Chelsea Beat PAOK 1-0 In Greece

By Harry Morgan

A seventh minute Willian goal was all Chelsea needed as they got off their Europa League campaign to a winning start over PAOK in Greece on Thursday.

Maurizio Sarri left Eden Hazard and David Luiz out of the Chelsea traveling party to Greece and benched Cesc Fabregas, Olivier Giroud, and skipper Azpilicueta as he gave starting roles to Christensen and Zappacosta in an attacking 4-3-3 formation against Razvan Lucescu’s POAK Salonika which chose a more cautious 4-2-3-1 system despite playing at home.

It took the Blues seven minutes to go ahead when Rudiger combined with Alvaro Morata to release Ross Barkley, whose through ball was hit home by Willian beneath the onrushing PAOK goalkeeper, Alexandros Paschalakis.

Álvaro Morata shot wide in the 21st minute, two minutes before Evgen Shakhov was caught offside while trying to connect to Alin Tosca through ball.

Morata had a header blocked in the 27th minute and missed the upright by inches five minutes later before Leo Jaba closed the half with a stray free-kick towards Chelsea's goalkeeper, Kepa Arrizabalaga’s post.

Chelsea began their dominance immediately after the restart and gave the hosts no room to push forward.

Willian spoilt a chance to double the lead when he shot into the hands of the POAK goalie in the 48th minute before Alonso’s shot got blocked in the 61st minute.

Paschalakis saved Pedro’s shot from heading into the top right corner in the 77th minute, Willian went close with a left-footed effort in the 74th minute but missed.

Giroud replaced Morata in the 84th minute as Sarri revamped his attack, and Lucescu responded for the hosts a minute later by bringing on Diego Biseswar for Leo Jabá.

Vieirinha shot agonisingly wide in the 86th minute, and a swift counter-attack from the opposite side ended with Pedro left footing a shot wide before closing the game with a foot injury three minutes into added time.