Chelsea put behind their poor start to the EPL campaign on Wednesday night by defeating Maccabi Tel Aviv 4-0 at Stamford Bridge. The...
Chelsea put behind their poor start to the EPL campaign on Wednesday night by defeating Maccabi Tel Aviv 4-0 at Stamford Bridge.
The Blues Portuguese coach Jose Mourinho was under immenence pressure made the worst start of his league career this season but goals from Willian, Oscar, Diego Costa and Fabregas got the English Champions League campaign off to the perfect start.
Mourinho made six changes to his lineup from the latest loss, at Goodison Park, with some effectively rested for their own good. The likes of Branislav Ivanovic and even Nemanja Matic have appeared in desperate need of a breather.
Eden Hazard has been desperate for a chance to kick-start his own contribution this term, with this his best opportunity. But there was tension in his stride up to the ball, eyes fixed on Rajkovic's net, and the spot-kick was skied terribly into the upper tier of the Shed.
It was a horrible miss and the kind of anti-climax which might normally shatter a team's fragile confidence, but Mourinho did his best to gee up the Belgian thereafter from the sidelines and, in truth, Maccabi were obliging opponents.
John Mikel Obi who has played 55 times in the competition for Chelsea was left out of the Blues squad that earned their second win of the season in all competitions but Ghanian left back Baba Rahman was handed his debut for the Blues and was impressive.
Burkina Faso internationa Bertrand Traore was also handed his debut in the competition for Blues when he replaced Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
In the other group fixture Porto and Dynamo Kiev played out a 2-2 draw in Kiev.
MATCH DETAILS
Chelsea: Begovic; Azpilicueta, Cahill (c), Zouma, Baba; Loftus-Cheek, Fabregas; Willian (Costa), Oscar (Ramires), Hazard; Remy.
Maccabi Tel Aviv: Rajkovic; Shpungin, Ben-Haim, Tibi, Ben-Harush; Alberman, Mitrovic, Igiebor; Ben-Haim II, Zahavi (c),
Rikan.
