Key events
66 min: Reece James is the beneficiary as Addai is sent down the line and then slips over. This one will feel heavy on the legs on the long flight home.
64 min: Within seconds, Akhundzade zips in a shot on goal. Perhaps that’s why he’s been brought on.
63 min: Qarabag have a Baku derby with Neftçi on Sunday, perhaps that’s why those two star men are off. Bayramov and Akhundzade are the players on.
61 min: Perhaps positive of the bigger Champions League stage is that teams do seem to go for wins, rather than draws. Both going for the points here.
Qarabag changes: Leandro Andrade off, the scorer, and Duran goes off, too. Both were excellent. Very strange subs from Gurbanov.
59 min: It’s Qarabag with the hurried defending now, and Joao Pedro is coming into the game. Medina, though, is a brick wall that Estevao cannot get past. He’s a unit, as they say.
57 min: Delap sent through, Joao Pedro’s ball, but it’s offside. Kochalski had made the save in any case. Chelsea showing more danger, more impetus. Much much better.
57 min: Duran tries to tie Hato in knots again, and this time the Dutchman wins the battle, standing tall. He is only 19.
55 min: Delap has already looked far better at leading the line, and he sets up Enzo for a shot that’s beaten behind. Kochalski the keeper claims the corner but suddenly Chelsea look like Chelsea.
54 min: Garnacho has been criticised in his early days with Chelsea but that was better, the direct running and the finishing skills he made his name with. And then seemed to lose for a bit.
Goal! Qarabag 2-2 Chelsea (Garnacho 53)
Delap plays the ball wide to Garnacho who initially loses the ball, only for him to get it back and smash in with his left.
51 min: Some jeers as Enzo plays the ball out of play. It’s not happening for Chelsea. And then Tosin gets caught in possession by Duran, who cannot get away from him but this is poor from Chelsea, inspired by Qarabag.
49 min: Duran continues his torment of Hato who has must have been a candidate for being subbed.
47 min: Medina and Estevao clash, and there’s a ruckus. Then Reece James pulls down Medina, and Silva, of Qarabag, is booked for asking for a red card. That challenge would have been illegal in rugby. Oddly desperate.
46 min: Three Chelsea changes: Garnacho, Enzo and Delap on, Santos, Gittens and George are off. Maresca means business. Big 45 minutes for Liam Delap.
Jacob Steinberg is our man in Baku, he’ll be providing the report later.
Meanwhile, this is an important story, and needs investigating by the authorities.
Kari Tulinius gets in touch: “There’s a long way to go, but the mind wanders to embarrassing English defeats in Europe. Arsenal losing to Graham Potter’s Östersunds takes some beating.”
Whatever happened to Graham Potter?
Matthew Lysaght gets in touch: “I can’t see much of a difference between noted pest Marc Cucurellas challenge and the Luis Diaz version from last night. Same end result – a player subbed off through injury – but this time no yellow or VAR review. I can’t help think that if it was a leading CL team instead of “little old” Qarabag then the consequences may have been different.”
It was a bit nasty, yes. Cucurella is a master at looking innocent after such moments.
Half-time: Qarabag 2-1 Chelsea
Qarabag continue to be the surprise package of the group stage while Chelsea have shown off the issues of playing too many young players together at once. It started badly with Romeo Lavia’s injury, and got worse, even accounting for Estevao’s excellent goal.
45+3 min: Chelsea end the half on the attack, with Gittens again running into traffic. Qarabag hold firm.
45+2 min: That corner is cleared by Kochalski, the Qarabag keeper. Vanishing point?
45 min: Three minutes added on, which seems skinny considering two injuries, two subs. Gittens and George win a corner.
44 min: Santos is booked, which won’t help in midfield. Duran, a Colombian, has been electric. He once played for Lusitania FC in Portugal, and may well sink Chelsea tonight.
43 min: The stadium is making plenty of noise now. Chelsea booed on each touch. They need to keep calm, pull themselves together. This is a severe test of the youngsters within this team. Character building perhaps.
41 min: Justin Kavanagh gets in touch: “Chelsea should get themselves almost over the line at the Tofiq Bahramov Stadium. Some people think it’s all over, already. You finish it, John… “
Maresca might need to do an Alf Ramsey team talk at this rate. From promising beginnings, Chelsea have been rotten.
40 min: Hato has had a nightmare, guilty for both goals. He’s been exposed by his teammates, mind. Chelsea are *so* open.
Goal! Qarabag 2-1 Chelsea (Jankovic, 39 pen)
A most calm penalty follows a deep breath. Chelsea have themselves to blame.
Penalty to Qarabag!
Hato handles it in the box, Duran smashing the ball at his hand from point-blank range.
36 min: So close for Qarabag again….Cafarquliyev goes on a bustling run from left-back, nobody putting in a tackle, and he sees glory….and misses. Chelsea have gone very milky….
34 min: Chelsea have not played much in the way of possession football. They try to attack at speed. Gittens finds space and gets his angles all wrong, smashing the ball into the side-netting.
32 min: Gittens is the latest to take a knock. There could be a considerable casualty list after this one. Some hefty challenges on a heavy pitch. Wolves on Sunday are the next opponents for Chelsea.
31 min: Borges is replaced, and Adai, from Ghana, comes on.
30 min: Chelsea in microcosm there. Full of promise, but flimsy, too. Duran turned it on with his pace and they were all over the show.
Goal! Qarabag 1-1 Chelsea (Andrade, 29)
Sloppy from Chelsea. Duran sets off at speed, and the ball spills after his shot and quite the finish from Leandro Andrade.
