Ruthless Chelsea send warning to all challengers in Juventus thrashing
Chelsea's Trevoh Chalobah, center, celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal. Picture: AP Photo/Matt Dunham
The Old Lady of Turin has had her skirts ruffled before, but never had her bloomers pulled down in such an embarrassing way as this, when Chelsea showed why it is not fanciful to think of them defending their title as Champions of Europe.
Juventus were outplayed from start to finish on a night that must have delighted Roman Abramovich, who was in England but unable to attend this thrashing of one of Europe’s elite.
Thomas Tuchel’s team tore Juve apart from the word go, and should have won by more, such was their domination, helped hugely by goals from three of their academy, which Abramovich has invested so heavily in.
Trevoh Chalobah, Callum Hudson-Odoi, and Reece James had it wrapped up inside an hour, before Timo Werner showed that he is not an expensive flop by adding a fourth in the final minute of stoppage time.
It was brutal and brilliant, and all the more remarkable because Tuchel had to juggle his side again.
The German has a way of coping without an orthodox centre-forward, or even a false nine. Having decided both Romelu Lukaku and Werner were fit enough only for the bench, four weeks after being injured against Malmo, the German deployed Christian Pulisic in a central position.
The American winger’s natural inclination is to go wide and from deep, just like Hudson-Odoi and Hakim Ziyech either side of him, so Chelsea were effectively playing three wide-sided number 10s last night.
It did not matter, of course, as they brushed Juventus aside with ease.
The game was up for Max Allegri and his men inside an hour, once James and then Hudson-Odoi scored two goals in as many minutes, on top of Chalobah’s 25th-minute opener.
Juventus barely laid a glove on the Chelsea by way of reply.
Alvaro Morata, jeered by some home supporters on his return to a not-always happy hunting ground when he wore the blue of Chelsea, thought he had scored in the 28th minute when he flicked out a foot to lift the ball over Edouard Mendy, but Thiago Silva came to the rescue with a sliding save, scooping the ball off the goal-line.
By the time Morata was replaced, a little past the hour mark, Juventus were simply in damage-limitation mode.
Chelsea could comfortably have put six past Wojcech Szczesny, as they did when he played in Arsenal’s 6-0 defeat here at Stamford Bridge seven years ago.
Ben Chilwell, Antonio Rudiger, Ziyech, and Hudson-Odoi all wasted decent chances from close to goal, and it took James to force the first save of the game when he fizzed a low shot that Szczesny did well to tip away.
From the resulting corner, the ball bounced back across goal from Rudiger’s shoulder, and Chalobah showed sharp reflexes to hit a stinging half-volley that the Polish keeper could only divert into the roof of the net.
Hudson-Odoi should have doubled the lead before half time, but Leonardo Bonucci got across to cover expertly, the veteran Italian defender showing his team-mates how it should be done. Too often Allegri turned to his coaches in frustration and anger as his players gave the ball away far too cheaply.
Chelsea, by contrast, were always in control, simply too strong and too fast for their opponents most of the time. Even so, there was always the danger of the type of sucker-punch Chelsea suffered in Turin, when Federico Chiesa had scored a breakaway goal to decide the game.
The return tie, last night, was put beyond doubt 10 minutes after the break when James showed the sort of composure and finishing power that Werner, Ziyech, and others have markedly lacked in Chelsea’s colours.
When a deep cross from the left was half-cleared in his direction, on the right of the penalty area, James’ best bet looked to be a first-time volley. But with his marker advancing at speed, the young wing-back was calmness personified, a steely-eyed assassin as he chested the ball down and rifled an unstoppable shot past Szczesny from a tight angle. It was the 21-year-old’s fifth goal of the season, taking him top of the club’s scoring charts.
Two minutes later, Hudson-Odoi made it a homegrown hat-trick for Chelsea’s academy boys, making no mistake with his crisp finish from close range after good work from James and another Cobham graduate Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
That was pretty much it. Tuchel made a raft of substitutions, and one of them, Werner, finally broke through in stoppage time to turn home a Ziyech cross and add gloss to what must go down as one of the great nights in Chelsea’s Champions League history at Stamford Bridge.
It is only the group stages, but they are top now, have shown their intent by humiliating European royalty, and are only getting better.
The only downside for Tuchel was the sight of Chilwell having to be helped off injured, but with the squad he has, the Chelsea coach can look forward to the visit of Manchester United this weekend with great confidence.
Mendy 7; Chalobah 7, Thiago Silva 8, Rudiger 7; James 9, Kante 7 (Loftus-Cheek 39), Jorginho 7 (Saul 75), Chilwell 7; Ziyech 7, Pulisic 7 (Werner 71), Hudson-Odoi 7 (Mount 76).
Szczesny 6; Cuadrado 5, Bonucci 7, De Ligt 6, Alex Sandro 5; McKennie 7, Locatelli 5 (Arthur 67), Rabiot 5, Bentancur 5 ((Dybala 58); Morata 6 (Kean 67), Chiesa 5 (Kulusevski 80).
Srdjan Jovanovic (Serbia) 9/10.
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