Chelsea rolled back the years with an imperious Champions League performance on Tuesday, sweeping aside a toothless Barcelona 3-0 to take a hefty step towards securing an automatic qualifying place and leaving the Spaniards fighting to avoid a playoff.
After an early own goal and a red card for Barcelona’s captain Ronald Araujo at the end of the first half, teenager Estevao smashed in a fabulous second and Liam Delap got the third, and the Londoners also had three goals ruled out.
“It is a huge night for Estevao, a huge night for the whole club,” said Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca. “Winning the Club World Cup has been important for the players in terms of confidence, they realise they can win against any team. A winning mentality is the only way to build something important.
“If Barcelona don’t have the ball they don’t feel comfortable, so we tried to keep the ball.”
It was like the old days at Stamford Bridge, when taking on and beating the cream of Europe was the norm, as Chelsea made all the running, passing crisply and constantly probing down both flanks
For Citizens club, Manchester City, the Defensive lapses cost Manchester City and Barcelona dearly as both teams slumped to notable losses in the Champions League on Tuesday.
In Pep Guardiola’s 100th Champions League game as City coach, his team struggled to cope with Bayer Leverkusen’s quick transitions in a 2-0 defeat, while Barcelona had an own goal and a red card in its 3-0 loss at Chelsea.
Guardiola made 10 changes to his starting lineup following Saturday’s loss to Newcastle in the Premier League, with Erling Haaland among those on the bench, but it didn’t have the desired effect
José Mourinho picked up his first Champions League win with his new club Benfica as Samuel Dahl’s early goal set the stage for a 2-0 win over troubled Ajax. It was No. 36 vs. No. 35 in the pre-game standings as the two winless teams met in the Netherlands.
Left back Dahl scored an unstoppable volley on the rebound after Ajax goalkeeper Vitezslav Jaros had saved a header from Benfica’s experienced defender Nicolás Otamendi. Leandro
