Chelsea began the defense of their Champions League crown in less than spectacular fashion at home to Zenit St. Petersburg. A key quality of any top side challenging for silverware is that they grind out results, even when not at their best. That one moment of quality is what it takes and for Chelsea, it was provided by César Azpilicueta and Romelu Lukaku. The Spaniard’s pinpoint cross evaded everyone and found Lukaku, who guided a header into the corner. This was Lukaku’s 150th goal for an English club, his fourth in four appearances and first Champions League goal for Chelsea.
Team News
Chelsea
There were five changes from the weekend’s win against Aston Villa. Reece James, Andreas Christensen and Mason Mount didn’t feature at all at the weekend, while Azpilicueta and Jorginho also returned.
Starting XI: E. Mendy; C. Azpilicueta (C), A. Christensen, A. Rüdiger; R. James, Jorginho, M. Kovačić, M. Alonso; M. Mount, R. Lukaku, H. Ziyech
Zenit St. Petersburg
Starting XI: S. Kritsyuk; A. Sutormin, W. Barrios, D. Chistyakov, Y. Rakitskiy, D. Santos (C); Malcom, Wendel, D. Kuzyaev, Claudinho; S. Azmoun
Far from spectacular Chelsea get the job done
Chelsea were overwhelming favorites to win this match, but they started very slowly. In fact, it was Zenit who looked lively early on before giving up possession to frustrate their hosts. Even though Chelsea had easy possession inside Zenit’s half, any cohesion or tempo was lacking in their game. In a drab first half showing, it was the visitors actually who had the only shot on target.
The Blues started the second half with a bit more purpose and had their first shot on target in the 49th minute via Hakim Ziyech. The goal arrived in the 69th minute, when Lukaku headed Azpilicueta’s in-swinging cross. But before that, Zenit looked comfortable at the back and threatened on one or two occasions on the counter-attack. After the goal, Chelsea looked to manage the game and did so, barring one major scare. Artem Dzyuba couldn’t convert Serdar Azmoun’s cut back from a few yards out. In the end, it was another cleansheet in the books for Chelsea. Before the match, Edouard Mendy, Jorginho and Tuchel were all awarded the trophies for their respective UEFA accolades.