Russia’s COVID-19 rules and regulations allowed there to be a crowd of 11,000 to watch the game which ended 4-0 to the London side.
It was the first time the Frank Lampard’s side played in front of a crowd since their test pre-season friendly against Brighton.
Their multi-billionaire owner, Roman Abramovich, was in attendance as he made the most of the game being played in his home country.
The Russian would’ve been pleased to see his summer investments play a huge role as Chelsea’s summer signings all contributed as The Blues demolished Krasnodar.
Callum Hudson-Odoi, Timo Werner, Hakim Ziyech and Christian Pulisic scored the goals as Chelsea moved top of Group E.
The Russian side started brightly but Werner was challenged in the box to win a penalty which swung the momentum of the game.
Despite Jorginho striking the post with the resulting penalty (the second penalty he has missed this season), Chelsea managed to take the lead before half-time when Hudson-Odoi’s goal-bound effort was flapped into the net by Krasnodar keeper Matvei Safanov.
Following the break, Krasnodar piled on the pressure, and almost drew level when Yuriy Gazinskiy volleyed onto the bar from a corner.
Yet the game was put out of reach for the hosts when Chelsea won another penalty after the ball struck the arm of Krasnodar captain, Alyaksandr Martynovich.
With, Jorginho having just been substituted, Werner was given the responsibility of the spot kick and made no mistake rocketing his penalty into the left of the keeper.
Ziyech added to the lead soon after, scoring on his first start for Chelsea, to top off his man of the match performance.
The scoreline was rounded off by Pulisic in the 90th minute who drilled through the Krasnodar’s keeper’s legs from a tight angle.
Speaking post-match Lampard heaped praise on Ziyech, who hadn’t started a competitive match since the beginning of March. He said: ‘Hakim Ziyech has worked really hard to be fit, and I was very excited to get his quality in the team, he brought a lot of quality and calmness when he was on the pitch, and got a well-deserved goal.’
‘His performance was very, very good. We brought him in to do a job, maybe people have forgotten a bit because we signed him in January and he missed the start of the season, but tonight he showed he is here.’
By Sajidur Rahman
