Chelsea give Qarabag six of the best
Who needs Diego Costa when you have Davide Zappacosta?
On his full Chelsea debut yesterday, the wing back announced himself to Stamford Bridge in spectacular fashion with an audacious solo goal eclipsing anything exiled striker Costa has produced in west London.
It was some way, too, for 2012 champion Chelsea to announce their return to the Champions League after failing to qualify last season. Zappacosta’s 30thminute goal was the second in a 6-0 rout of Azerbaijani tournament newcomer Qarabag in their opening game in group C.
The deadline-day signing from Torino started the run outside his own penalty area and surged down the field past two defenders before reaching the edge of the Qarabag area where he caught goalkeeper Ibrahim Sehic off-guard with his strike.
Asked later if Chelsea had a new hero called Costa, Chelsea manager Antonio Conte replied in a flash: ‘‘Zappacosta.’'
Conte has been trying to avoid questions for months about Diego Costa, who is out of London as he agitates for a move to Atletico Madrid.
In other games, Romelu Lukaku kept scoring in his first season at Manchester United. The Belgium striker headed in the second goal in a 3-0 win over Basel to make it six goals in six games for United across three competitions.
He scored in the Uefa Super Cup against Real Madrid on his competitive debut, two goals on his first start in the Premier League, and now on his first appearance in the Champions League group stage.
The negative for manager Jose Mourinho on a rainy night at Old Trafford, when Marouane Fellaini and Marcus Rashford also scored against an overwhelmed Swiss champion, was Paul Pogba hobbling off with an apparent left hamstring injury in the 19th minute.
Midfielder Pogba left Old Trafford on crutches.
In Barcelona, a mesmeric Lionel Messi scored twice and inspired Barcelona to a 3-0 win over Juventus as the Catalans got off to a flying start in group D, avenging last season’s quarterfinal elimination by the Italian champions, who were missing five key players.
Messi broke the deadlock on the stroke of halftime by playing a slick onetwo off Luis Suarez and arrowing the ball beyond Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, finally getting the better of the veteran Italian in his fourth game against him.
Fellow Spaniards Atletico Madrid were held to a scoreless draw by Roma in their group C opener.
French giants Paris St Germain put five past a poor Celtic side in Glasgow.
A first-half incident saw a fan invade the pitch and try to kick PSG striker Kylian Mbappe after the visitors made it 3-0.
CSKA Moscow beat Benfica 2-1 in group A action and Portuguese club Sporting CP beat Greek champions Olympiacos in group D.