Report from the UEFA Conference League league phase match between Chelsea and FC Noah at Stamford Bridge on Thursday night; two goals each from Joao Felix and Christopher Nkunku help Enzo Maresca's Blues break record for biggest win in competition's history
Friday 8 November 2024 10:53, UK
Chelsea maintained their position at the top of the Conference League group table in scintillating fashion as they dismantled Armenian Premier League side Noah with an 8-0 win at Stamford Bridge.
It was the biggest win in the competition's short history, replacing Nordsjaelland's 7-1 victory over Ludogorets in last season's group stage.
Chelsea - who beat Gent and Panathinaikos in their opening two European games of the season - were almost stunned inside three minutes when Goncalo Gregorio was allowed space to pump a shot at Filip Jorgensen, while Joao Felix missing an open goal from inside the six-yard box did little to settle any early nerves.
Then the game became the mis-match many had expected. Tosin easily headed in Enzo Fernandez's corner and, when Noah carelessly gave the ball away seconds after the restart, Marc Guiu was on hand to nip in and double the lead.
Axel Disasi then headed in another corner, before Felix atoned for his earlier miss to coolly clip over goalkeeper Ognjen Chancharevich and Mykhailo Mudryk added a fifth with a sumptuous curling finish.
Incredibly, it was six at half-time, when Felix received the ball from Disasi, chopped inside his man and hit a shot that crossed the line via a deflection.
There appeared to be less urgency from the Blues after the break - understandably, given the game was already a foregone conclusion by that point. But with just over 21 minutes to play, having already clipped the top of the crossbar with a fierce shot, Christopher Nkunku found the net from a tight angle after his first effort had been saved.
There was time for one more, too, with Nkunku rattling home a penalty after a VAR review confirmed Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall had been fouled in the box, which added further gloss to an unforgettable evening in west London.
Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca:
"Once again, the players showed how professional and serious they are. It's very easy to slip or fall down in these types of games. Football is full of surprises. What I asked them before the game was to show how serious we are, how professional we are and I think they showed that. It's an important message for all of us.
"If you are not ready mentally, if you don't take it seriously, you can easily drop against any team. The most important thing is that we are serious, we are professional and this is the right thing we needed to show tonight."
On Mudryk's chances of starting in the Premier League: "We consider Misha, we consider all of them every game. The thing is we have 24, 25 players, so we always try to take the best 11 that we think.
"The important thing is Misha continues to improve, like tonight. He scored a fantastic goal and he had some good moments."
On Tyrique George's full debut: "I think he was very good. I said before the game, with young players, sometimes it's better to tell them (they are starting) the day before, so they can prepare, but with some of them, it's better to tell them near to the game, so they don't get nervous.
"We knew already Tyrique was going to start, but I just told him two hours before the game and I think he was very good."
Noah manager Rui Mota:
"We didn't start as good as we wanted to, then we conceded two very quick goals and, after this, we started losing control, leaving too many spaces.
"We made many mistakes, which is not normal for our team and when you are playing against such good players that just need one chance to score one goal, we started to concede a lot of goals and completely lost control of the game in the first half.
"It is not easy to come back in the second half when you are losing 6-0, but the boys had character, they tried to make something out of the game. We had a couple of chances to score and this is the thing I'm most sad about, that with what we created offensively, maybe we could score one or two goals.
"Congratulations to Chelsea. They were very strong, now we just need to move on."
