Chelsea winger Eden Hazard playing a starring role on his first
pre-season start, scoring once and helping to create two other goals.
Chelsea players, Willian, Nemanja Matic, Eden Hazard, Diego Costa, César Azpilicueta and Oscar
Chelsea ended their pre-season campaign in style, outclassing Werder Bremen to record a 4-2 victory in Germany.
Antonio Conte's men were in search of a positive result, with their opening Premier League match against West Ham looming large on August 15.
Eden Hazard
And goals from Eden Hazard, Oscar – the Brazilian's third in the space of a week - Diego Costa and Pedro did the job, although ex-Chelsea striker Claudio Pizarro and substitute Lennart Thy did notch for the hosts.
Eden Hazard and Diego Costa (Chelsea FC via Getty Images )
In a match that saw N'Golo Kante make his inaugural start for his new club since joining from Leicester City, Hazard was also named in a Conte starting XI for the first time.
Bremen
had already played seven friendly matches going into the game, but any
superior match practice was not evident, as the visitors flew out of the
blocks.
Hazard was allowed to find the bottom
corner for Chelsea with merely seven minutes gone, after being gifted
far too much space on the edge of the penalty area by Zlatko Junuzovic.
Two
minutes later, Conte's men found themselves two up, with Hazard again
playing an important role. The Belgium winger drove down the left before
finding Oscar in the box and he played a neat one-two with Diego Costa before stabbing in a low finish.
Diego Costa (Chelsea FC via Getty Images )
After striking the crossbar early on, Junuzovic atoned for his error by winning a penalty from Nemanja Matic on 32 minutes, with Pizarro slotting home an inch-perfect spot-kick to reduce the deficit.
But
just before the break, Costa was slipped in behind enemy lines by
Hazard, before keeping his cool to slot a neat finish across goal to
restore Chelsea's two-goal cushion.
Bremen's Thy
made an impact from the bench with a stunning strike from 25 yards on 65
minutes, Thibaut Courtois only able to offer a despairing dive.
César Azpilicueta (Chelsea FC via Getty Images )
Conte took no chances in immediately substituting captain John Terry
after a late injury scare caused by a collision, before Pedro ensured
it was all smiles again with a stoppage-time strike to seal the win.
إرسال تعليق