For Liam Rosenior, his first-ever Champions League night concluded with an overwhelming sense of relief. On paper, this was as comfortable a European game as they come: Cypriot side Pafos, at home, with the carrot of a top-eight berth tantalisingly close. The reality, however, was an evening of overwhelming frustration. Ultimately, the Blues just crept over the line but, at this stage, three points were all that mattered.
Moises Caicedo, absent a week ago against Arsenal, has been Chelsea’s standout player this season and has added crucial goals to his bombastic midfield repertoire. Here, with just 12 minutes left, the Ecuadorian was the man on hand to head home at the back post from a Pedro Neto corner. Less all-out celebrations on the touchline and in the terraces, more sighs of liberation and relaxation.
What it means is Chelsea’s knockout-phase destiny is in their own hands. While an astonishing eight teams are deadlocked on 13 points, the Blues sit in eighth place as they make the trip to face Serie A champions Napoli next week. The Italians may need to win just to qualify at all; a win for the Blues should be enough to avoid February’s play-off round.
The post-Christmas European double-header was a reminder of just how quickly things shift around here. The last time Chelsea took to the Champions League stage in west London, Barcelona were taken to the sword in November, a three-goal battering one of the highlights of Enzo Maresca’s reign. Little did we know then that, weeks later, the Italian would be in the departure lounge.
But the managerial hotseat shifts quickly and Rosenior named a strong side despite making six changes. Filip Jorgensen was preferred in goal over Robert Sanchez but, alarmingly, Cole Palmer wasn’t in the matchday squad, due to a “slight muscular strain.” One thing was for sure: they badly missed his creativity.
It was slow and static early on. Visitors Pafos weren’t even established as a football club when Chelsea won their first Champions League in 2012, their founding arriving two years later, and they arrived here with 2012 Chelsea cult hero David Luiz only fit enough for the bench. Yet buoyed by just two defeats in their six games so far, they set out their deep block from the get-go and set it out well, in their first-ever game against English opposition.
Fifteen miutes in, Enzo Fernandez did wheel away after heading home what he thought was the opener, but was sharply penalised for a nudge on defender Derrick Luckassen. It was soft, very soft, and the Argentine’s apoplectic reaction at Belgian referee Erik Lambrechts told its own tale.
Yet it said a lot that Fernandez’s disallowed goal was the best Chelsea could muster in an excruciatingly slow opening half-hour. Pafos, on the other hand, actually went closest first, with left-winger Jaja hitting the outside of the post after his shot deflected off Reece James’s hand onto the woodwork. To Chelsea’s relief, his arm was tucked in naturally, but it was the starkest of warnings for Rosenior’s men to up the tempo.
That they did, though the groans of the home faithful grew noisier. Caicedo was twice denied superbly in quick succession by Pafos goalkeeper Jay Gorter, who enjoyed a superb night, and Blues left back Jorrel Hato, who scored the first goal of Rosenior’s reign at Charlton, also couldn’t find a way through the Dutch keeper. All told, it was a limp first half of European football for Chelsea’s new man in the dugout.
Estevao, the star of the show in that Barca drubbing, was sent out to warm up at half-time, to a chorus of cheers, while Sanchez replaced Jorgensen, who had an abdominal issue. And as the rain poured down, the Brazilian teenager certainly ignited a much-needed spark.
First, off his weaker right foot on the volley, forcing another terrific stop from Gorter. Then a step-over or two, awaking the pensioners in the terraces, before his goalbound right-footed shot in the box was somehow blocked by Pafos right back Bruno.
An hour gone, Pafos were dropping deeper and deeper. Alejandro Garnarcho, scorer of two goals a week ago against Arsenal, was clean through on goal before Luckassen’s last-ditch tackle and then could only head over in the box.
Yet despite Rosenior’s nervous glances at the clock on the big screen, there was a sense of inevitability when the goal arrived 12 minutes from time.
Chelsea’s 14th corner of the evening, in-swinging from Neto, was nodded on at the near post and there was Caicedo, hanging just long enough in the air, to poke home. Pafos manager Albert Celades had been victorious here with Valencia back in 2019; this time, he would be making the trip back to Cyprus with nothing to show for his team’s brave efforts.
They enjoyed the limelight at the end, cheering their devout supporters. But for Rosenior, perhaps it was a reality check of sorts. Liam Delap failed to impress up front and, without Palmer in the middle, they’re short of craft and guile in tight spaces. The Chelsea manager will hope his leading playmaker is firing and ready to go – for Crystal Palace on Sunday and in Naples next Wednesday – with sturdier tests on the horizon.
