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Sports Illustrated

Sport

Jamie Spencer

Chelsea Player Ratings vs. Pafos: Unprecedented Winning Goal Spares Blues’ Blushes

Chelsea Pafos Liam Rosenior Jay Gorter Moisés Caicedo UEFA Champions League Reece James Alejandro Garnacho Enzo Fernández Estêvão

Chelsea’s narrow win over Pafos at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night has the Blues just inside the all-important top eight in the Champions League standings with just one game left to play.

With a dominant Chelsea both frustrated and lacking telling game-changing quality in the final third, Moisés Caicedo scored the only goal of the contest with 12 minutes left to play.

Eight teams are level on 13 points, from Paris Saint-Germain in sixth place down to Atalanta in 13th, with Chelsea staying ahead of ninth-place Barcelona on goal difference. It means their fate on Matchday 8 is largely in their own hands, in the hope of earning a bye straight to the last 16.

That’s what made this result, which almost didn’t happen, so important.

Chelsea Player Ratings vs. Pafos (4-2-3-1)

Liam Delap battles for the ball vs. Pafos. — Not the night Liam Delap wanted. | Charlotte Wilson/Offside/Offside/ Getty Images

*Ratings provided by Fotmob*

GK: Filip Jörgensen—6.2: Recalled to the lineup for his first Champions League appearance since October, but withdrawn at half-time when it appeared he was carrying a knock.

RB: Malo Gusto—7.8: Won the majority of his duels and was a willing runner forward.

CB: Wesley Fofana—8.3: Defensively very sound. No issues at all.

CB: Benoît Badiashile—7.6: Headed wide from a good position in the first half.

LB: Jorrel Hato—7.4: Did a decent job of getting forward on the left, creating chances and only denied a goal by some excellent defending.

CM: Reece James—7.2: Seemingly sacrificed at the break because Chelsea needed more attacking spice. Nothing wrong with what he did while on the pitch.

CM: Moisés Caicedo—8.9: Not used to scoring headers but he wanted the ball more than anyone else in that moment and leapt high enough to make it his.

RM: Pedro Neto—7.8: Looked after the ball incredibly well and worked hard off it too. Many of his crosses didn’t find their intended targets, although it was his corner that delivered the breakthrough.

AM: Enzo Fernández—7.0: Plenty involved without much genuine impact when it mattered.

LM: Alejandro Garnacho—7.5: Starting his second game in a row and posed a threat without being able to really make that potential count.

ST: Liam Delap—6.8: A hugely frustrating night that saw him starved of service and limited to 12 touches of the ball in 70 minutes on the pitch.

Substitute	Rating (Out of 10)
Robert Sánchez (46’ forJörgensen)	6.7
Estêvão (46’ for James)	6.6
João Pedro (70’ for Delap)	6.0
Jamie Gittens (70’ for Garnacho)	6.6
Marc Cucurella (70’ for Hato)	6.4

Subs not used: Josh Acheampong, Landon Emanelo, Trevoh Chalobah, Andrey Santos, Reggie Walsh, Marc Guiu, Tyrique George.

Pafos (3-4-2-1)

Starting XI: Jay Gorter; Derrick Luckassen, Ivan Šunjić, Kostas Pileas; Bruno Felipe, Vlad Dragomir, Pêpê, Ken Sema; Mislav Oršić, Jajá; Anderson Silva.

Subs used: Landry Dimata, Quina, Mons Bassouamina, Bruno Langa, Georgios Michael.

Player of the Match: Moisés Caicedo (Chelsea)

Chelsea 1–0 Pafos: How it Unfolded at Stamford Bridge

This was Liam Rosenior’s fourth game as Chelsea manager and his fourth different competition in that time, marking a Champions League debut for him.

Six changes from the team that started the weekend win over Brentford was more than just a degree of rotation, acknowledging the Blues’ status as heavy favourites. It was a gamble, though.

Chelsea quickly began to dominate the ball, but the Cypriot visitors pressed well out of possession and were defending as a back five to squeeze the space Rosenior’s team could attack in.

Reece James shot wide from distance, not missing by much to make it the first meaningful opportunity. Moments later, Enzo Fernández headed the ball into the net at a corner but was adjudged to have fouled his marker and it was chalked off.

Controlling the game was not enough to test Jay Gorter in the away goal and Pafos almost took the lead half an hour in when Jajá cut inside and saw a shot take a deflection off James and strike the post. They even wanted a penalty as the ball looked to strike the Chelsea captain’s hand.

It seemed to spark something more in Chelsea, who made Gorter work in the closing stages of the first half, twice denying Moisés Caicedo and then saving from Jorrel Hato in stoppage time.

Estêvão was brought on at half-time and kept up that pressure, firing at goal on the volley and calling Gorter into action. The Brazilian gave Chelsea another level, and the anticipation each time he got the ball raised the atmosphere inside Stamford Bridge. A goal-saving block from Bruno Felipe denied him the breakthrough an hour into the increasingly one-sided match. Derrick Luckassen was the next Pafos player to save his side, getting back to deny Alejandro Garnacho.

Rosenior rolled the dice with 20 minutes to go, freshening things up with a triple change that introduced João Pedro, Jamie Gittens and Marc Cucurella. But it was one of the players already on the pitch who made the difference, with Caicedo throwing himself at the ball in the air after Pedro Neto’s in-swinging corner had been flicked on. It was the first headed goal of his senior career.

Still, a warning sign quickly followed when Pafos substitute Landry Dimata got into uncomfortable space and a ball into the box deflected over the bar off Benoît Badiashile. But that was pretty much all she wrote, with replacement goalkeeper Robert Sánchez making a straightforward save in stoppage time at the end of the game. Pafos ultimately ran out of steam, and Chelsea did enough to claim all three points.