Garnacho saves Chelsea from Champions League shock against Qarabag

Joe Cole, speaking on TNT Sports, is happy for Jorrel Hato – that the 19-year-old’s two mistakes in the first half did not end up resulting in defeat. He’s a nice man, that Joe.

Shay Given suggests Chelsea were a bit arrogant in their initial approach to the game.

Joe keeps referring to the distance Chelsea have to travel home.

Camilo Duran pounces on some hesitant Chelsea defending and cuts inside then fires his shot against the post, but it flies back to Qarabag danger man Leandro Andrade. The angle is a bit tight but he hits it first time, superbly, and the hosts are level.

It has to be said that was bad defending by Jorrel Hato, who was ponderous and was robbed of possession by Duran. The Colombian then produced a lovely a step-over and got inside Tosin Adarabioyo before unleashing his shot. It was an excellent finish by Andrade from the rebound.

Enzo Maresca, the Chelsea manager, expects his captain Reece James to be able to play three games in a week following a period of managing his game time – and a public rebuke last season.

The defender has been frequently rotated out of the team since the Italian took over at the start of last season, a response to the repeated hamstring injuries that limited him to 45 Premier League appearances across three campaigns prior to the current one.

James was also publicly challenged by Maresca last season to display “more in terms of personality” behind the scenes, with Marecsa saying he “expected more” leadership from James and admitting that Chelsea do not have a “proper leader” in their squad.

“Reece is good, he is doing well,” said Maresca this werk. “He is fit, 100 per cent. The way he has behaved every game is top. Even when he is not playing, the way he is with his team-mates in the dressing room.

“In the way we use Reece, we don’t use him up and down. It’s a big job to do that when we use full-backs in a different way. He is ready to play three games in a week.”

Chelsea have urged Uefa to launch an investigation into allegations that one of their players was racially abused in a Champions League youth match in Azerbaijan.

The Under-19 clash against Qarabag, played hours before the senior teams faced each other, was suspended after Chelsea striker Sol Gordon opened the scoring in the 57th minute.

According to the BBC, Gordon celebrated the goal in front of fans and the player was subjected to monkey gestures. Ukrainian referee Dmytro Kubriak stopped the game briefly before the match was completed with Chelsea winning 5-0. Jesse Derry was booked for celebrating in front of the home supporters.

“We are aware of an incident during today’s Uefa Youth League match in Azerbaijan in which, after scoring, a number of our players were subjected to racist abuse from an individual in the crowd,” read a statement from Chelsea.

“Racism and all forms of discriminatory behaviour are completely unacceptable and have no place in football or indeed in society. We strongly condemn the actions of the individual responsible.

“Our players have the full support of everyone at the club, and we have raised the incident immediately with the Uefa match delegate and home club. We expect this matter to be investigated fully under Uefa’s disciplinary procedures.

“We are proud of the way our players and staff responded to the incident on the pitch, swiftly reporting it to the referee, and commend those for dealing with the matter professionally and appropriately in line with Uefa protocols.

“Chelsea Football Club is immensely proud of the diversity within our team and across our entire club and will continue to work with Uefa to ensure that those responsible for discriminatory behaviour in football are held accountable.”

Qarabag play their home matches at the Tofig Bahramov Republican Stadium in Azerbaijan’s well-polished capital Baku, which has jostled itself into position as a global sports hosting destination, with a Formula One Grand Prix, the 2015 European Games and the 2019 Europa League final among its recent(-ish) highlights.

However, the club actually hails from the war-torn western Azerbaijani city of Aghdam, but were relocated because of the 1988-1994 conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

It is a long trek – nearly 5,000 miles there and back – for Chelsea to the country that was a part of the former Soviet Union. Qarabag are the second-most eastern club in the Champions League, slightly west of Kairat Almaty of Kazakhstan.

Qarabag have been managed by Azerbaijani football legend Gurban Gurbanov for a whopping 17 years. The former striker was Azerbaijan’s leading goal-scorer until being overtaken by Emin Mahmudov earlier this year, and has also managed the national side while in charge of Qarabag.

Qarabag’s squad has a core of Azerbaijanis with a sprinkling of Brazilians, a couple of Colombians and other players from Ukraine, Montenegro and Poland. Their top scorer in league phase is Leandro Andrade of Cabo Verde with five (three in qualifying, two in the league phase). The Azerbaijani side have scored 16 goals in their last six Champions League matches, with Andrade scoring in four of those.

Chelsea play away in one of the Champions League’s most far-flung corners today with the near-5,000-mile round trip to take on Qarabag in Azerbaijan.

Enzo Maresca’s men will be aiming for a third-successive win in Europe’s elite competition, after bouncing back from an opening loss at Bayern Munich with home wins over Benfica and Ajax.

The London side are 13th in the Champions League standings tied on six points with 15th-placed Qarabag.

Victory today would likely propel Chelsea into the top eight positions, from which teams progress directly to the last 16, although there is still a long way to go (today is Chelsea’s fourth of eight league phase matches).

It is the third time in eight years that the Stamford Bridge club have had to make the long trek to the Azerbaijani capital. They beat Qarabag 4-0 in the group stage of the 2017 Champions League before returning 18 months later for the Europa League final, beating Arsenal 4-1.

The Chelsea players will be kept on UK time whilst in Baku, the Azerbaijani capital, to mitigate the effects of the four-hour time difference ahead of Saturday’s home match with Wolves.

“For sure, we need to rotate some of the players because I think we come back in London at 6am [GMT] on Friday and then we have a game on Saturday [at 8pm],” said Maresca. “A demanding schedule but we will try to adapt and do our best.

“It is an important game. It can give us three wins in a row in Champions League, nine points, so very important.”

After beating Shelbourne (Ireland), Shkendija (Macedonia) and Ferencváros (Hungary) to qualify for the league phase, Qarabag won away at Benfica and home against Copenhagen before losing at Athletic Bilbao, despite taking at early lead in the Basque Country.

“It’ll be a tough game for sure, for different reasons, they are a very good and intense team,” said Maresca, who has been impressed by Qarabag manager Gurban Gurbanov, who has led the club to 11 Azerbaijan Premier League titles since taking charge in 2008. “It’s unbelievable, 17 years with the same club, amazing,” the Chelsea manager said.

Kick-off is at 5.45pm, team news to follow shortly.

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