Telegraph:
Chelsea 3 Roma 3: Eden Hazard scores twice to rescue a point as Blues share six goals
Jason Burt
This really was a hazard warning. Chelsea were defensively catastrophic, alarm bells ringing amid rising chaos, before relying on Eden Hazard to rescue them with the second of his two goals, the first he has scored in the Champions League for 33 months, averting a third successive defeat.
Crises come quickly at Chelsea and if they had followed up two Premier League losses with another here it would have revved up the scrutiny, especially on manager Antonio Conte, who has not been slow to express his own discontent over the inadequacies of his squad.
That chaos was all over the pitch with David Luiz stomping off with a calf problem, but not before Conte had shown his apparent displeasure at the Brazilian’s at times brilliant but also scattergun performance while Cesc Fabregas had a page of instructions thrust into his hands. That the paper was A4 size showed how extensive the re-adjustments had to be.
There was more. Captain Gary Cahill suffered a clash of heads, a cut chin and carried on with a bandage applied around his head, making him appear like Humpty-Dumpty, and there was an egg-like fragility to Chelsea so unusual under Conte, who was also warned by Slovenian referee Damir Skomina for his jack-in-the-box – or outside the box as he encroached beyond his technical area – behaviour.
Conte was scathing afterwards, accusing his players of losing “totally our knowledge, our style of football”, although he eventually checked himself to praise the character his team showed after they appeared to have fractured.
And yet Chelsea got away with it and not least because, before they kicked off, Atletico Madrid blew it in Azerbaijan as they drew 0-0 with Group C whipping boys, Qarabag. It meant this draw kept Chelsea in control at the head of the group. Had they lost, it really would have made their visit to Rome in a fortnight’s time all the more enthralling. It had seemed the headlines would be about another Eden – or Edin – with Roma striker Edin Dzeko scoring two superb goals, including a spectacular volley, and going agonisingly close to completely a hat-trick with a close-range header just past a post.
Roma’s other goal came from another former Manchester City player, Aleksandar Kolarov. Conte must be sick of anyone associated with City, having lost against them in their previous home match.
For all the defensive deficiencies, and they were shared by Roma, this was a vibrant and exciting encounter humming with fine attacking play, although it remains uncomfortable to see a team of Chelsea’s ambitions reduced to the counter-attack.
At times Roma had 70 per cent possession with Radja Nainggolan, who was Conte’s first transfer target when the Italian took over at Chelsea, dominant in midfield. That was all the more worrying for Conte given he packed that department, just as he had done in their impressive win at Atletico Madrid, until he abandoned the system.
That performance depended on Hazard and Alvaro Morata and the striker’s return from his hamstring injury was key to the way Chelsea surged into a two-goal lead with Conte’s tactics appearing to work. Those goals also depended on Roma mistakes, seized on by an apparently ruthless Chelsea.
Luiz claimed the first as he nicked the ball away and rolled a pass towards Morata. It was intercepted by Juan Jesus but only back into the path of Luiz, who ran on to it and arced a powerful shot around Jesus, beyond goalkeeper Alisson Becker and into the net.
Roma threatened and should have drawn level when Marcos Alonso was caught forward and the ball was angled into the penalty area by Kevin Strootman, with a clever reverse pass for Nainggolan to hit a powerful first-time shot at Thibaut Courtois’s near-post. Courtois blocked.
But then Chelsea capitalised again on another turnover as Hazard stole the ball away, dispossessing Bruno Peres to find Morata, whose shot looped up off Federico Fazio and dropped for Hazard to steer past Alisson.
It was his first goal of the season and his first in the Champions League since March 2015.
Normally, with Conte’s Chelsea, that would have felt game over. Roma, though, had more and sensed the vulnerability and, when Kolarov pushed the ball past Cesar Azpilicueta, as the defender over-committed, he ran on to side-foot a rising effort that clipped off Andreas Christensen to finally beat Courtois. The dynamic changed. Nainggolan’s booming goalbound shot was charged down, Azpilicueta diverted another from Strootman, Gerson fired over, Kolarov overlapped with his low cross just cut out by Courtois ahead of Dzeko.
It was the kind of momentum that led to an inevitable goal. And what a goal as Fazio floated the ball into the area where Dzeko had cleverly pulled away from Christensen to thump a controlled left-footed volley past Courtois.
Then Tiemoue Bakayoko, apparently suffering a groin problem, clumsily conceded a free-kick which Kolarov curled in for Dzeko to steal between Christensen and Azpilicueta to glance in a header.
Now it seemed over but there was time and substitute Pedro was given the opportunity to cross with Hazard shrewdly finding space to steer a rare header away from Alisson. Improbably, given the capitulation that preceded it, Chelsea were level and, to Conte’s relief, it stayed that way.
