WATCH THE GOALS ABEG.........Chelsea 6 vs Qarabag: 0....THEY HAVE MANY BAGS FOR GOALS

Chelsea manager, Antonio Conte, has left out Victor Moses from his starting 11, as they open their Champions League campaign at home to Qarabag.
Moses is replaced by summer signing, Davide Zappacosta, who arrived at Stamford Bridge from Torino.

Conte had hinted that he will make significant changes to his team to face.

 Pedro Rodriguez

1 - 0

16'

Gary Cahill

 

30'

Davide Zappacosta

2 - 0

55'

Cesar Azpilicueta

3 - 0

71'

Tiemoue Bakayoko

4 - 0

76'

Michy Batshuayi

5 - 0

82'

Maksim Medvedev

6 - 0

Chelsea made a swaggering start to their Champions League challenge as memorable strikes from Pedro and Davide Zappacosta inspired a 6-0 rout of Qarabag on Tuesday.

Antonio Conte’s side were in businesslike mood against the minnows from Azerbaijan, with Pedro’s long-range effort putting them ahead early on at Stamford Bridge.
Zappacosta was making his home debut for Chelsea after his deadline day move from Torino and he marked the occasion with his first goal for the club, a cross-shot that capped a lung-bursting run from the Italy right-back.
Cesar Azpilicueta, Tiemoue Bakayoko and Michy Batshuayi were all on the scoresheet in the second half to give Chelsea their joint biggest Champions League win.

Placed in a tricky group including Atletico Madrid and Roma, the English champions couldn’t afford to slip up against a team of Qarabag’s limited European pedigree.
Conte took a gamble by making five changes from Saturday’s 2-1 win at Leicester City, resting David Luiz, Victor Moses, Bakayoko, Antonio Rudiger and Alvaro Morata.
But Conte, whose switches were made with an eye on Sunday’s Premier League clash against Arsenal, had no need to worry as Chelsea laid seige to the Qarabag goal before taking the lead in the fifth minute.
Willian’s pass found Pedro unmarked on the edge of the penalty area and the Spain winger curled a fine first-time finish into the top corner.
Qarabag were the first club from Azerbaijan to play in the Champions League, having emerged from the ashes of their war-torn region to become one of the tournament’s most unlikely success stories.
Chelsea had no intention of letting the minnows extend their romantic tale, pushing for a second goal that almost arrived when Willian forced Ibrahim Sehic to save.
When Conte’s men doubled their lead in the 30th minute, it was laced with more than a slice of good fortune.
– Acclaim –
Taking possession deep inside his own half, Zappacosta embarked on a surge that took him clear of two Qarabag defenders and towards the visitors’ area.
After looking up, seemingly to measure a cross from wide on the right flank, the Italian’s whipped delivery instead caught out Sehic as it flashed into his net at the near post.
Whether he meant it or not, Zappacosta was quick to soak up the acclaim of the crowd.
Qarabag at last had a shot when Pedro Henrique brought Thibaut Courtois into action.
It was only a temporary respite and Chelsea put the result beyond doubt in the 55th minute.
Cesc Fabregas took Willian’s pass and lofted a cross towards Azpilicueta, who glanced a clever header past Sehic from close-range.
Eden Hazard was cheered to the rafters when he came off the bench in the 57th minute, making just his second appearance for Chelsea this season after ankle surgery.
Willian hit the bar with a fierce strike and, with Qarabag growing more ragged by the minute, the hosts bagged their fourth in the 71st minute.
Capitalising on slack Qarabag defending, French midfielder Bakayoko grabbed his first Chelsea goal, slotting home from Hazard’s cross.
Qarabag were so woeful at the back that even the shot-shy Batshuayi was able to fill his boots.
The Belgian forward struck in the 76th minute with a long-range drive, before Qarabag defender Maksim Medvedev deflected another Batshuayi effort into his own net.

The Blues’ return to Champions League action, falls within a gruelling September run of seven matches in 21 days across three competitions.
After Qarabag, Conte must prepare his squad for the visit of rivals Arsenal, to Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
“We played a tough game [against Leicester City] and for sure now if we play seven games in 21 days, it’s not easy,” Conte said on Monday.

“For this reason it’s normal to prepare some rotations [in the team]. I trust all my players in my squad. There is the necessity to rotate and to play game by game.
a tough game against Arsenal. Then Carabao Cup [against Nottingham Forest], then two days more against Stoke, then Atletico Madrid, then Man City.
“I think it’s normal and there is the necessity to do rotation. Otherwise you arrive to play the rest of the games with your team without energy.”
Chelsea XI vs Qarabag: Courtois, Azpilicueta, Christensen, Cahill, Zappacosta, Kante, Fabregas, Alonso, Willian, Pedro, Batshuayi.

Substitute Marouane Fellaini proved an unlikely source of inspiration as Manchester United comfortably defeated Basel 3-0 on their return to the Champions League on Tuesday.
Fellaini, a replacement for the injured Paul Pogba, gave United a 35th-minute lead at a drizzly Old Trafford and teed up Marcus Rashford for the hosts’ third goal after Romelu Lukaku had struck early in the second period.
It was United’s first Champions League game since December 2015, with Jose Mourinho’s side having engineered a return to the competition by winning the Europa League last season.
Basel had previously proved a thorn in United’s side, eliminating them from the Champions League in 2011-12, and they inflicted a surprise defeat upon Mourinho in the first European game of his second Chelsea stint in 2013.

