And that’s all from me. It has been, in essence, a fine advertisement for the abilities of Ruben Loftus-Cheek. The Englishman scored his first professional hat-trick as Chelsea eased past BATE Borisov in a generally low-key game, but will he now be picked for some high-key ones? Time alone will tell. Bye!
Here’s Ruben Loftus-Cheek, with perhaps the least animated post-breakthrough-hat-trick-performance interview of all time. How does this feel, he’s asked?
The manager said we want to win this. The target was to come top of the group, and it’s three wins.
It was, he is told, the first hat-trick scored in Europe by a Chelsea player since Didier Drogba in 2006.
It’s up there, scoring three goals. My first hat-trick in a while, even for the youth team. It feels nice. That’s really nice to hear.
And now he’s got a ball to cherish forever!
Any player will tell you, it’s nice to score a hat-trick. It feels good. I’ll get this signed and framed and put in a glass box. Hopefully plenty more to come.
And what, he’s asked, of your future?
The first thing in my head is just to keep training well. It’s important to train as hard as I can, to keep sharp for times like this when I get the opportunity to start or come on. Good habits, eating well, sleeping well and training well, and if I keep doing that then good things will come.
Here’s Paul Doyle’s match report from Stamford Bridge:
If it is possible to advance claims for a Premier League place by helping to suppress severely limited opponents, then Ruben Loftus-Cheek did exactly that here, scoring all three goals as Chelsea sauntered to victory over Bate Borisov. The hat-trick leaves his club well on course for the next stage of the Europa League, with maximum points from their three group games so far.
More here:
Final score: Chelsea 3-1 BATE Borisov
90+3 mins: And that’s it! A phenomenally low-key period of stoppage time ends with Chelsea banking three points and Ruben Loftus-Cheek grabbing the match ball.
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90+2 mins: A nice run from Hudson-Odoi, who runs into the area from the left, takes it round Filipovic brilliantly, and then slams a shot over the bar.
90+1 mins: There will be about three minutes of stoppage time.
90 mins: Chelsea appear satisfied with the current scoreline and are making no attempt to change it.
89 mins: Kanté, just outside the area, miscontrols. The ball runs to Moses but Kanté, in an effort to make up for his error, actually tackles him, leaving Moses on the ground and the ball bouncing away to safety.
87 mins: Emerson lifts the ball nicely over the head of the onrushing Tuominen. The last few minutes have been short on highlights, so we’ll take that one.
83 mins: Nearly a fourth for Loftus-Cheek, who runs into the area, keeps running, bursts past the last defender and tries – and narrowly fails – to lift the ball over Scherbitski!
81 mins: That goal had, really, been coming. Chelsea’s concentration has been wavering hard these last 10 minutes or so, ending in them appearing to actually go to sleep. It matters little, but the goal is a scar on an otherwise perfectly professional performance.
GOAL! Chelsea 3-1 BATE Borisov (Rios, 80 mins)
The visitors win a free kick on the left wing and Rios runs in from the right, totally and completely unmarked, to tap in at the far post!
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78 mins: Tonight’s substitutions are completed by N’Golo Kanté’s arrival, in place of Kovacic.
77 mins: Brilliance chance for BATE! The ball is chipped into the area by Volodki and volleyed goalwards by Skavysh, but Kepa saves! And it was offside anyway!
77 mins: BATE’s final change seems Evgeni Yablonski come on in place of Dmitri Baha, who is the coach’s brother.
74 mins: Borisov create their best chance of the game, as a pass across the area finds Ivanic in space. He controls, looks up and under little pressure curls a shot high and wide.
72 mins: Excellent save! Moses loses the ball but it bounces to Giroud, who spins and slams the ball towards the roof of the net only for Scherbitski to fling out an arm and push it away!
71 mins: Another change for the visitors, who are bringing on Jasse Tuominen in place of Nikolai Signevich.
70 mins: A lovely run from Loftus-Cheek takes him from the left into the heart of the penalty area, where he runs into a thicket of defenders who inconveniently refuse to foul him. He falls over in surprise.
69 mins: Turns out the BT Sport tweet I embedded at half-time has since been deleted due to factual inaccuracy. “Somewhat embarrassingly for them, that BT tweet you embedded has been deleted because it’s not correct,” writes Paul Gallagher. “He has scored twice for Chelsea before tonight, once in the Premier League.”
67 mins: Zappacosta’s fine, powerful shot is from far enough for Scherbitski to dive to his right and push it away.
66 mins: A roundup of tonight’s key Europa League headlines:
Kepa makes a save!
64 mins: BATE have a shot on target! Ivanic is the man responsible, his effort deflecting off a defender and bouncing into the keeper’s gloves.
63 mins: Loftus-Cheek runs from the halfway line to the edge of the area, but perhaps feels he’s already scored enough goals for one evening and he passes to Moses when better positioned himself, and the move peters out.