But these are worrying times, again.
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Guardian:
Eden Hazard double earns Chelsea draw after Edin Dzeko strikes twice for Roma
Chelsea 3 - 3 Roma
Dominic Fifield
Chelsea halted a losing run here but, even in the knowledge that their leadership of this group is maintained, Antonio Conte has not been hoodwinked by this result. There had been moments when his side gasped at the ferocity of Roma’s muscular approach, and periods when they were left flailing desperately in pursuit of the ball. The head coach will shudder at the memory of another opponent, this time crammed with former Manchester City players rather than Pep Guardiola’s current crop, dominating the play here so confidently.
Conte has made clear the issues he feels are jeopardising his team’s progress this season. A cluttered schedule is stretching a squad he had hoped would be reinforced even more extensively over the summer, with this the second time during the autumn that Chelsea have faced seven games in 23 days. He has suggested the regular hamstring problems are a direct result of an unfamiliar slog. By the end of a bruising match David Luiz was nursing a calf complaint, Tiémoué Bakayoko had hurt his groin, Gary Cahill was sporting a bandage around his jaw and Conte had been riled by José Mourinho’s perceived criticisms from Lisbon.
It was that kind of chaotic evening. There was also an admission from Conte that he had erred in his tactics, the decision to push David Luiz into central midfield having surrendered the initiative to expansive and impressive opponents. “It’s right to take the responsibility because I tried, on the one hand, to protect my team and make us more solid,” Conte said. “We had three important players out injured – [N’Golo] Kanté, [Danny] Drinkwater and [Victor] Moses – and this situation gives us problems. It’s three, not seven, but it’s still an emergency situation for us. But on the other hand we lost totally our style of football. I didn’t like this. We were 2-0 up, but we were never in control of the game.”
This, of course, is a scenario all the English clubs in the Champions League face and the reality is everyone – from hierarchy to coaching staff – knew what awaited this term, but one suspects the Italian will fall back on that familiar gripe until his players somehow rekindle some of last season’s pizzazz. At present, this team are looking distinctly leggy. The evidence was there in César Azpilicueta’s performance, last season’s most consistent performer again helpless as an opponent barged past him to score. On Saturday it was Wilfried Zaha exploiting space between Davide Zappacosta and the Spaniard. Here it was Aleksandar Kolarov, five minutes from the break, who ran round the outside of the defenders to fire in a shot that flicked up off Andreas Christensen for the goal that kickstarted Roma’s recovery. The fact they had trailed by two goals eight minutes from the break always felt deceptive. “When you are 2-0 up at home, you must win the game,” said Eden Hazard.
It was the Belgian who would eventually check Roma’s ambition, guiding a header down and beyond Roma’s goalkeeper Alisson Becker to secure a point 15 minutes from time, with that late reply at least an indication of Chelsea’s strength of character. It would have been easy for them to wilt once Roma’s overall dominance had enabled them to overhaul the home side, Edin Dzeko’s excellence having put them briefly ahead.
The Bosnian has been prolific since leaving Manchester City and waited an hour before making an impact here. The volley he belted from Federico Fazio’s lofted pass over Christensen was a strike of brutal splendour. “A fantastic goal, one of the best of my life,” the striker said. He would head his team’s third beyond Thibaut Courtois six minutes later from Kolarov’s free-kick, and then leap above the substitute Antonio Rüdiger only to steer a close-range header wide of the post. Roma’s head coach Eusebio Di Francesco held his head in his hands at that miss, though there was still so much to admire in his team’s display.
Regardless, his players will be licking their lips at the prospect of facing Chel sea again on Halloween at the Stadio Olimpico. There had been pace to their passing and movement, and aggression in the midfield bite of Kevin Strootman, Maxime Gonalons and Radja Nainggolan.
Their harrying riled Chelsea’s players, not least David Luiz whose reaction was to tear helter-skelter around the pitch as if in search of retribution, regardless of the pain in his left calf. The Brazilian had made his own startling contribution early on, marauding inside and attempting to thread a slide-rule pass through to Álvaro Morata just inside the penalty area. Juan Jesus blocked that but the Brazilian continued his run on to the loose ball and, with the visitors slow to react, bent a delicious first-time shot beyond Becker and into the corner from 25 yards.
It was the first of the flurry of goals, with Hazard duly scoring his first in this competition since March 2015 after Fazio’s block on Morata’s attempt had resulted in the ball spiralling up and over Juan Jesus in the centre. Hazard lurked behind the centre-half, having peeled off cleverly and unnoticed into space, and eagerly tucked away the half-volley.
