Tiny moments. They are what decide Champions League games such as these, according to Frank Lampard. And ahead of last night’s clash in Amsterdam, the challenge he laid down to his young players was to ensure they capitalised on every one.
The Chelsea manager was responding to a question about Callum Hudson-Odoi – and whether the 18-year-old winger was ready to start on this stage.
He insisted the need for ‘detail, focus, concentration’ applied to all his starlets but for Hudson-Odoi the stakes felt particularly high.
Though the 18-year-old’s return from injury has coincided with a five-match winning run, it was a still a significant show of faith from Lampard to make him Chelsea’s youngest Champions League starter for nearly nine years.
The walls of the Johan Cruyff Arena are lined with pictures of local heroes past and present, each one a reminder of Ajax’s incredible production line of young talent.
On Wednesday night Hudson-Odoi had a chance to write his own chapter. Several it turned out.
In a first half littered with individual errors, Hudson-Odoi was a source of both promise and frustration. With the ball at his feet he beat Ajax right-back Sergino Dest on several occasions, only for his final product to let him down.
The 18-year-old played a neat one-two with Mason Mount before the midfielder forced a good save from Andre Onana. On no fewer than four occasions, though, Hudson-Odoi squandered good positions.
He missed Chelsea’s best early chance, too, snatching at a shot from inside the box.
It was much of the same after the break as the winger struggled to turn more flashes of brilliance into anything concrete.
The introduction of Christian Pulisic saw him switch flanks and soon the wingers combined. Hudson-Odoi’s neat flick fed Pulisic but the England international failed to turn home the return pass. Fortunately Michy Batshuayi had more success shortly after.
This was another learning curve in the early years of a winger who recently signed a £50million new deal.
When he came off late on, he was given hug by captain Cesar Azpilicueta. Not everything had gone his way but this is just the start. Many more tiny moments await.
Anslano
720
He's only 18 years ni! C'mon.... Treat d guy like an upcoming. No much expections.
woleademi
468
9The confidence at Chelsea is very high........Neat football display!
Nesaiknruy_Legend
19
He did fine, remember unlike Pulisic he hasn't had that much European experience at all and was thrown head first from academy direct into first flight with no loan experience. If anything his situation is the most impressive as he walked right from youth rank to first team without any experience at all. Testament to his abilities and potential. We also have to remember despite how well he has done so far, he still only came back from injury and has been playing games back to back and likely has fatigue. Maybe not his best game but he was still a menace at times and we don't need a showboater who beats 4 or 5 players, just someone that can change and affect a game and luckily we have 2 of those in Odoi and Pulisic. Personally I think Odoi and Pulisic need to start 1 of the group stage games as a winger partnership, I think they're the best combo in the long run, Willian only gets in cos of his defensive contribution for me otherwise going forward both our younger wingers are better. Pedro needs to be sold to China and a replacement brought in....
Nesaiknruy_Legend
13
Before piling pressure on Hudson Odoi, just remember what destroyed Rashford. We need to stop acting as if the boy is the finished article cos while he is a world class talent, he still is a young man none the less and needs to be treated as such. Not everyone is Mbappe, we need to be realistic with what we want from our players. And given he came back from injury recently, he has been over performing....