62 mins: Moses has a shot from the 18-yard line, but it’s too weak, and also too straight at the goalkeeper.
61 mins: Another change sees Callum Hudson-Odoi enter the fray to a loud cheer, and Pedro have a rest.
60 mins: Igor Stasevich tries to take on Cahill inside the penalty area. It’s not a fair fight. Goal kick.
59 mins: BATE bring on Mirko Ivanic and take off Hleb.
57 mins: Let the substitutions begin! Willian comes off, and Moses comes on.
56 mins: Willian’s 30-yarder swerves in the air and though it ends up in the middle of the goal Scherbitski can only flap it away.
GOAL! Chelsea 3-0 BATE (Loftus-Cheek, 54 mins)
And that is the hat-trick! Pedro runs into the box, jinks one way, jinks the other, and finds that a defender has anticipated this second jink. The ball rolls back to Loftus-Cheek, whose first-time shot from 20 yards curls towards the far post, past a limp attempt at a save from Scherbitski, and in!
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52 mins: Loftus-Cheek bursts into the penalty area, feels Dragun’s hand on his back and goes over. It did look a little shove-ish, but the referee is not impressed.
52 mins: Kovacic has made a rapid recovery.
51 mins: Kovacic is thumping the turf in pain having been caught by Rios.
50 mins: Emerson gets down the left but his pull-back is cleared before it can get to Giroud.
46 mins: Also in this group, it’s PAOK Salonika 0-2 Vidi. As it stands, Chelsea would end the night on nine points with the three other teams in the group tied on three apiece.
46 mins: Peeeeeeep! The visitors get the second half started.
The players are back out and ready to rock!
A perfect start from Chelsea, but flying into a 2-0 lead/deficit has presented some motivational issues for both sides to deal with. The result has been simultaneously impressive and also rather humdrum, unless of course you’re Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
You wait ages for one, then two come along at once 🚌
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) October 25, 2018
35 games for Chelsea - No goals 🤔
36th game for Chelsea - Two goals in 8 minutes! 👏
Ruben Loftus-Cheek 🏴 🦁 pic.twitter.com/rEwLOesl0F
Half time: Chelsea 2-0 BATE Borisov
45+3 mins: It very nearly ends as it began, with a Zappacosta cross leading to a goal. Willian is in all sorts of space as the ball drops to him, but he attempts a scissor-kick and gets it emphatically wrong.
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45+1 mins: We’re into first-half stoppage time here, and there’ll be a couple of minutes of it.
45 mins: Willian, the other star of Chelsea’s first half, shoots too close to Scherbitski from just outside the area.
43 mins: Kovacic tackles Hleb from behind, getting all of the ball but then connecting with the player’s right ankle. The referee waves play on but Hleb is currently on the turf, looking pained.
42 mins: Willian, on the right now, streaks to the byline but nobody is on hand to convert his low cross.
39 mins: The hat-trick chance! Fábregas picks out Zappacosta, whose volleyed cross finds Loftus-Cheek, whose header bounces wide.
38 mins: Christensen sprints 30 yards, slides the final few and almost does himself some serious damage, all to prevent a corner.
36 mins: BATE attack again which inevitably leads to another dangerous Chelsea break. Willian’s prodded through-ball is just too far ahead of Giroud, who is a couple of feet away from an easy goal.
34 mins: Borisov have a shot! It comes from Hleb, 25 yards out, but it’s blocked, falls handily for Kovacic, Hleb has to pull the Chelsea man back to prevent a dangerous break, and instead of having a goal he’s got a booking.
33 mins: Skavysh leads a break for BATE down the right wing, but Pedro runs half the length of the pitch to trip him, so that’s the end of that.
32 mins: Loftus-Cheek has been outstanding so far. Full of attacking threat, always pushing his side forwards, brain and brawn and skill in one handsome package.
30 mins: Loftus-Cheek’s fine chipped pass finds Kovacic, but it’s a bit too far ahead of him for him to volley, and his control isn’t good enough to stop a defender pushing the ball away. It rolls to Willian, who lashes a shot across goal and wide.
28 mins: Signevich rises for a high ball, fails to win it, and to add injury to insult comes to ground with such force that he now requires treatment.
26 mins: Borisov give the ball to Loftus-Cheek in their own half, leading to a prolonged spell of edge-of-the-area pass-pinging and finally a Kovacic shot that is charged down.
24 mins: Willian’s cross from the left finds Kovacic, who chests down, jinks inside a defneder and pokes wide.
23 mins: The away side have kept the ball for the last few minutes, without doing anything very threatening with it. When Rios finally attempts to put it into Chelsea’s penalty area, they immediately lose it.
20 mins: Where to go, once two down after no time at all in an already difficult away game? To a focus on total risk-aversion, it seems.
17 mins: BATE’s defence is sliced open again, but Willian’s cross is deflected behind. Scherbitski, having presumably decided his defence is not to be trusted, comes a long way to claim the corner.
