- Chelsea strolled to a comfortable victory away to Qarabag in the Champions League
- Eden Hazard, Willian and Cesc Fabregas scored the goals for Antonio Conte’s side
- Chelsea’s win sees them qualify for the knockout stages of the competition
- WATCH: Eden Hazard does his best Alvaro Morata impression to brilliantly set up Willian
Chelsea strolled to a comfortable 4-0 win in the Champions League tonight as they thrashed ten-man Qarabag away from home to qualify for the knockout stages of the competition.
Eden Hazard opened the scoring from the penalty spot, with Willian appearing to go down a little easy to win the spot-kick and get Rashad Sadigov sent off.
Willian then made it 2-0 from a top class Hazard assist before half time, and Cesc Fabregas made sure of the points by scoring the third, also from a penalty in the 73rd minute.
Willian then produced a moment of real quality in the closing stages to make it 4-0 and add some gloss to the scoreline.
Man of the match
Willian’s contribution probably sees him edge Hazard on this occasion, though both were superb in Chelsea’s attack.
2 – Willian, who made his 200th appearance in all comps for Chelsea tonight, also scored twice in a Champions League game for the Blues for the first time. Celebration. pic.twitter.com/VmzsqiLiWB
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 22, 2017
While the Brazilian has not always been a regular in Antonio Conte’s side this term, he’s shown his worth with his performance tonight.
As well as his goals, Willian won both penalties and put in the kind of effort we’ve come to associate with him, in what will surely give his manager a bit of a headache about sticking with the 3-5-2 formation that does not really accommodate his talents.
Flop of the match
Although he looked a little unlucky, Rashad Sadygov put Qarabag in a difficult situation early on as he charged in on Willian to concede a penalty.
In the process he also got himself sent off and gave his side next to no chance when they’d actually started fairly well.
Stat of the match
We’ll actually break our rules and go with two stats tonight. Firstly, one that’s very hard to believe…
1 – Eden Hazard has both scored and assisted in a single Champions League game for the first time in his career. Schemer. pic.twitter.com/6qVnSRP0NR
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 22, 2017
And, secondly, one that is very, very easy to believe, though no less impressive…
8 – @hazardeden10 scored his 8th Champions League goal, more than any other Belgian player. Devil. pic.twitter.com/lDeiUUxmam
— OptaJohan (@OptaJohan) November 22, 2017
Player ratings
Chelsea: Courtois 6, Rudiger 7, Luiz 7, Azpilicueta 7, Zappacosta 6, Alonso 6, Kante 7, Fabregas 8, Willian 9, Pedro 7, Hazard 9 / Subs: Drinkwater 6, Cahill 6, Morata 6
Qarabag: Sehic 6, Medvedev 6, Rzeznicak 6, Qarayev 5, Sadygov 5, Guerrier 6, Agolli 5, Almeida 5, Michel 6, Madatov 6, Ndlovu 5 / Subs: Diniyev 6, Yunuszada 6
Reaction
As ever, Chelsea fans were full of praise for Hazard, who ran the show again tonight despite playing a slightly unfamiliar false 9 role…
Eden Hazard has directly contributed to 12 goals in his last 10 games for club and country.
He’s on fire! ??? pic.twitter.com/Gpx8JOfrnK
— Talk Chelsea ? (@talkchelsea) November 22, 2017
Willian! 2-0 Chelsea. Hazard class assist
— Robin (@Dybalance) November 22, 2017
Some, however, were a little peeved at Alvaro Morata’s poor finishing when he came on…
Imagine Morata acc scores half the chances he’s missed he’d be hitting unreal numbers ffs
— X (@_MosesV15) November 22, 2017
Morata does miss a few good chances
— Bierechukwu ? (@nedu___) November 22, 2017
In the end, Morata was so poor (as a sub) and Willian ended up being man of the match. Congrats to Chelsea on qualifying to the next Champions League round.
— Fady Kiriakides ? (@FadyK85) November 22, 2017