Alejandro Garnacho’s second half strike ensured Chelsea avoid an embarrassing Champions League defeat by Qarabag.
The Blues went ahead in the first half through Estevao, but struggled against the Azerbaijani side who then scored twice to take a half-time lead in Baku.
Enzo Maresca made a triple change at the break, and Garnacho spared his blushes as Chelsea made it seven points from four games in the competition.
Daily Mail Sport’s KIERAN GILL has picked out some key talking points from the clash.
Chelsea endured a frustrating evening as they drew 2-2 with Azerbaijani side Qarabag
Alejandro Garnacho’s second half strike saved the Blues’ blushes on a tricky night in Baku
Chelsea learn ‘harsh lessons’ as one star struggles
An hour before this Champions League clash, the transfer boffins told us their supercomputer had calculated how Chelsea’s Estevao Willian is worth £103.9million in today’s market, and second only to Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal among all the players in the world yet to turn 20 years old.
We will not question that valuation, and nor should you. The 18-year-old Brazilian looked worth it while giving Enzo Maresca’s side their early lead against Qarabag in the Azerbaijan capital of Baku, installing himself as their leading scorer this season with a quick step inside and fierce finish.
He is a magical menace, the one they would all love but whom Chelsea secured for themselves, hailed as the next Neymar when he is not being nicknamed ‘Messinho’.
However, you had to scroll down to 11th in that lucrative list circulated yesterday by the fine folks at the CIES Football Observatory to find Chelsea’s next representative and that was Jorrel Hato. Their statistical model valued him at £59.1m but here, the 19-year-old Dutchman displayed the inconsistencies of youth, falling at fault for both of Qarabag’s goals before half-time.
For the first, Camilo Duran dispossessed Hato and tangled him up before Leandro Andrade scored. For the second, Hato lost possession by his own box and was then judged to have stopped Andrade’s cross with his outstretched hand as Marko Jankovic finished the penalty.
Hato was signed for £37m from Ajax in the summer primarily to deputise for Marc Cucurella at left back, but he was a centre back here, and Maresca resisted making him one of his three half-time changes. He kept Hato on the field, not wishing to kill a kid’s confidence with a hooking.
At 23 years and 97 days, the average age of Chelsea’s line-up was the second-youngest ever named by an English side in an away Champions League match, trailing Arsenal’s against Olympiakos in December 2009.
The Blues are willing to accept that their youth-led strategy and priority in signing potential will mean mistakes happen. Indeed, Hato will have better days than this, but he and Tosin Adarabioyo never provided a sense of security as Chelsea’s defensive pairing. They are down the rankings in centre-back partnerships, and should not be seen together when Wolves visit in the Premier League this weekend.
After Hato’s double trouble helped Qarabag take their lead, Chelsea relied on Alejandro Garnacho scoring his unorthodox one-two via his opposing defender Kevin Medina to avoid losing. Even then, an erratic draw was a wholly unsatisfactory result to take home from a 5,000-mile round trip, with harsh lessons learned here.
Brazilian wonderkid Estevao shone again and opened the scoring with a quality finish
But fellow youngster Jorrel Hato, 19, struggled and was at fault for both of Qarabag’s goals
Another setback for Lavia
Chelsea held a special ceremony before a training session last week, celebrating how five players had managed 100 appearances for the club in all competitions. Moises Caicedo, Trevoh Chalobah, Cucurella, Enzo Fernandez, and Cole Palmer were each gifted a framed ‘100’ shirt for it.
Romeo Lavia joined at a similar time to those above, save for Chalobah, who is one of their own from the academy. But the 21-year-old midfielder is a centurion in an alternative way – and not in a nice way, sadly.
Rather it is an unfortunate ‘100’ club that he belongs to.
This was only Lavia’s 30th appearance since arriving at Chelsea from Southampton on August 18, 2023 for £53million, but this trip to Baku represented the club’s 130th fixture since that date.
That 100-game difference tells the story for Lavia. He is a fantastic footballer – practically press-proof in possession – but his availability has been the issue ever since signing.
This is not Lavia’s fault, per se. If he had a choice, he would not be so injury prone.
Chelsea can only hope that his substitution due to a muscular issue after eight minutes – the earliest that a Blues starter has ever been subbed off in a Champions League game – is not serious. Otherwise it will be yet more time spent on the sidelines when they need him healthy and helping.
Romeo Lavia went off early on with another injury as the Belgian’s fitness troubles continued
Poor reffing no excuse for Blues
Sebastian Gishamer, the Austrian referee in this clash, was not experienced at this elite level of Europe. Even his own football federation were shouting from the rooftops that he had been assigned a Champions League game, apparently.
Gishamer’s management of Qarabag’s time-wasting tactics was pitifully poor, though Chelsea cannot use that as an excuse for failing to win after their spending. Whatever time they had, Maresca’s side should have used to beat their opponents in Baku.
Now, that upcoming visit of Barcelona to Stamford Bridge at the end of this month screams of a showdown.
