By the time the half-time whistle blew at Stamford Bridge, Pedro could quite easily have had the match ball already tucked under his shirt and ready to zip up in his bag for the journey home.
The Chelsea winger had scored one goal and only did not have three or four because of the heroics of Denys Boyko in the Dynamo Kiev goal.
Pedro only had the chance to score so many because of the supreme, selfless link-up play of Olivier Giroud, whose performance in Chelsea’s first-leg victory in this Europa League last-16 tie showed why he is both underused and underappreciated by Maurizio Sarri.
In fact, it took just 17 minutes. Pedro fizzed a low pass into Giroud, back to goal. The Frenchman trapped it, held his defender off at arm’s length, dragged his foot back, scooped the ball back through his legs and into Pedro’s path who duly finished off a quite brilliant move.
It even had Glenn Hoddle purring in the BT Sport studio. ‘This is sublime from Giroud. It’s beautiful. It really was top-class.’
If there is anyone who knows beautiful football when he sees it, it’s Hoddle.
Giroud did not stop.
It makes you wonder why Giroud has started just six Premier League games this season.
The criticism thrown his way is simple: he does not score enough goals to be a top team’s main striker.
In his six Europa League appearances before this, he had scored seven goals. Yet he has found the net just once in his 20 league outings this season. And that’s, whether you like it or not, where it matters.
Giroud ended the summer with a World Cup winner’s medal despite scoring no goals for France and having just one measly shot on target.
Yet he still started every game bar the first. France coach Didier Deschamps had complete faith in him.
That was because Deschamps could see beyond the goals. His striker, as strange as it may sound, was not there because of his ability to put the ball in the net. Deschamps had plenty other players on the pitch to do all that silly scoring lark. He had Kylian Mbappe. He had Antoine Griezmann.
What Deschamps needed was someone to glue it all together. Someone with the strength to hold the ball up, draw in those lumbering defenders, the control to keep possession, and then the awareness and ability to play the pass into the path of those players around him. That man was Giroud.
Michael Owen banged in the goals for England. He always said he did it best when Emile Heskey was alongside him. Heskey, meanwhile, had to shrug off constant criticism for his sporadic goalscoring. Giroud faces the same.
Chelsea’s best player is Eden Hazard. He is Maurizio Sarri’s match-winner. The man on whose shoulders they depend more than anyone. Hazard has described Giroud as the best target man in the world. Hazard knows that when he has Giroud next to him, he will get space and he will get service. And Chelsea will get goals.
For a team with an abundance of flying wingers in Hazard, Willian, Pedro, Hudson-Odoi, one would think the manager may want to use a striker whose best attribute is giving those players the best chance to win matches. Especially when that manager has been in such a precarious position.
Those players see it. Sarri does not. Perhaps that is not surprising when you consider that same manager refuses to see the merits of playing N’Golo Kante in his best position.
Sarri will say that he has Gonzalo Higuain now. That’s his man, the man he had at Napoli. The man he wants for Sarri-ball. Fair enough. But it would be remiss of him to think Giroud cannot offer his side just as much. Or at least not to give him more of a chance to show it.