Hazard shines as Chelsea beat Werder Bremen
Eden Hazard scored one goal and helped create two more as Chelsea rounded off their pre-season campaign with a 4-2 victory over Werder Bremen.
The Belgian blasted home the opener from the edge of the box and it was 2-0 inside 10 minutes when his pass led to Oscar scoring with a low finish after a one-two with Diego Costa.
Veteran former Blues striker Claudio Pizarro pulled a goal back from the penalty spot after Nemanja Matic fouled Zlatko Junuzovic, but Costa ran through to make it 3-1 at the break.
Lennart Thy struck to make it 3-2, but Pedro’s cool finish sealed the win with less than 30 seconds to go.
Captain John Terry was replaced towards the end after taking a couple of knocks, but the substitution seemed to be a precautionary measure rather than because of a serious injury.
Chelsea’s blistering start was impressive but in keeping with a line-up that will very likely be extremely close to that for the Premier League season opener against West Ham on Monday week.
N’Golo Kante made his first start in a Blues shirt and Oscar started behind Costa with Willian and Hazard out wide.
Hazard was the game’s standout player, with a well-worked short corner leading to his fierce low strike and a flicked pass finding Oscar, who shot home after a sharp exchange of passes with Costa.
Junuzovic forced a brilliant fingertip save from Thibaut Courtois before he netted from the penalty spot, but Costa showed great composure to score from Hazard’s astute reverse pass.
Chelsea wasted countless chances after the break, Costa twice shooting wide after great work by Hazard and Oscar wasting a glorious one-on-one opportunity.
And the Germans made it interesting when substitute Thy’s 20-yard shot beat Courtois with 25 minutes left, but Pedro slotted home the sixth goal of an entertaining game to ensure a fourth win in six pre-season matches.
