Mueez Ajao
– Chelsea beat Malmo 1-0 in Sweden thanks to a Hakim Ziyech strike but an expected glut of goals never materialised against the defensive-minded hosts in Champions League Group H on Tuesday.
– Chelsea, who hammered Malmo 4-0 when the sides met in London two weeks ago, remain second in the standings, level on nine points with leaders Juventus, who meet Zenit St Petersburg later on Tuesday.
– Malmo, who are yet to score a goal in this year’s group stage, remain bottom without a point. The defeat was their fourth in four games and means that they can no longer make the knockouts.
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– The Swedish champions and current league leaders frustrated their visitors in the opening 45 minutes as goalkeeper Johan Dahlin mixed up some superb saves with a few hair-raising spills as his side were forced to defend for long periods, but he managed to keep his clean sheet intact until the break.
– Soren Rieks blazed a shot over from a rare Malmo corner six minutes into the second half before Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s mazy dribble and shot was blocked by Dahlin at the other end, but it would not take Chelsea long to make their breakthrough.
– The goal finally came in the 56th minute as Callum Hudson-Odoi out-paced Franz Brorsson down the right and played a perfectly-weighted pass across the face of the goal for Ziyech to slam home.
– Malmo’s best chance of the second half fell to Erdal Rakip in the 64th minute, but he ignored several teammates in better positions before blazing a shot harmlessly over the crossbar.
– That almost proved costly a few minutes later when Thiago Silva ventured forward to meet a Chelsea corner. His effort was cleared off the line, but a single goal proved enough for Thomas Tuchel’s side to claim the three points.
– “They made it hard for us, they played close together and closed off all the spaces. When they play well it’s hard to beat them,” goalscorer Ziyech told reporters.
– Malmo keeper Dahlin couldn’t hide his disappointment as his side left empty-handed, despite putting in their best defensive performance of the group stage so far.
– “I think that defensively it went well, we have a game-plan we followed, but they had a lot of chances. At the same time I think we should have had a little more luck with our chances and gotten something out of it,” he told reporters.
