Chelsea win is marred by Chilwell injury
Denis Zakaria scored on his debut as Chelsea came from behind to win their final Champions League group game.
But on a much less positive note for the Blues, Ben Chilwell suffered what looked like a worrying hamstring injury in the final moments – potentially making the England left-back a doubt for the World Cup.
Raheem Sterling netted the equaliser before Swiss midfielder Zakaria scored what turned out to be the winner.
It took the visitors just seven minutes to open the scoring, when Bruno Petkovic headed past Edouard Mendy from inside the six-yard box after static defending from the hosts.
But Chelsea were level just 11 minutes later, as Sterling stepped past his defender before picking out the bottom corner. It was Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s smart work that set him up, back-heeling the ball into his path.
Zakaria put Chelsea front on the half-hour mark, picking his spot and drilling the ball low into the net after a cut back from Mason Mount.
The Blues had even more chances after the break and Aubameyang came close to a goal of his own in the 51st minute, curling an effort onto the crossbar from the edge of the box. Mount also tested keeper Dominik Livakovic with a smart free-kick that was tipped over the bar with 15 minutes to play.
Zagreb did force a smart save from Mendy soon after half-time, which saw Chelsea’s goalkeeper get down to his right to bat away Josip Sutalo’s header, but for much of the second period they were restricted to playing on the counter-attack.
Chelsea: Mendy, Azpilicueta, Koulibaly (Silva 60), Chalobah, Chilwell, Zakaria (Loftus-Cheek 71), Jorginho, Mount, Sterling (Pulisic 83), Aubameyang (Broja 60), Havertz (Gallagher 60).
