Chelsea started their 2022/2023 UEFA Champions League campaign on a losing note when they were defeated 1-0 by their hosts Dinamo Zagreb in Croatia on Tuesday evening.
The Blues were hoping to take their winning form from the weekend’s 2-1 Premier League victory against West Ham United to the UEFA Champions League.
Chelsea controversially defeated West Ham United at Stamford Bridge and were hoping to open their European campaign on a winning note.
However, Croatian forward Mislav Orsic was the man who made the difference with his 13th-minute strike, which sealed the victory. The goal was his 18th in the competition for the Croatian giants.
Before the game, Dinamo Zagreb had played 43 Champions League games with just five wins in all. Chelsea handed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang his debut, but his only major contribution was a goal that was ruled offside in the second half.
Chelsea is in group B alongside FC Salzburg and Italian champions AC Milan; both sides played out a 1-1 draw in Austria.
In Seville, Spain, at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium, Erling Haaland continued his attitude of scoring on his UEFA Champions League debut for his clubs when he got on target in Manchester City’s emphatic 4-0 victory against Sevilla.
The Norwegian striker scored on his UEFA Champions League debut for FC Salzburg and also did the same for Borussia Dortmund when he moved to the German club side.
Now, after scoring ten goals in six Premier League games for Pep Guardiola’s side, he scored a brace in the Champions League debut for the Premier League champions in a 4-0 win over Sevilla.
Pep Guardiola stated after the match that Haaland has a sense of goal and wants his numbers to continue.
“Sometimes we want to rush so quick because Erling is there. You have this attraction of him; we want to attack it sometimes. We have to be more patient. I think his numbers across his career, not just here, are quite similar. So he has an incredible sense of goal. We have incredible numbers in scoring goals, so we want to continue like that.” Guardiola said.
On Wednesday, Tottenham and Liverpool will face Marseille and Napoli, respectively.
Daniel Ademiju Idowu
