Ruben Loftus-Cheek made the very most of a rare opportunity to start for Chelsea as he secured a comfortable victory over BATE Borisov with his first senior hat-trick.
Match Events
2'GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 BATE (Loftus-Cheek)
Some start! BATE have barely touched the ball, and already keeper Scherbitski is picking it out of the net.
It's terrific work from Zappacosta down the right, and after he cuts inside, he picks out Loftus-Cheek in the middle, who is there lurking on the penalty spot to stroke it home..
7' CHANCE! Willian's shot deflected out for a corner
8'GOAL! Chelsea 2-0 BATE (Loftus-Cheek)
Slight confusion as Giroud does what all good strikers do as he puts his arm up in celebration, but it's actually Loftus-Cheek who got the touch from six yards out to turn in Willian's corner.
An early double for the Englishman!
16' CHANCE! Pedro's shot blocked
Pedro waits for Zappacosta on the overlap and the Italian fires in another cross. The full-back's looking lively tonight. This time the cross finds no one and it's booted away by Rios.
41' CHANCE! Willian's key pass blocked
53'GOAL! Chelsea 3-0 BATE (Loftus-Cheek)
Ruben Loftus-Cheek has scored the first professional hat-trick of his career.
Who saw this coming? Loftus-Cheek starts the attack when finding Pedro, and the ball falls kindly back for the English midfielder on the edge of the area. He takes a touch before slotting an effort past Scherbitski, who should have done much better with the effort!
66' SHOT! Zappacosta hits a sweving shot but saved by Scherbitski
SAVE! Zappacosta stings the gloves of Scherbitski with an effort from 25 yards out, but the goalkeeper does well to parry it away to safety.
72' WHAT A CHANCE! Giroud's effort saved
79'GOAL! Chelsea 3-1 BATE (Rios)
Chelsea go to sleep from a free-kick out wide, and there is Rios unmarked at the back post to tuck the ball in from barely two yards out. Simple goal, but too late you would imagine.
Match reports
Ruben Loftus-Cheek provided a timely reminder of his quality with a fine hat-trick in just his second start of the season as Chelsea sealed a comprehensive 3-1 win over BATE in the Europa League.
The England international has found playing time hard to come by this term, but grasped a rare chance afforded by head coach Maurizio Sarri as the Blues made it three wins from three in Group L to close on the knockout stages.
Loftus-Cheek had not scored a Chelsea goal since April 2016 before pulling off two expert finishes inside the opening eight minutes at Stamford Bridge as a Chelsea team featuring a number of fringe players overwhelmed an inferior BATE side.
The pick of his goals came in the 53rd minute to put the result beyond doubt and, despite Aleksey Rios scoring a late consolation goal for the visitors, he continued to shine on an evening that will go down as one of his best as a Chelsea player.
Davide Zappacosta sped down the right flank in the second minute and cut the ball back to Loftus-Cheek who provided a clinical finish, steering a first-time shot just to the right of goalkeeper Denis Scherbitski without hesitation.
Loftus-Cheek's second was all about his positional play, the 22-year-old arriving ahead of Olivier Giroud to apply a side-footed volley to Willian's corner and again finding the net low to Scherbitski's right.
A move that started with Loftus Cheek in his own half saw Pedro burst down the left flank and, when he was dispossessed, Chelsea's home-grown talent was on hand to guide home his hat-trick goal.
Sarri gave 17-year-old winger Callum Hudson-Odoi half an hour as a substitute and he showed glimpses of why he is considered an exciting prospect as the Blues continued to attack.
Though Chelsea switched off for a moment to allow Rios to arrive unmarked and volley Igor Stasevich's cross into the net from close range, it failed to take the shine off a more than satisfactory night for Sarri's men.
Line-ups
Chelsea XI: Fàbregas, G. Cahill, Willian, O. Giroud, Pedro, M. Kovačić, Emerson, Kepa, Zappacosta, A. Christensen, R. Loftus-Cheek
Subs: V. Moses, W. Caballero, Morata, Barkley, A. Rüdiger, N. Kanté, Callum Hudson-Odoi
BATE XI: Alyaksandr Hleb, Egor Filipenko, A. Rios, I. Stasevich, D. Baga, M. Skavysh, Stanislav Dragun, M. Volodko, N. Signevich, Aleksandar Filipovic, D. Scherbitski
Subs: Hervaine Moukam, M. Ivanić, Jasse Tuominen, E. Yablonski, Y. Berezkin, Z. Volkov, A. Chichkan
frankieij
312
Giroud don't worry
RoverSanil
285
vamos cheek
Alakiri
256
very soon Giroud and morata will sea on bench
Drukyul
177
Cheek deserves to be in first 11. The quality of player what we wanted up front is already there in the team. It seems managers failed to recognise. It could be a day's luck that he had a hattric, but he seems much better tactically, physically, in every aspects than Morata. He has potential to become a great striker. This game has further boosted his confidence. There is nothing that can boost his confidence to maximum extend as this. So, I personally feel that Sarri should take this advantage and push him forth. He will do wonder, much better than any striker in epl. Because it is confidence that is all required in the game. Sarri, he is the right option. Do not kill his confidence. Please keep on rubbing the gold, it will shine, shine brilliantly.
cj7_
177
Tonight's thoughts: + Loftus-Cheek has finally arrived. Brilliant hat-trick. + Hudson-Odoi with a good, cameo performance. + Future looks bright. - Likes of Zappacosta, Emerson & Moses are not good enough. - Defenders need to be bought in the summer
RoverSanil
144
mkorea
126
morata and giroud are in Loftus Cheek's shadow
Nesaiknruy
88
Wonderful game at the bridge. What can I say, Loftus was what we were missing vs United. 3 goals, what a player. Only disappointment was conceding but the other team put their heart into it and deserved one too. Great game, great atmosphere. Amazing.