While Raphael Wicky’s side were pushed aside without too much fuss in this Group A opener, Pogba’s premature exit with an apparent hamstring injury meant Mourinho could not reflect on an entirely satisfactory night.
With Ashley Young coming into the United XI at right-back in place of Antonio Valencia to make his first start of the season, Pogba inherited the captain’s armband from the Ecuadorian.
But the Frenchman’s debut as United skipper would last just 18 minutes after he abruptly clutched the back of his left leg and was obliged to hobble off in disgust, with Fellaini joining the fray.
United had been getting on top and they went close to taking the lead when Henrikh Mkhitaryan jabbed Lukaku’s low cross against the post and then saw his follow-up smothered by goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik.
Luca Zuffi gave the hosts a scare when he sliced wide in front of the Stretford End after Chris Smalling failed to deal with a high ball, but two minutes later United opened the scoring.
– Lukaku opens his account –
The home fans could have been forgiven for wondering if it was still 2015, when the stadium last hosted a Champions League game, as Young sidestepped Blas Riveros and whipped in a perfect cross that Fellaini headed home.
Quiet in the first half, Anthony Martial came to life early in the second, beating Manuel Akanji and Taulant Xhaka before dispatching a skidding shot that Vaclik turned behind.
The resulting corner, taken short, yielded United’s second goal as Daley Blind’s drilled cross was emphatically headed in at the back post by Lukaku, who notched his first goal in the tournament proper.
Frequently maligned for his ungainliness, Fellaini by now was running the show, freed to roam forward by the anchoring presence of Nemanja Matic behind him.
Martial should have made it 3-0 from the Belgium midfielder’s cut-back midway through the second half, only to steer his shot off-target from close range.
Lukaku and Young both worked Vaclik, while Mohamed Elyounoussi tested David de Gea’s concentration at the other end after cutting inside the sliding Victor Lindelof, before United did claim their third in the 84th minute.
Mkhitaryan completely miscued his attempt at a side-foot finish from Fellaini’s right-sided cross, but substitute Rashford arrived behind his team-mate to scuff a shot into the ground and over the despairing Vaclik.
Off the pace domestically, Swiss champions Basel have now gone nine European games without a win.
 

Barcelona defied an outgoing off-field crisis as another Lionel Messi-inspired display exacted revenge on Juventus to open their Champions League campaign with a resounding 3-0 win on Tuesday.

Messi was involved in all three goals as he beat Gianluigi Buffon for the first time in his career to open the floodgates just before half-time.
Ivan Rakitic added a second after Messi’s run and cross opened up the Juventus defence before the Argentine rounded off the scoring by drilling home his second of the evening 19 minutes from time.
Victory puts Barca on top of Group D alongside Sporting Lisbon, who were 3-2 winners at Olympiakos.

Barca’s start to the season has been dominated by calls for president Josep Maria Bartomeu to resign following Neymar’s world record move to Paris Saint-Germain and the Catalan giants’ bungled moves to replace the Brazilian.
However, Ousmane Dembele impressed on his full debut following a 105 million-euro ($126 million) move from Borussia Dortmund, as Barca proved as long as they have Messi there is life after Neymar.
Juventus showed even more upheaval since the sides last met in last season’s quarter-finals with six changes from their trip to the Camp Nou just five months ago.
The Italian champions progressed comprehensively 3-0 on aggregate back then and threatened to expose Barca again early on with Marc-Andre ter Stegen forced into three early saves to deny Mattia de Sciglio, Paulo Dybala and Miralem Pjanic.
Dembele was showing plenty of promise, but often tried to beat one man too many in his quest to impress as Barca struggled to create early on.
Their best effort before opening the scoring came when a Messi free-kick rebounded back into Luis Suarez’s path and his fierce effort was turned over by Buffon.
Dembele was involved in the move as Messi broke his personal duck against Buffon in the final minute of the first half.
Messi picked up the Frenchman’s pass before exchanging a one-two with Suarez and firing with unerring accuracy just inside the far post.
Juventus had a big chance to respond right at the start of the second half, but Dybala couldn’t match his international teammate’s finish and he lifted his shot over the bar.
Messi was inches away from his second as another rasping left-foot drive came back off the inside of the post, rebounded off the back of Buffon’s head and dropped just wide.
Yet, Messi was also fortunate to escape his first ever red card at club level moments later as he was booked by Slovenian referee Tomaz Klancnik for his attempts to get a Juventus player cautioned.
Aided by his teammates, though, Messi continued his protests and could easily have been shown a second yellow by a more stringent official.
His clash with the referee only seemed to inspire Messi to greater heights as he drove through the Juventus defence once more and, when his low cross was only partially cleared by Stefano Sturaro, Rakitic slotted home the rebound.
Buffon momentarily denied Messi his double with a fine save from a free-kick.
However, the veteran goalkeeper was helpless once more 21 minutes from time when Messi cut inside onto his left foot and buried the ball into the bottom corner for his eighth goal of the season already.

Barca Galaxy‏ @barcagalaxy

Messi: 709 games 573 goals 231 assists 30 trophies 42 hattricks 5 Ballon d'Or 4 golden boot 2 UEFA Best Player