Qarabag v Chelsea player ratings
Chelsea coasted to a 4-0 victory over Azerbaijan side Qarabag to seal their place in the knockout stages of the Champions League. Here’s how we rated the Blues players in the win in Baku.
Thibaut Courtois: 6
Beaten by Michel’s first-half shot that hit the bar at 0-0, but otherwise was almost a spectator. Qarabag did not manage a shot on target until a tame 78th-minutes effort.
Cesar Azpilicueta: 8
Azpilicueta gave yet another faultless performance. The Chelsea captain was never troubled defensively, supported the attack from both his central defensive role and when he switched to left-back. One divine cross should have been headed in by Eden Hazard and he was harshly adjudged to be offside when teeing up Alvaro Morata for a tap-in.
David Luiz: 7
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Restored to the side, he seemed intent on keeping a low profile and did so. Luiz was conservative and disciplined and always looked in control when fulfilling his defensive work. He also played a couple of trademark long passes but resisted the temptation to bomb forward.
Antonio Rudiger: 7
Won some telling headers and did not put a foot wrong. It was a confidence-building, albeit relatively easy, display on the back of his nervy show in the last Champions League fixture – a 3-0 defeat against Roma.
Davide Zappacosta: 7
The Italian wing-back’s regular diagonal runs into the box are somewhat reminiscent of former Blues man Dan Petrescu but Zappacosta’s quality can be erratic – notably when he failed to pick out Morata when the Spaniard was free in the box. At the other end he defended without alarm.
N’Golo Kante: 8
Kante’s energy remained at 100% even when the game started drifting during the first half of the second period. His closing down, workrate and ability to retain possession afforded oodles of time and space to midfield partner Cesc Fabregas, who flourished.
Cesc Fabregas: 8
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A veritable stroll in the park for the Spaniard, who revelled in the extra space permitted and scored a deserved goal from a twice-taken penalty. He was able to pick his passes at will and invariably found his target.
Marcos Alonso: 6
He was replaced with more than 30 minutes remaining having played his part in a comprehensive victory. Boss Antonio Conte’s decision was clearly taken with Saturday’s game against Liverpool in mind.
Willian: 9
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Scored two fabulous goals and won both penalties, with his first-half run in behind the defence leading to the opening goal and the game-changing red card for Rashad Sadygov. He finished off a fabulous team move to make it 2-0 and rounded off proceedings with a stunning strike to make it 4-0. The Brazilian looked hungry and might have earned a starting place at Anfield.
Pedro: 8
A typical busy display full of intelligent and selfless running to stretch the home defence and create space. Had a couple of decent chances and will feel he should have ended up with a goal.
Eden Hazard: 8
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Hazard posed problems throughout, operating as the furthest man forward in the absence of Morata. He played some delightful passes in the final third with his only minor blemish, before being taken off soon after the hour, coming when he missed a good headed opportunity.
Gary Cahill: 6
At 2-0 ahead against 10 men, Cahill had very little to do but when tested he remained solid and dependable.
Alvaro Morata: 6
Morata did not look at his sharpest, dragging one effort wide and and wasting two other promising situations but he was eager and made numerous fine runs – and was unlucky to have a goal ruled out for offside.
Danny Drinkwater: 6
Barely involved with the game won, but his introduction ensured the irreplaceable Kante got a few extra minutes to rest.
