Giroud ends goal drought to put Chelsea through
BATE Borisov 0 Chelsea 1 Giroud 52 Att: 13,141
It has been a painful wait of 794 minutes, back to the days when Antonio Conte was prowling Chelsea’s technical area, but Olivier Giroud has finally scored again.
Giroud’s first goal at club level since May was enough to lighten manager Maurizio Sarri’s mood and guarantee Chelsea a place in the Europa League’s last 32 next year.
Sarri was struggling with a fever in the freezing fog of Borisov and frustrated with his team’s performance, despite extending his unbeaten run to 17 games with a fourth successive victory in Group L.
It should have been far more comfortable, with BATE striking the woodwork three times while Sarri was forced to play Eden Hazard for longer than he anticipated. Hazard was only supposed to appear for 50 minutes, yet played for an hour in what was another performance of shimmering menace.
Sarri appeared on edge throughout the evening but Giroud’s winner, a powerful header early in the second half, spared Chelsea’s squad from a more severe inquest.
“The best situation is the result,” said the Chelsea manager. “It wasn’t easy to play a good game here. There were only conditions to play badly – for the cold, the opponents, the pitch, for everything. But we could have done better.
“I’m pleased for Giroud, he’s a very important player for us. I don’t want him to be worried about scoring because he’s very useful.”
Hazard is also crucial, after overcoming a back injury, and watching him in the Europa League feels like the equivalent of Sir Laurence Olivier performing in a pantomime.
He is incongruous with the competition, operating on an infinitely higher plane than his opponents and arguably wasted on what is European football’s wooden spoon.
Almost every touch, every shimmy was dipped in gold and while he was only on the field for 61 minutes, with him anything is possible for Chelsea this season. He was applauded by both sets of fans when he was replaced by Willian.
Chelsea did endure some scares in bitterly cold conditions, despite dominating possession for much of the evening.
Dmitri Baga struck the post with a shot from 25 yards in the 12th minute and 60 seconds later Kepa, the Chelsea goalkeeper, produced a fine save to deny Stanislav Dragun.
Giroud’s header in the 52nd min- ute proved the breakthrough and should have paved the way for a more comfortable night. Emerson advanced down the left flank and sent in a tantalising cross which Giroud met at the near post, heading past Denis Scherbitski.
The only surprise about the goal was that Hazard was not involved.
BATE did respond and Nikolai Signevich should have equalised just before the hour, directing Dragun’s shot onto the crossbar with Kepa rooted to his line.
There was also drama in added time when substitute Evgeni Berezkin struck the inside of the post with a volley.
BATE Borisov (4-3-3) Scherbitski 6; Rios 5, Volkov 5, Filipenko 6, Filipovic 5; Baga 5, Dragun 6, Hleb 5 (Berezkin 81); Skavysh 5 (Moukam 76), Signevich 6 (Tuominen 73), Stasevich 5. Subs Chichkan (g), Yablonski, Ivanic, Polyakov.
Chelsea (4-3-3) Kepa 6; Zappacosta 5, Cahill 6, Christensen 6, Emerson 6; Barkley 7, Jorginho 6, Loftus-cheek 5 (Kovacic 64); Pedro 6 (Hudson-odoi 85), Giroud 7, Hazard 8 (Willian 62). Subs Caballero (g), Kante, Azpilicueta, Ampadu.
Referee Nikola Dabanovic (Montenegro).