Europa League: Early Willian goal gets Chelsea to a winning start

Premier League leaders Chelsea got off to winning start with Brazilian Willian scoring an early goal in the 1-0 victory over PAOK Thessaloniki in the Europa League on Thursday.

This was the London based club’s first match in the Europa League ever since winning the competition in 2013 and the victory, their sixth in the season – they are unbeaten in the EPL after five rounds of matches – put them on par with BATE Borisov of Belarus in Group L. BATE won 2-0 against Hungarian side Vidi.

With Chelsea playing again on Sunday, coach Maurizio Sarri made as many as five changes to the team that beat Cardiff City 4-1. Star player Eden Hazard alongside David Luiz and Mateo Kovacic was among those not used for this match keeping in mind that Chelsea visits West Ham almost 60 hours later.

“For an English team the Europa League is a very difficult competition,” said Sarri. “In Italy, if I play in Greece on Thursday I can ask to play on Monday night, but I have to play again in 63 hours. I don’t know in the future, Sarri was quoted as saying by BBC while about the cramped schedule of his side.

Also Read: Champions League: Ronaldo sent off in Juventus’ 2-0 win over Valencia

“It is not a big problem now because we have played only six matches but in the future, it may be a problem. I hope to qualify before the last one or two matches of the group stage.”

The changes, however, did little damage with Chelsea scoring early into the match.  Willian had come off the bench to seal the victory over Cardiff and on Thursday he scored within seven minutes getting to the end of a Ross Barkley through ball to put his side ahead.

Barkley burst forward after receiving a pass from Jorginho, before laying on the ball for the skipper to slot it home under the stretched arm of the rival goalkeeper of Alexandros Paschalakis.

Despite the victory, the coach will still be worried about the form of striker Alvaro Morata. The Spaniard, signed last season has found life very difficult at the English club. Against PAOK he was guilty of missing several open-ended chances and had it not been for Willian’s early goal, Chelsea could found themselves in a spot of bother.

Meanwhile, three-time Europa League winners Sevilla defeated Standard Liege 5-1 to begin their Group J campaign with a victory. Ever Banega put 2014, 2015 and 2016 champions ahead in the eighth minute before Moussa Djenepo levelled terms for the Belgium side.

Franco Vazquez then made it 2-1 in the 41^st minute, while Ben Yedder sealed the victory with two second-half goals. Banega completed the rout from a penalty.

In Group H, Eintracht Frankfurt came back from a goal down to defeat last season’s Europa League runner-up Marseille 2-1 at the Stade Velodrome in France. The match played behind closed doors saw Lucas Ocampos put Marseille ahead in the third minute.

But Lucas Torro equalised in the 52^nd minute before Luka Jovic netted the winner one minute away from the final whistle.