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“Everyone loves Olivier Giroud,” Jorginho said before this game and they were even more in love with him at the end of it. The man who scored the late goal in France last week got four, yes, four, more of them in Spain, a cool authority on how he beat Sevilla. Two delicate and classy finals were followed by a magnificent header that completed his hat-trick, and then he scored a penalty, which came as applause echoing around Sánchez Pizjuán that led Chelsea to the top of the group.
It had been a pleasant occasion, more than many expected. Sure, first place was a goal, a “trophy” indeed, according to Sevilla’s sporting director Monchi, but with both teams in place there was nothing to play for, except perhaps football itself. And when it’s like that, soccer is fun. When Chelsea are like this, it’s fun too, even in the absence of their usual starters, Frank Lampard making nine changes since the weekend. Especially in his absence, in fact. It was what gave the Frenchman the opportunity to make tonight his night.
Sevilla also rotated and eventually Chelsea were too good for them. In total, Julen Lopetegui made seven changes to the side that had brought Sevilla’s winning streak to five last Saturday. That, at least, was the plan, but it was soon eight o’clock when Tomas Vaclik withdrew after the warm-up leaving team B goalkeeper Alfonso Pastor as the starter. The 20-year-old was barely 30 seconds into his debut when he pushed a powerful shot from Kai Havertz to the near post, an indication of what the opening minutes were going to be like.
Pastor had a busy night, Christian Pulisic inside his box as he turned and fired wide four minutes later and it was only two more minutes before Chelsea took the lead. Pulisic found Giroud, who moved and leaned into the far corner. Now that they had a game, the Chelsea players seemed determined to enjoy it. They also found it easy, Sevilla unexpectedly open. Even when the home team found a way to get into the game, there was a threat every time Lampard’s players jumped forward, which happened often. Pulisic and Havertz were a constant threat.
Pastor saves Pulisic running down the left lane and from the corner Antonio Rüdiger clears the line with a header. Not long after, the American took a shot past the post. However, Sevilla had taken a step forward and this was turning out to be quite a fun football night. A competitive one too, the screaming and pounding around. By the break, these two teams had accumulated 17 shots between them.
Youssef En-Nesyri came close to catching Mendy from inside the center circle and there were three shot opportunities for Ivan Rakitic: a blocked free kick, a shot from the edge of the area after Óscar got off with a good heel and then a ball hit on the near post. Franco Vázquez also had a charged shot and there was a long wait for news from the remote VAR room in Nyon after a long and loud hand cry from inside the Chelsea area, but nothing came.
Sevilla had not given up, although their resistance would not last much longer. A scandalous pass from Jesús Navas sent Nemanja Gudelj into the second half with a deflected and violent shot that went over the crossbar. But it was Chelsea who struck shortly after, effectively ending this, Kovacic shoved a smart ball with the outside of his foot through the gap for Giroud, into the area. With Pastor coming out, the Frenchman lifted her gently over him, the ball floating in the net, a lovely, smooth ending that brought a big smile from Lampard, clapping on the touchline.
Both sides changed and three by three, but the game did not, Mason Mount approached and immediately brought an excellent save from Pastor. Once again, Chelsea had made it through to the end. And they weren’t done yet. They weren’t even finished when Giroud headed into third to complete a hat-trick. A quarter remained late, this time from the penalty spot. There was only one man to take it.
