Chelsea escape $2.9bn mismatch, Barcelona saved by VAR in Belgium
Chelsea survive scare in Azerbaijan
Chelsea drew 2-2 with Qarabag in the Champions League on Thursday morning AEDT with a second half goal from Alejandro Garnacho helping the Blues avoid becoming the first English side ever to lose to the Azerbaijani outfit.
Enzo Maresca made three half-time substitutes, including the Argentine, with his team down 2-1 at half-time after goals from Leandro Andrade and Marko Jankovic, following Estevao’s early opener.
According to Transfermarkt, Chelsea’s squad is worth £1.5bn (A$3bn), while Qarabag’s comes in at just £22m (A$44m).
The Azerbaijani side have already beaten Benfica and Copenhagen in this season’s Champions League – and gone a goal up at Athletic Club before going down 3-1 – but this would’ve certainly been their biggest scalp of the campaign to date.
They’re becoming one of the European stories of the season, led by coach Gurban Gurbanov who’s been in charge for 17 years.
After four matchdays in the Champions League, they sit level on points with Barcelona, Chelsea, Sporting, Dortmund and Atalanta.
As for Chelsea, they made seven changes again tonight as Maresca had to defend the rotation of his squad.
“Yeah, I think I’ve tried to explain already many times,” he said in the post-match press conference.
“We have players, the intention tonight was to rest Enzo [Fernandez], to rest Moises [Caicedo], to rest Malo [Gusto], to rest more players, because they are not able to play every three days.
“They need recovery from last season, as you said, the Club World Cup affects a lot. We try to rotate when you win, no-one mentioned all that.
“I know that when we don’t win, everyone is focused on that and now I think it’s important to recover energy for Saturday and go again.”
Barcelona held by Club Brugge
Club Brugge sealed a wild 3-3 draw with Barcelona, but could have claimed a famous victory had a 92nd minute goal not been controversially disallowed by VAR due to a foul on Wojciech Szczesny.
The LaLiga giants equalised three times in the match, through Ferran Torres, Lamine Yamal and a Christos Tzolis own-goal, after Nicolo Tresoldi and a brace from Carlos Forbs scored for Club Brugge in a match that put Barca’s defensive woes firmly in the limelight.
Yamal’s return to form was the sole bright spot for the Blaugrana, who conceded six shots on target despite controlling 77% of possession.
Prior to the match, a report from Spanish outlet ABC suggested Flick had informed his staff that he would leave the club at the end of the season, declaring himself frustrated at the attitudes of his players.
Haaland’s goal means he is now in the top 10 for all-time Champions League goals despite playing just 52 matches in the competition. The Norwegian already has 27 goals and three assists in just 17 matches this season as he continues to set record after record.
Newcastle United enjoyed a 2-0 win over Athletic Club with goals to Joelinton and Dan Burn; Pafos stunned Villarreal 1-0, Victor Osimhen scored a hat-trick in Galatasaray’s 3-0 win at Ajax; Leverkusen beat Benfica 1-0 in Portugal; Marseille went down 1-0 at home to Atalatna, while Inter Milan maintained their perfect record with a 2-1 win over Kairat.
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