15 mins: Nearly another! The corner is flicked on at the near post and would probably have gone in had Christensen not stuck out a leg and, from a distance of perhaps two feet, somehow failed to prod it in.
14 mins: Kovacic’s pull-back is not quite right for Giroud, but the ball bobbles back to Pedro, whose shot is deflected wide. This scoreline could get ugly.
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11 mins: Chance! Well, nearly! Fábregas’s 60-yard pass over the defence is just too strong for Pedro, who can’t quite control. What an assist that would have been.
11 mins: Borisov have actually looked pretty handy so far, passing the ball about in midfield with competence and confidence. Their defending is pretty shocking, though.
GOAL! Chelsea 2-0 BATE (Loftus-Cheek, 8 mins)
Chelsea win another corner, which Willian sends to the near post. Loftus-Cheek, despite being cuddled by an affectionate defender, gets there first and tickles a volley in at the near post!
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7 mins: Willian cuts inside from the left, but his shot hits Filipovic and loops wide.
5 mins: BATE mount a decent attack of their own, but Emerson just gets a toe to the ball before Skavysh can carry it into the penalty area.
2 mins: Zappacosta’s low cross from the right, executed without looking up, fell perfectly for Loftus-Cheek, who thrashed it across goal and in from 10 yards or so.
GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 BATE (Loftus-Cheek, 2 mins)
Two minutes, one attack, one goal!
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1 min: Peeeeep! They’re off!
The players are out, and the captains are currently tossing. It looks like Igor Stasevich won it for Borisov.
Chelsea’s fans pass a massive banner commemorating Matthew Harding over their heads. He died 22 years ago this week.
The players are in the tunnel! Well, they’re on a staircase.
I think a half-hearted flick-through is probably the best they can look forward to, though I certainly could be wrong, but I’d be astonished if any of them have ever read a fanzine.
@Simon_Burnton What do you think the chances are that the players actually give those programs a good once over? Is that what they're doing at half-time? I wonder if they miss the good old-fashioned fanzines as much as I do.
— Neil McGwyre (@neilmcgwyre) October 25, 2018
Sorry, I’ve been trying to find out the identity of Tottenham’s groundsman in the mid-1990s. Like you do. Anyway, Arsenal have completed their 1-0 victory over Sporting and thus the attention of Britain’s broadcasters can finally turn to Stamford Bridge.
Here’s a glimpse inside Chelsea’s dressing-room, a world of extremely tightly rolled towels and matching slider sandals.
So that’s eight changes for Chelsea. Giroud is preferred to Morata, which suggests that Morata is being held back for Sunday’s visit to Burnley. Also, it seems Victor Moses is completely out of the first-team picture. Outside the Carabao Cup he has played 53 minutes across four substitute appearances this season, and one of those was in the Community Shield.
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The teams
The teams are in!
Chelsea: Kepa, Zappacosta, Christensen, Cahill, Emerson Palmieri, Loftus-Cheek, Fabregas, Kovacic, Willian, Giroud, Pedro. Subs: Caballero, Rudiger, Kante, Barkley, Moses, Hudson-Odoi, Morata.
BATE: Scherbitski, Rios, Filipovic, Filipenko, Volodjko, Baha, Dragun, Hleb, Skavysh, Signevich, Stasevich. Subs: Chichkan, Yablonskiy, Berezkin, Ivanic, Volkov, Tuominem, Moukam.
Referee: Paolo Mazzoleni (Italy).
Tonight's team to play BATE Borisov... #CFCvBATE pic.twitter.com/D0HUSviv4a
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) October 25, 2018
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Hello world!
And so, history is made. Tonight Chelsea will play a team from Belarus for the first time ever. As historic moments go it isn’t exactly up there with the Titanic disaster, the Kennedy assassination or that time Nasty Nick cheated on Big Brother, but it’s something. And the Blues will do so without Eden Hazard, who has a back problem, and Jorginho, who “needs to rest now” according to Maurizio Sarri, as well as various others. Sarri will rest “maybe five or six” players, with Andreas Christensen certain to start after his father threatened he would demand a transfer if he didn’t get a go, and Callum Hudson-Odoi and Reuben Loftus-Cheek both likely to see some action. Borisov meanwhile have the former Arsenal midfielder Alex Hleb in their side: he has won twice in 13 games against Chelsea. They don’t have either Mikhail Gordeichuk or Nemanja Milunovic, though, as both are injured.
Talking of Arsenal, last season Bate played them in this competition - and lost 6-0. “We analysed the games [against Arsenal] so we learnt from our mistakes,” says their manager, Alyaksey Baha. “Now, a year later, we are here in England, in London, playing against a top club, and we hope for a better result this time.” Against an under-strength Chelsea, now it is up to Baha’s men to deliver.
Hang on, did someone mention the Baha men?
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