Alejandro Garnacho came off the bench and scored Chelsea’s second-half equalizer in a 2-2 draw away to Qarabag. This meant that the Blues left Baku with a point. After four Champions League matches in the league phase, both teams now have seven points.
The game changed after halftime when Enzo Maresca brought in Garnacho. He scored in the 53rd minute, giving Chelsea a 2-1 lead at the break. Estevao gave the Blues the lead, but Leandro Andrade and Marko Jankovic scored for Qarabag after Jorrel Hato handled the ball.
Speaking after the game, Garnacho said:
“We are Chelsea and we have to try and win every game so if we drop points here, it’s bad for everyone. The manager said come on and do your things. I scored but we needed another goal so it means nothing.”
Enzo Maresca talks about Chelsea’s injury problems
Enzo Maresca has said that Chelsea’s injuries and rotation affected how he played in the 2-2 draw at Qarabag on November 5. He said the club’s focus is still on maintaining high standards for replacements, even though they have only seven points after four Champions League games.
Chelsea lost Romeo Lavia to an early injury, forcing them to make early changes. They also have many other players missing, including Levi Colwill, Benoit Badiashile, Pedro Neto, and others. Despite these problems, Maresca’s rotation policy stayed in place, and the club’s top officials supported it as a way to handle the workload.
Speaking about it after the game in Baku, Maresca said:
“It’s not about, I think it’s about all of them. Again, I think we start in the right way, we were in control of the game, we scored the goal and then when we conceded the first goal, after four or five minutes,
“I don’t remember, we conceded the second one. So it becomes every time more difficult. Second half, I think we were much better compared to the first half. But again, every game I think it’s a chance for all of them to show the reason why they are here.”
The head coach reiterated that fit players will still have chances while injured first-teamers improve. After Lavia left the game five minutes in, Maresca said in his post-game report that the team would look into the youngster’s condition.