Chelsea on Tuesday romped to a dominant 3-0 win at home to 10-man Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League, while Pep Guardiola’s much-changed Manchester City went down to their first defeat of the campaign against Bayer 04 Leverkusen.
In a battle between the second-placed sides in the English Premier League and Spanish La Liga, Chelsea emerged emphatic winners thanks to goals from 18-year-old Estevao and Liam Delap after a Jules Kounde own-goal had given the 2021 Champions League winners a first-half lead.
The visitors played just over half the encounter with a player down following captain Ronald Araujo’s dismissal for two bookable offenses on the stroke of half-time.
Photo: PA via AP
After stalling last time out — Chelsea being held 2-2 by Qarabag and Barca drawing three-apiece with Club Brugge — both sides came into the match at Stamford Bridge in London looking to get their campaigns back on track.
Victory propelled Chelsea to fifth in the league phase standings on 10 points.
“It’s a big win, especially because the other team was Barcelona,” Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca said.
After two Enzo Fernandez strikes were disallowed for offside, the hosts finally took the lead on 27 minutes.
A short-corner routine ended with Marc Cucurella firing the ball across the box. Pedro Neto’s attempted flick toward goal had the Barcelona defenders tying themselves in knots before France international Kounde inadvertently knocked it into his own net.
The game took a decisive turn in the 44th minute when Araujo received a second yellow card for a poor challenge on Cucurella.
Much of the prematch build-up centered on talk around the starlets on both sides, but it was Chelsea’s Estevao who stole the show over Barcelona’s Spain winger Lamine Yamal.
A moment of magic by the Brazilian teen put the game beyond the Spanish champions as he received the ball on the right before beating two defenders and lashing it into the roof of Joan Garcia’s net five minutes before the hour.
“I don’t really have any words to sum up how I’m feeling right now,” Estevao told Amazon Prime. “It really was the perfect night.”
Substitute Delap then put the game to bed in the 73rd minute.
A second defeat has the Catalans down in 15th spot, but Barcelona coach Hansi Flick insisted he was “really positive” about their chances of automatic qualification to the last 16.
“We’ve got players coming back now, and there are three games to play and nine points to win,” the German said.
Guardiola surprisingly rested the majority of his stars at the Etihad, with Erling Haaland, Ruben Dias, Bernardo Silva and Gianluigi Donnarumma all left out of the starting lineup as Manchester City went down 2-0 to Leverkusen.
A first loss of the campaign for Man City, coming hot on the heels of Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at Newcastle United in the Premier League, leaves the 2023 winners on 10 points.
“I take full responsibility, still I think the players that started were exceptional players, but we missed something needed at the highest level,” Guardiola said. “I think playing every two or three days we need to make changes, but seeing the result, maybe it’s too much.”
While defeat would likely not prove fatal to their hopes of reaching the knockout stages, it was a chastening 100th European match in charge of City for Guardiola.
Slack defending allowed Alex Grimaldo the chance to put the away side in front in the 23rd minute, before Patrik Schick glanced in a second half an hour later.
In the south of France, Olympique de Marseille roared back from an early Ashley Barnes goal to beat Newcastle 2-1 thanks to a second-half Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang double.
Marseille’s Mason Greenwood — who left Manchester United following allegations of attempted rape and sexual assault, the charges for which were dropped by prosecutors in February 2023 — was kept quiet by Newcastle in what was his first time facing English opposition since the allegations.
An injury-time goal by Jonathan David snatched a 3-2 win for Italian giants Juventus in the Arctic Circle against Norway’s Bodo/Glimt.
Sondre Brunstad Fet’s 87th-minute penalty had looked like it had secured a third draw for winless Champions League debutants Bodo until the Canadian bundled home in the 91st minute.
Serhou Guirassy netted a brace as Borussia Dortmund moved up to fourth with a 4-0 victory over 10-man Villarreal, despite the Germans missing two penalties at the Westfalenstadion.
Italian Serie A champions SSC Napoli beat Qarabag 2-0 at home, while Benfica won by the same scoreline at Ajax.
Union Saint-Gilloise of Belgium won 1-0 away to Galatasaray, and Athletic Bilbao played out a goalless stalemate at Slavia Prague.
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