Chelsea win to confirm place in Conference League last 16

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Chelsea booked their place in the last 16 of the Uefa Conference League with a comfortable 3-1 win against FC Astana nearly 3,500 miles from home.

Marc Guiu scored an early brace, while Renato Veiga also netted as the Blues played in temperatures lower than -10C in northeastern Kazakhstan.

Enzo Maresca named a young line-up that included four teenagers – Josh Acheampong, Samuel Rak-Sakyi, Tyrique George and Guiu.

And it was Guiu who opened the scoring inside 15 minutes with an impressive solo effort, picking the ball up on the right side before dribbling into the box and firing in from close range.

He added the second just five minutes later, when he was in the right place at the right time to bundle Pedro Neto’s low cross into the net.

Chelsea’s third came from Veiga, who headed home from a Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall corner in the 40th minute.

Astana did pull one back before half-time, when Marin Tomasov curled a brilliant effort past Filip Jorgensen that clipped the post on the way in.

The Kazakh side tightened up after the break, and while Chelsea threatened through Dewsbury-Hall, George and substitute Harvey Vale, they were unable to add any more goals.

But with a two-goal cushion, Chelsea closed out the second half comfortably, while 18-year-old winger Ato Ampah, 17-year-old striker Shumaira Mheuka and 18-year-old midfielder Kiano Dyer made their first-team debuts.

The win means Chelsea remain perfect in the Conference League, with 15 points from five games in the league phase.

Maresca’s team will go straight into the round of 16 with one game to spare and have avoided the knockout phase play-offs.

Chelsea: Jorgensen; Acheampong, Disasi, Tosin, Veiga; Dewsbury-Hall, Rak-Sakyi (Dyer 86); Neto (Ampah 45), Chukwuemeka (Vale 67), George; Guiu (Mhueka 78).
Subs not used: Bergstrom, Merrick, Murray-Campbell, Olise, Wilson.