Chelsea emerge unscathed from the great blue yonder
Chelsea's Renato Veiga scored his first goal for the club
Thursday nights in the Conference League are considered the fag-end of European football, and Chelsea’s latest awayday in Kazakhstan was as far as you could get - literally - from the glitz and glamour of their Champions League final win over Manchester City in 2021.
Three years on from the short hop to Porto to lift the world’s most prestigious club competition in front of a worldwide audience of billions, Chelsea’s latest trophy-hunters were almost in China when they beat Astana of Kazakhstan to keep their lead at the top of the Conference League.
The stage was set in an imposing Soviet-era Olympic Stadium, whose grandeur outweighed its meagre capacity of 23,000. Situated 5,606km from Stamford Bridge in the central Asian steppe, just 300km from the Chinese border, it is comfortably the farthest Chelsea have travelled for a competitive away match.
With direct flights from London infrequent, a brave crop of around 500 Chelsea fans embarked on roundabout, multiple-day-long journeys to Almaty, where they would be greeted by a vibrant, cultured city on a stunning mountain backdrop. The temperature on arrival for many was -10* or colder, dropping to below -15 by the final whistle.
Much as Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali were ridiculed for assembling such a large squad at the club, it is working in their favour now as Chelsea have effectively THREE squads - one for the Premier League, a second string for domestic cup competitions, and for unloved trips like these, a bunch of kids from the academy just grateful to pull on the shirt - and vests, leggings, gloves and everything else needed to keep from freezing.
Enzo Maresca and his staff had no option but to travel to this far-flung outpost, but he was able to leave most of his Chelsea squad at home, adding eleven academy graduates to the matchday squad while allowing Cole Palmer, Nicolas Jackson, and UEFA Conference League top scorer Christopher Nkunku to skip the club’s eight-hour charter flight to southeast Kazakhstan.
At kick-off, thermometers displayed a brisk -8°C, and steadily dropped. The pitch was visibly icy, and a haze of steam hung over every player for the duration of the match. It quickly turned to a dark cloud for Astana, though, who found themselves 3-0 down long before half-time.
Marc Guiu, born and raised in the warmer climes of Barcelona, opened the scoring after 15 minutes of uninspiring football, skating through as Astana defenders struggled on the icy pitch. The 18-year-old forced a second three minutes later after his close-range shot was deflected in by Aleksandr Marochkin.
Renato Veiga headed home from a corner to make it 3-0 after 39 minutes before Marin Tomasov pulled one back for the hosts on the stroke of half-time.
Astana started the second half with more urgency and Tomasov forced a good save from Filip Jorgensen in the Chelsea goal, but there was little else to report except for more debutants among the Blues.
Afterwards Maresca seemed to acknowledge the match’s ridiculous nature, chuckling as he recounted his attempts to fight off the biting Kazakh cold.
“We knew it was quite cold, so we tried to adapt. The players did fantastically well considering the conditions, a long flight yesterday, and also the pitch probably was not ideal.” He sang the praises of the youngsters who stepped in to bear the brunt of the 11,000km round trip, taking a fatherly tone as he expressed his pride in their performances.
Those 500 or so Chelsea fans who did make the trip were left wondering whether it was a worthwhile exercise for their club, or who really wants to see matches like this being played so far into Asia.
The difference in class between the two sides was evident, with Chelsea twice Champions of Europe and currently second in the Premier League, Astana, on the other hand, have never got close to the latter stages of European competition and were pipped to the Kazakh Premier League title in December by bitter rivals FC Kairat.
London-based Chelsea fans were joined by a crop of supporters from all corners of the world, including Norway, Macau, and Moscow, who were dispersed throughout the stadium rather than being confined to one away end, making for a bizarre atmosphere in the ground. Chants in support of both teams came from all corners of the ground accompanied by the long-lost sound of vuvuzelas, making it challenging even to identify the away end.
The result is Chelsea will return home from Kazakhstan with a fifth Conference League win and a growing lead at the top of the league phase. Set to face Brentford at Stamford Bridge on Sunday evening at 7pm, Maresca and his staff will need to quickly recover after landing back at Gatwick Airport at six o’clock on Friday morning.
Already looking tired in his post-match press conference, Maresca said his preparations would be unchanged despite the long-haul overnight return flight and early arrival home.
“We are going try to prepare the game in the best way we can, as we always have this season.” Luckily for Maresca, he will have 18 fresh players to pick from on Sunday.. Pedro Neto was the only Chelsea player from the 4-3 win at Tottenham on Sunday to start against Astana, because he is suspended this weekend.
It will be back to business for Palmer and Co, before Maresca makes changes once again when Chelsea host Shamrock Rovers at Stamford Bridge next Thursday.
At least that should be a short and simple journey for the boys from Dublin.
Seysen 7; Vorogovsky 5, Kalaica 4, Marochkin 5, Kazukolovas 4, Bartolec 4; Camara 5 (Astanov 90), Amanovic (Osei 46), Ebong 4, Tomasov 7 (Gripshi 88); Geoffrey 6 (Karimov 72).
Jorgensen 7; Acheampong 8, Adarabioyo 5, Disasi 5; Veiga 7, Rak-Sakyi 7, Dewsbury-Hall 7, Chukwuemeka 5 (Vale 67); Neto 6 (Ampah 45), Guiu 8 (Mheuka 78), George 7.
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