23:14 – C1: Lukaku pulls Chelsea out of the Zenith trap

Thanks to a placed header from Romelu Lukaku, Chelsea began the defense of their title victoriously by beating the Russians of Zenit Saint Petersburg (1-0) on Tuesday for the first day of Group H.

These three points are all the more important as the next day will take the Blues to Turin to challenge Juventus who won in Sweden, in Malmö (3-0).

The Londoners had stumbled for more than an hour when, on a perfect cross from Cesar Azpilicueta, the Belgian took advantage of his 1.91 m to regain the ball with his head and place a measured deflection along the post of Stanislav Kritsyuk (1 -0, 69th).

At this point, Blues fans were really starting to wonder how Chelsea were going to get out of the clutches of the well-organized and disciplined Russian club.

Obviously come to play 0-0, Zenit had so far shown nothing offensively, but had perfectly annihilated the opposing inclinations.

Organized in their usual 3-4-3, Thomas Tuchel’s men seemed to lack speed and spontaneity, or sometimes determination, perhaps fearing the cons of their opponents.

At the very start of the second half, the German Antonio Rüdiger had tried to sound the charge by leaving his camp for a rush completed by a unscrewed shot which had pulled the stadium from the torpor in which the false rhythm of the match. had dived (49th).

If the outcome of the match will be, beyond the victory, necessarily a little mixed, this fourth goal in four games since his arrival from Lukaku further underlines how much this recruitment can change the situation.

Even after the opening of the scoring, Chelsea struggled to put their opponent out of position, relying on personal initiatives, such as the fine movement of Marcos Alonso in the opposing area, again marred by an imprecise strike (79th) .

Lukaku was also very close to doubling the lead in added time, in a solitary breakthrough (90th + 4).

But Chelsea will also be able to reflect on his great fear a few seconds later, when he only missed a few centimeters for Artem Dzyuba to equalize on a cross from Sardar Azmoun (80th).

In the end, the 1-0 victory is quite logical and will recall the fetish scores of last season, including in the final against Manchester City, but the Blues will have to do better in the content to hope for such an epic.

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