Photo Credit: Getty Images
Chelsea continued their 100% record in this season’s UEFA Conference League (UECL) as they defeated Kazakhstani champions Astana 3-1 away from home. Any Chelsea fan that thought a trip to Azerbaijan’s capital Baku – even for such an event like the 2019 UEFA Europa League final – was too far to travel will unlikely have relished flying out to Eastern Kazakhstan.
With their home stadium in the capital currently under renovation, Astana are playing their home European fixtures in Almaty, which is fewer than 200 miles from the Chinese border. All in all, the round trip from London to Almaty Central Stadium comes in at over 7,000 miles, and with the game being played in freezing conditions of -11°C, even the Chelsea squad will have been forgiven for preferring to stay in the comparatively tropical climate of Southern England.
At least with progression to the knockout stages secured, Enzo Maresca could afford to leave the majority of his star players back home and instead field a number of fringe squad members. The heavy rotation, though, did not stop the Blues from dominating the first half from start to finish. Tyrique George curled narrowly wide and Pedro Neto had a shot saved by Mukhammedzhan Seysen before Marc Guiu opened the scoring inside 15 minutes courtesy of a fantastic solo run and finish.
The visitors were two to the good prior to the opening period’s midway point when Aleksandr Marochkin bundled Neto’s cross into his own net, and a third arrived shortly before HT as Renato Veiga headed Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s corner home. Astana could not deal with Chelsea’s technique or physicality, but they did have something to shout about right before the interval, with captain Marin Tamasov firing in via the post to reduce the deficit.
Astana came out of the dressing after the break with renewed energy and even tested Filip Jörgensen courtesy of Tomasov’s rasping strike, but before long Chelsea began to show their superiority. Carney Chukwuemeka, George, and Guiu all went close to scoring, while Dewsbury-Hall shot wide. Ultimately, though, Maresca’s men did not require another goal to prevail thanks to their impressive first-half display.
This result sees them consolidate their place at the top of the UECL league phase table, with a place in the top eight now all but guaranteed thanks to their large goal difference. For Astana, this was always going to be a difficult task, and they will be happy the margin of victory was not larger. After five match days, they have four points and remain in the hunt for progress to the play-off round.
