Chelsea escaped suffering a historic loss to Qarabag through substitute Alejandro Garnacho’s second-half equaliser, avoiding the embarrassment of becoming the first English team to lose to the Azerbaijani side.
Garnacho equalised having come on as one of three half-time substitutes with his side 2-1 down after goals from Leandro Andrade and Marko Jankovic had put the hosts ahead following Estevao Willian’s early opener for the Blues.
Qarabag had lost all seven of their previous matches against English opposition. The last time they were in the Champions League, they faced Chelsea and lost both matches by an aggregate score of 10-0 and secured just two points from six matches.
However, they gave Enzo Maresca’s side a real scare at the packed 32,000-seater Tofiq Bahramov Stadium, with a squad worth just £22m compared to that of Chelsea – valued at £1.5bn, according to figures by Transfermarkt.
And it was Chelsea who initially took the lead. Estevao, 18, cut inside and shot low into the near post after linking well with his Brazilian team-mates Joao Pedro and Andrey Santos in the 16th minute.
Yet Chelsea struggled defensively having made seven changes to the team that beat Tottenham on Saturday, with Jorrel Hato, 19, partly at fault for both first-half goals.
Qarabag striker Camilo Duran overpowered the Dutch defender when competing for a long ball, hit his shot against the post, but winger Leandro Andrade brilliantly volleyed the rebound into the goal to equalise.
Midfielder Marko Jankovic then sent Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez the wrong way from the penalty spot to give Qarabag an unlikely lead – the penalty given after Hato handled Andrade’s cross.
Maresca had already taken off injured midfielder Romeo Lavia after six minutes, replacing him with Moises Caicedo, and made three further changes at half-time, bringing on Garnacho, Enzo Fernandez and Liam Delap for young trio Andrey Santos, Jamie Gittens and Tyrique George.
And it was Garnacho who levelled seven minutes into the half, latching on to Delap’s long ball, capitalising on a mistake from Kevin Medina and then shooting across goalkeeper Mateusz Kochalski and into the corner.
Both sides had further chances, with substitute Nariman Akhundzade shooting from range for the hosts, and Fernandez and Estevao having several attempts to win the game for Chelsea, along with the final substitute Facundo Buonanotte.
In added time, both sides had chances to win it through substitutes – Danny Bolt and Garnacho both seeing shots from inside the area saved.
The points shared leave the sides level on seven points in the 36-team league phase of the Champions League after four matches.
BBC