decision against him when Christian Pulisic’s shot from point-blank range hit the skipper’s thigh and then had a contact with his arm. The penalty was the call by the referee as German international, Werner scored from the spot-kick five minutes after Jorginho was substituted.
Chelsea fired with all the gears as they looked to increase the lead. It was the Moroccan attacking midfielder, Hakim Ziyech’s crisp finish that gave the team its third goal lead. Ziyech’s goal was followed by a late goal from the substitute, Christian Pulsic who made the scoreline 4-0 from a very tight angle on the field.
The final word went to the American winger and Chelsea No.10, who scored his first goal of the campaign in the dying minutes of the match. Tammy Abraham ran down the channel to deliver the ball to Pulsic which he swiftly fired through the legs of Safonov. The fourth goal was a cherry on the cake for the Chelsea players.
The victory moves Chelsea to the top of Group E ahead of the Spanish club, Sevilla who defeated Ligue 1 club, Rennes 1-0. It was the third victory away from home for the men in blue., third away from home in the Champions League under Lampard. Chelsea will face the French side, Rennes which is also the former team of new Chelsea goalkeeper, Edouard Mendy before the International break at Stamford Bridge.
