If you are a Chelsea FC supporter, then you could not have been more pleased with how the club’s European campaign commenced last night. In a very challenging group C, the Blues have their work cut out for them, but the reigning Premier League champs are off to a rip roaring start, taking full advantage of the weakest side in their grouping, Qarabag FK.
Manager Antonio Conte was extremely pleased as his side blew the doors off the Azerbaijan side 6-0 at Stamford Bridge. The easiest match that they’ll have in the Champions League group stages, Chelsea ran up the goals.
Antonio Conte, who made five changes to the starting XI, labeled the effort as perfection.
“It was a good start, a perfect start for us,” the Italian said postgame.
“To play the first game [of the] Champions League, then to win with a good result, to score many goals, to finish the game with a clean sheet. I saw a lot of positive things tonight. Now we have to continue, we have to rest tomorrow and then to start to think about the next game, a strong game, a tough game against Arsenal [on Sunday].”
After the Sunday rivalry battle against Arsenal, the busy period continues with a League Cup clash against Nottingham Forest just three days later. Then, three days after that it’s a trip to the Bet365 Stadium to take on Stoke City in league play.
Four days after that, it’s the highly anticipated trip to Atletico Madrid in UCL group play, with of course the Diego Costa soap opera being a natural narrative surrounding it.
For all of the workload, Conte will need to keep rotating players so he consistently has fresh legs. The lineup switches last night included the addition of summer transfer window deadline day signing Davide Zappacosta; who was among the goal scorers for Chelsea.
“He has said that he wanted to cross. [But] he scored and it’s important for us,” Antonio Conte said of Zappacosta.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now and Minute Media. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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