Slavia Prague dominated Chelsea on Thursday but fell to a potentially costly home defeat thanks to Marcos Alonso's winner.
Match Events
25' OFF THE BAR! Willian almost scores
OFF THE BAR! Willian with a superb curling effort from the edge of the box, after cutting inside from the left wing and it looked to be heading into the top corner, but it cannons off the top of the crossbar. Kolar in the Slavia goal was beaten, it just didn't quite have enough dip on it.
79' OFFSIDE! Jorginho scores but goal is disallowed
Goal ruled out! Chelsea have the ball in the back of the net, but it's ruled out for offside. Jorginho was the man with the final touch from just a few yards out, but Kante was already offside in the build up.
86' GOAL! Slavia Praha 0-1 Chelsea (Alonso)
GOOOAAALLL! Chelsea take the lead it's 1-0! Alonso is the man with the vital away goal, breaking the deadlock late on! Willian with a terrific cross into the penalty area and Alonso was completely unmarked and free to head the ball into the bottom corner of the net.
Match Reports
Marcos Alonso snatched a precious 1-0 away win for Chelsea in their Europa League quarter-final first leg at Slavia Prague on Thursday.
The Blues started with N'Golo Kante and Eden Hazard on the bench and were outplayed for long periods until Alonso headed in an unlikely winner four minutes from time.
Victory was scarcely deserved for Chelsea, with Kepa Arrizabalaga starring in the away goal and the notion of a kind draw for the visitors put to bed by an excellent Slavia display.
Line-ups
Slavia Praha XI: Miroslav Stoch, J. Bořil, Vladimir Coufal, Ondrej Kolar, M. Ngadeu-Ngadjui, Lukas Masopust, Petr Sevcik, Peter Olayinka, S. Deli, Ibrahim Benjanim Traore, A. Král
Subs: M. Škoda, O. Kúdela, Premysl Kovar, J. Hušbauer, M. Frydrych, Mick Van Buren, J. Zmrhal
Chelsea XI: Willian, Azpilicueta, O. Giroud, Pedro, M.Alonso, Barkley, M. Kovačić, Jorginho, A. Rüdiger, Kepa, A. Christensen
Subs: G. Higuaín, D.Luiz, E. Hazard, W. Caballero, Zappacosta, N. Kanté, R. Loftus-Cheek
Marimc
323
This is like playing fifa having all the attacking threat and shots and then the opposition just attack and scores
King__T
201
That was a very close match up between these two teams. Slavia Praha played unexpectedly good but were just unlucky not to have score a goal or two tonight. A Very important goal for Chelsea as we head to the return leg next week. #Gochelseago
VanishPrasad
94
It's a good thing that Chlsea has win but we derseved to win a larger margin. We shouldn't be winning against team Kirk these with just 1 goal. come on Chelsea. Anyways, congrats to my team and all the best in the upcoming games
Mosanya
78
Also finally Alonso shows up this season, the fact is that sarri brought hazard, kante and rlc to show us how under par they are and how slavia played, their tactics were spot on and I bet they thought they would come away with the draw (no more than they have deserved). But they kept going and got a winner. Expect Chelsea will play a lot better in the return leg.
PrinceDjdowskiKess
70
Name:Marco Alonso Job:Cristiano Ronaldo