LUK’S ON A ROMPAGE
There’s no place like home for Tuch’s unstoppable hitman
ROMELU LUKAKU rode to the rescue just when it looked like Chelsea were about to find out the hard way it’s tough being champions.
Big Rom popped up to break the deadlock in the 69th minute with his first real chance of the match to finally sink silky Zenit St-petersburg.
In doing so he proved once again why the Blues paid a king’s ransom of £97.5m to add him to their Champions League-winning squad.
But until he struck it had been a real slog. Marcos Alonso warned in the build-up it would be harder to win the trophy this season.
The Belgian was billed as the final piece of the puzzle and that is so far proving to be the case as he made it three goals in a week.
But even then, substitute Artem Dzyuba should have equalised for Zenit, who can count themselves unlucky losers at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea had an early warning when Reece James had to nip back to steal the ball away from Claudinho, who found himself clean through.
Zenit were lively and when Lukaku did finally get a sniff of a chance, Daler Kuzyaev was there to nick it off his toes.
It was all too slow for Thomas Tuchel’s liking. He kept hopping up and down in frustration and jabbing a finger towards the opposition goal.
But it didn’t do much good, as Chelsea slowly sucked the life out of their own fans, who were in full voice before the game.
“Champions of Europe – we know what we are,” they sang. But their team didn’t look like it, and took 43 minutes to manage an attempt on goal.
By half-time Chelsea still hadn’t had a shot on target and the natives were getting restless.
Tuchel chose not to freshen it up for the second half, despite having an embarrassment of riches at his disposal this season.
But he must have had a word because Chelsea were straight on the attack and looked much more positive.
Hakim Ziyech had a shot saved and Antonio
Rudiger went on a surprise 40-yard run through the middle before getting a nosebleed and slicing wide.
But Zenit served notice they could still be a danger when Kuzyaev raced into the box, only to be stopped at the last moment by Andreas Christensen.
James hit the side-netting as Chelsea searched for an opening, but it still wasn’t exactly a siege.
And when the brilliant Claudinho played Sardar Azmoun in on goal, the home side had Rudiger to thank for snuffing out the danger with a superb block.
Finally, Tuchel changed it, sending on Kai Havertz, who scored the winner in last year’s final.
But if anyone looked more like scoring, it was Zenit – a team who only managed one point in the competition last season.
That was until Lukaku brought the house down, burying a far-post header from Cesar Azpilicueta with 21 minutes to go.
Lukaku had two chances and scored two goals against Aston Villa at the weekend.
Luckily for Chelsea, the same could not be said for Dzyuba, who stabbed a glorious chance wide before it was over, stretching to meet Azmoun’s cross.
Lukaku was then denied a second by a marvellous saving tackle from Douglas Santos. But it was far from easy for the Blues.
CHELSEA (3-4-2-1): Mendy 6; Azpilicueta 7 (Silva 83), RUDIGER 8, Christensen 6; James 6, Kovacic 7, Jorginho 6, Alonso 6 (Chilwell 83); Mount 6 (Loftus-cheek 90), Ziyech 6 (Havertz 63, 6); Lukaku 7.
ZENIT (5-3-2): Kritsyuk 6; Sutormin 6, Barrios 7, Chistyakov 6, Rakitskiy 7 (Krugovoi 88), Santos 6; Wendel 7 (Erokhin 76), Kuzyaev 7 (Kravtsov, 82), Malcolm 5 (Dzyuba 76); Claudinho 8 (Mostovoy 88), Azmoun 6.
REFEREE: Bartosz Frankowski (Poland) 6.