Romelu Lukaku lifts Chelsea frustration with timely winner to open Champions League defence

Chelsea's Romelu Lukaku celebrates with his teammate Jorginho at Stamford Bridge. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

CHELSEA 1 (Lukaku 69) ZENIT 0 

Romelu Lukaku repaid Thomas Tuchel's faith – and a chunk of his record-breaking transfer fee – by heading Chelsea to victory in their first game back in defence of their Champions League title.

Tuchel's men were enduring a frustrating evening against a steady but unspectacular Zenit side, and Lukaku had yet to threaten the Russian goal with a meaningful effort.

But with barely 20 minutes remaining, Cesar Azpilicutea drilled in a diagonal cross and Lukaku, the 100-million-euro man, headed the ball powerfully into the net.

So Chelsea began their defence with a win but it was not a walk in the park for them. The build-up at Stamford Bridge was self-congratulatory and understandably so, playing their first European home game in front of a full house since losing 3-0 to Bayern Munich over 18 months ago. On show was the Champions League trophy that they won in May, and Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin handed out individual awards to Chelsea trio Ngolo Kante, Edouard Mendy, and Jorginho, Uefa's player of the year.

Tuchel was handed his prize as Uefa's coach of the year but the German cut a frustrated figure on the touchline for most of the following 69 minutes as his side struggled to create clear-cut chances against the well-drilled Russian team.

The first half was fast and furious but frustratingly lacking in goalmouth action. Chelsea started brightly and looked like they would lay siege to Zenit's goal but their attacking threat diminished as the half wore on and the Russians became emboldened.

Once they got to grips with the fast pace that Chelsea like to play at, Zenit started to zip the ball about, their quartet of Brazilians at the heart of it all.

Malcom, once on Arsenal's radar, was impressive as was Claudinho, who was denied a chance to put Zenit ahead after 12 minutes by the quick thinking of Reece James with a timely interception.

It was a similar story at the opposite end 10 minutes later when Lukaku got his first sight of goal, with left-back Yaroslav Rakits'kyy sliding in to block. When Mason Mount showed great strength to set up Lukaku again, Dmitri Chistyakov slid in to block his shot.

It was almost half-time before either keeper was called upon to make a save, when Edouard Mendy made a straightforward stop to hold Rakits'kyy's curling shot.

Lukaku had a final chance on the brink of half-time but headed James's cross high over the bar.

Chelsea came out with more intent after the break, and Hakim Ziyech finally forced Stanislav Kritsyuk into a save.

Feeding off the frustation of the fans, Antonio Rudiger went rampaging forward from one penalty area to the other, shrugging off opponents before firing his shot horribly wide. The big German defender then made a timely interception in his own area to nick the ball off Sardar Azmoun as he was shaping to shoot.

Tuchel decided to make changes. The ineffective Ziyech was replaced by Kai Havertz in a bid to bring more subtlety to Chelsea's attack.

But when the breakthrough came, it was a classic old-fashioned English-style goal, fashioned in Spain and finished by Belgium. Lukaku had been well-marked most of the night but when Azpilicueta drilled in a cross towards the far post from deep on the right, the big Belgian was there with a powerful leap and equally strong header to send the ball low into Kritsyuk's goal.

Stamford Bridge erupted as Chelsea supporters were able to witness a European goal at home for the first time since December 2019.

There was still drama when Zenit broke quickly again and the ball flew into the path of substitute Artem Dzyuba just yards from goal. Somehow Russia's record international goalscorer put the ball wide of the far post as he slid in.

Tuchel decided to tighten things up by sending on Thiago Silva and Ben Chilwell, the latter making his first appearance for club or country since the Champions League final last May.

There was still time for Lukaku to have one more chance to score but Zenit captain Douglas Santos stuck out a leg to deny him. Lukaku will not care, having got the decisive goal that got his new club off to a winning start.

CHELSEA (3-4-3): Mendy 6; Azpilicueta 7 (Silva 82), Christensen 6, Rudiger 7; James 6, Jorginho 7, Kovacic 7, Alonso 6 (Chilwell 82); Ziyech 6 (Havertz 63), Lukaku 8, Mount 8 (Loftus-Cheek 90+2).

ZENIT (4-3-3): Kritsyuk 7; Sutormin 6, Chistyakov 7, Barrios 6, Rakits'kyy 7 (Krugovoy); Kuzyaev 6, Wendel 7 (Erokhin 76), Santos 7; Malcom 7 (Dzyuba 76), Azmoun 5, Claudino 8 (Mostovoy 88).

REF: Bartosz Frankowski (Poland).