Yet there was never security in the lead, or even a hint of authority in Chelsea’s performance. Some of the uncertainty still lingered after those recent defeats by Manchester City and Crystal Palace, and the doubts will remain even after this riotous draw. At least Atlético Madrid’s draw in Baku has left the initiative in the section with these two teams. The slog goes on.
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Mail:
Chelsea 3-3 Roma: Manchester City old boys Edin Dzeko and Aleksandar Kolarov rock Blues but Eden Hazard rescues a point for Antonio Conte's side
By Sami Mokbel for the Daily Mail
Antonio Conte must be sick of Manchester City. Three weeks after Pep Guardiola's side defeated Chelsea in their own backyard, two former City players tore the Blues apart.
Edin Dzeko scored twice — one a stunning volley — while Aleksandar Kolarov hit Roma's first and provided two assists as they pushed Chelsea to the limit.
The away side's contribution to this scintillating match only told half the story. There cannot have been a better sporting spectacle anywhere in Europe.
Not that will come as any consolation to a visibly tetchy Conte. Two goals up, his team somehow contrived to throw this match away. In the end they were indebted to Eden Hazard's 75th minute header, his second goal of a pulsating night.
But Conte refused to point the finger at his players, instead blaming his decision to alter tactics — and David Luiz's calf injury — during the second half as the reason behind his team's failure to see the game out.
'I like to be honest and, for sure, I didn't like the type of football that we did for a long part of the game,' said Conte.
'But it's right to take the responsibility for this because I tried, on the one hand, to protect my team and make us more solid, and to move Luiz into central midfield.
'But on the other hand we lost totally our knowledge and style of football. I didn't like this. At the end I think the result was fair but, in the first half, we were 2-0 up.
'But we weren't in control of the game. It's right to take the responsibility for this. But I repeat, sometimes, you have to find the right solution to try to protect your team. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad. But you know very well our situation. It was good to draw because Roma deserved this result.
'I have to praise my players because they showed me big effort, big commitment tonight, otherwise we'd have lost.'
On a positive note, Chelsea halted their run of consecutive Premier League losses to City and Crystal Palace.
But Conte is already fearing the worst ahead of Saturday as Chelsea host Watford, looking to avoid a third straight league defeat.
Conte is prepared to tell anyone who wants to hear that his squad is lacking numbers.
Indeed, the Chelsea boss blasted Manchester United counterpart Jose Mourinho after he had appeared to call him a whinger.
Following United's 1-0 win at Benfica, Mourinho referred to coaches who 'moan and cry' about their injury problems.
In response to the jibe, Conte said: 'If he is speaking about me, I think he has to think about his team and start looking at himself, not others.
'A lot of time, Mourinho has to see what happened at Chelsea. A lot of time, also last season. He should think about his team.'
With Luiz and Tiemoue Bakayoko the latest to join Chelsea's walking wounded, sustaining respective calf and groin injuries here, Chelsea's injury crisis worsened. With N'Golo Kante, Victor Moses and Danny Drinkwater already unavailable, Conte is struggling for numbers.
He started with Alvaro Morata, just three weeks after suffering a hamstring injury. And central defender Luiz took up an unfamiliar role in midfield owing to Kante's own hamstring injury, allowing youngster Andreas Christensen to make his sixth start of the season.
The night all started so well for Chelsea as they stormed into a 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Luiz and Hazard.
Luiz's goal was exquisite, a 20- yard piledriver into the bottom corner. Juan Jesus' defending in the lead up to the goal, however, was anything but. That is not to take anything away from Luiz's cracking finish.
Hazard's goal was all about control, coolly stroking home on the half-volley after Morata's shot was deflected.
But Kolarov's deflected effort in the 37th minute changed the complexion of the game.
The way the former City defender stormed past Cesar Azpilicueta and Morata in the lead up to the goal would have infuriated Conte.
Chelsea should have been in cruise control, instead they were fearing the worst. And their concern was entirely justified as Dzeko stunned Stamford Bridge with a mesmerising second- half display.
First, in the 64th minute, he smashed an audacious volley past Thibaut Courtois. The technique was breathtaking. Utterly brilliant.
The away support erupted, as did the Roma bench. But those celebrations were somewhat tame compared to what followed six minutes later.
Kolarov must have been licking his lips when Bakayoko fouled Argentine Diego Perotti on the left-hand touchline.
And the Serbian's sweet left-foot cross was met by Dzeko's glancing header to send Roma into a 70th minute frenzy.
There was time for yet more drama when Hazard levelled for Chelsea just five minutes later, when he was allowed the freedom of the penalty area to nod home Pedro's cross.
In the aftermath, Conte sized up his walking wounded. So, too, it seems, has Mourinho.
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