27 min: Cucurella throws in one of his challenges, one of his crunchers, and he’s caused pain for Borges. Looks like he will be subbed off.
25 min: Lots of space for Tosin to run into, but that leaves space for Andrade to run into when Chelsea lose the ball. Not that Qarabag are too careful with it, and evasive action stops Gittens setting up George. Gittens could maybe have just gone for goal.
23 min: Silva goes on a solo run, and it takes a fine block from Cucurella to quell the danger. Duran is again at the forefront.
21 min: Nice interchanges from Chelsea, and Gittens crosses the ball. It’s headed clear but a second Chelsea goal is looking much more likely than one from Qarabag.
20 min: Did Reece James give away a corner there? Lucky. He got the last touch. This is the type of incident Sean Dyche wants to have VAR for. Please, God and Howard Webb, no.
18 min: Chelsea were under a little pressure there but Estevao is such an outlet to have. That was a fine finish, and Qarabag had been tempted out of their shell.
Goal! Qarabag 0-1 Chelsea (Estevao, 17)
The youngster is flying. Santos sends away his winger, he checks back and whacks home. What a talent he is.
15 min: Duran looks the danger man for Qarabag. The long ball is being exploited.
13 min: Chelsea fall asleep at the back, a long ball almost catching out Hato, and the home fans think he has pulled back Duran. Nothing given.
12 min: Better from Chelsea as Joao Pedro sends away George, though Santos’s shot is not good enough to match the standard of approach play.
10 min: Qarabag pressure, and another block. Both George and Gittens have chance to attack the opposing defence but both waste the chance. The ball not quite sticking up front for Chelsea.
8 min: Chelsea corner, and Caicedo is first to the second ball, smashing over. Such a good player to bring on.
7 min: Caicedo will be coming on rather ahead of schedule. Meanwhile, Kady, one of the Qarabag Brazilians, swings and has his shot deflected. Qarabag have plenty of muscle in this team.
Lavia limps off
6 min: Uh oh. Lavia pulls up, and that looks like a twanged muscle. He looks despondent. Takes off his strapping, and that’s the end of him today. Such a talent, but never quite able to get going. Chelsea continue with 10 for now.
4 min: Sanchez is asked to take evasive action and smash the ball long as his defenders get in a muddle. Medina robs Estevao at the other end.
2 min: Big cheers as Medina uses that slippery surface to make a sliding challenge. That will add a bit of zip, as Trevor Brooking used to say when he was expert summariser.
Off they go in Baku
1 min: No Caicedo or Enzo in midfield for Chelsea, and that’s going to be a test of Romeo Lavia and Andrey Santos. The young visitors get booed on every touch. Boos are very much in fashion in football, as Trent Alexander-Arnold will tell you.
Here we go in Baku, the teams are out, the jewel of the Land of Fire take on west London’s finest. The weather looks much the same as London today, though the pitch looks decidedly soggy.
The Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium is named after what we in England for decades called “the Russian linesman” from the 1966 World Cup final. He was, of course, from Azerbaijan, back then part of the USSR.
Baku’s other stadium was where Chelsea won the Europa League, with Eden Hazard waving goodbye to the club, and sadly his career. What a player he was, by the way.
Krishna gets in touch: “Chelsea featuring a James, aJesus and a Mar(c)k almost makes this journey resemble a middle age crusade. Hope it does not end in a crucifixion for the visitors.”
Gurban Gurbanov was Qarabag’s manager back in September 2017, when an Antonio Conte-led Blues equalled won 6-0 in this competition. Gurbanov has been in charge since 2008. Chelsea have had 14 managers since, and that doesn’t take into account interim returns from Guus Hiddink and Frank Lampard. There was Rafa Benitez, too.
Seven changes from the weekend’s win at Tottenham for Chelsea, though still plenty of experience with Reece James, Joao Pedro and Marc Cucurella in the team. Plenty of eyes on Tyrique George, Jamie Gittens and Estevao. Andrey Santos, too.
Qarabag FK: Kochalski, Matheus Silva, Mustafazade, Medina, Cafarquliyev, Pedro Bicalho, Jankovic, Andrade, Borges, Zoubir, Duran. Subs: Mahammadaliyev, Buntic, Mmaee, Kouakou, Akhundzade, Addai, Daniel, Kashchuk, Bayramov, Abbas Huseynov, Cabrayilzada, Badavi Huseynov.
Chelsea: Sanchez, James, Hato, Adarabioyo, Cucurella, Lavia, Santos, Estevao, Joao Pedro, Bynoe-Gittens, George. Subs: Jorgensen, Merrick, Fernandez, Delap, Chalobah, Caicedo, Gusto, Fofana, Acheampong, Guiu, Buonanotte, Garnacho.
Referee: Sebastian Gishamer (Austria)
Feel the length of that table. Both of these teams are on track to reach the last 16 without a play-off as we turn for home.
Jacob Steinberg is our man in Baku. Here’s his scene-setter.
Preamble
Baku stages another matinee for the European Champions League with Chelsea the latest to travel thousands of miles to Azerbaijan. Qarabag are no mugs, as they proved in winning their opening two matches, beating Benfica and FC Copenhagen. Chelsea are in decent form, their legs should not be weighing too heavy after Saturday evening’s defeat of Tottenham. Still, it’s been a quick turnaround, and so expect some Enzo Maresca tinkering in Azerbaijan.
It’s a battle of 13th v 15th. Join me.
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