Courtois the hero as Blues beat PSG in US

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Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois scored the winning penalty as Chelsea beat Paris St-Germain in a shoot-out following a 1-1 draw in their USA friendly.

PSG took the lead on 25 minutes when Zlatan Ibrahimovic pounced after seeing Jean-Kevin Augustin’s shot hit the post.

Diego Costa had an effort tipped on to the post while at the other end, new Blues keeper Asmir Begovic – criticised after Chelsea’s 4-0 defeat to New York Red Bulls – made a fine save from Lucas Moura’s deflected effort.

Begovic’s impressive first-half performance kept PSG’s lead at the break to a solitary goal and Chelsea were level on 65 minutes, as Cesc Fabregas’s clipped cross was finished off by Victor Moses.

Radamel Falcao made his first appearance in a Chelsea shirt for the final 20 minutes of normal time but it was a PSG sub, Jean-Christophe Baheback, who came closest to breaking the deadlock when he fired over in injury time.

In the penalty shoot-out, Falcao and Cesar Azpilicueta scored for the Blues but Juan Cuadrado had his spot-kick saved to give PSG the advantage.

However, Courtois – who came on at half-time – saved from Baheback and then in sudden death from Thiago Silva before smashing home the winning kick himself.

Chelsea: Begovic (Courtois 46); Ivanovic, Cahill (Zouma 46), Terry, Azpilicueta; Mikel (Ramires 46), Matic (Willian 70); Moses (Remy 70), Fabregas (Oscar 70), Hazard (Cuadrado 74); Diego Costa (Falcao 70).
Subs not used: Aina, Chalobah, Clarke-Salter, Loftus-Cheek, Traore, Solanke.

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