Barkley’s strike and Giroud flick hand Chelsea advantage
The last thing Maurizio Sarri wanted was a tense Scandi-thriller but Chelsea will return to the Bridge with a victory their manager desperately needed.
After a chastening week in which Chelsea suffered their heaviest defeat of the Roman Abramovich era, with that 6-0 battering at Manchester City, the future of “Sarriball” has been placed into sharp focus.
The Europa League has suddenly become a vitally important competition for the Italian, whose position could now be judged on whether Chelsea can lift the trophy.
Ross Barkley’s first goal in European competition and a neat strike from Olivier Giroud alleviated some of the pressure and though Malmo did produce a consolation towards the end, Chelsea should have enough to progress to the last 16 in next Thursday’s second leg.
There were a number of nervy moments against the Swedish minnows, while there were ugly scenes early in the game after clashes between both sets of fans. Chelsea substitute Eden Hazard was also confronted by two pitch invaders after the final whistle.
“I am happy because we played with a very good level of confidence. It wasn’t really very easy after the last match,” Sarri said. “If we concede a goal like this to a team like Manchester City or United or Tottenham, then you risk conceding three goals in 10 minutes. So we have to do better, I think. But I think that the performance was a good performance.
“We had three or four goal opportunities when it was 2-0, so we could have killed the match. But I am happy, it wasn’t easy to play with this confidence after the last match.”
This is a potentially seasondefining fortnight for Sarri, and it is not overstating it to suggest that his future as manager could ultimately be decided over these next two weeks. On Monday they face Manchester United in the FA Cup, then Malmo in the second leg, Manchester City in the final of the Carabao Cup and Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League.
Chelsea’s opening goal did have a sense of inevitability about it on the half-hour. Pedro’s cross from the right eluded Malmo defender Lasse Nielsen and Barkley took one neat touch before poking his shot past goalkeeper Johan Dahlin.
Malmo were committed but limited, relying on their two forwards Markus Rosenberg – previously of West Bromwich Albion – and Marcus Antonsson to force a mistake.
Malmo finally forced Kepa Arrizabalaga into his first save in the 54th minute, with the goalkeeper tipping a deflected shot from Soren Rieks over the crossbar. Yet any hopes of a Malmo equaliser were extinguished in the 58th minute when Chelsea claimed a classy second goal. Willian broke down the left and into the Malmo penalty area, sending in a low cross which was flicked beautifully over the line by Giroud with the aid of his heel.
Malmo did produce a crucial goal 10 minutes from time. Anders Christiansen was found by Rosenberg in the area and he held off Mateo Kovacic before directing the ball into the bottom corner.
Cue pandemonium from a boisterous sell-out crowd.
Predictably, there was late pressure from the home team and an uncomfortable Sarri stood watching on, chewing intensely, but they did just enough to defuse the game. Malmo’s defeat was their first at home in nine European games.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s United next week will be a far tougher proposition.