Alejandro Garnacho have rescued a draw for Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League against Qarabag.
Chelsea would have suffered a historic loss to Qarabag at the Tofiq Bəhramov adına Respublika stadionu on Thursday, but the summer signing helped them avoid that.
The substitute 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 turned things around following Estevao Willian’s early opener for the Blues.
Qarabag went into the tie following their loss in all seven of their previous matches against English opposition. Their last meeting in the Champions League ended 10-0 on aggregate in favour of the Blues. They have 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. They almost became the first Azerbaijani club to defeat an English club.
There is a gulf in class financially as the host squad is worth just £22m compared to that of Chelsea, valued at £1.5bn.
Chelsea took the lead through Estevao, when he cut inside and shot low into the near post after linking well with Joao Pedro and Andrey Santos in the 16th minute.
With seven changes made to the team that beat Tottenham on Saturday, Chelsea struggled defensively.
19-year-old Jorrel Hato was partly at fault for both first-half goals. He was overpowered by Qarabag striker Camilo Duran when competing for a long ball. He hit his shot against the post, but winger Leandro Andrade brilliantly volleyed the rebound into the goal to equalise.
The host were awarded a penalty after Hato handled Andrade’s cross. Marko Jankovic stepped up and sent Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez the wrong way from the penalty spot to give Qarabag an unlikely lead.
After Maresca took off injured midfielder Romeo Lavia after six minutes and replaced him with Moises Caicedo, he made three further changes at half-time, bringing on Garnacho, Enzo Fernandez and Liam Delap for the young trio Andrey Santos, Jamie Gittens and Tyrique George.
This eventually paid off as Garnacho levelled seven minutes into the half. The former Manchester United attacker latched on to Delap’s long ball, punishing Kevin Medina for a mistake and then shooting across goalkeeper Mateusz Kochalski and into the corner.
Substitute Nariman Akhundzade shot from range for the hosts, and Fernandez and Estevao had several attempts to win the game for Chelsea, along with the final substitute, Facundo Buonanotte.
It was an open game till the end as both sides had chances to win it. Danny Bolt and Garnacho both saw their shots from inside the area saved.
Both sides are now levelled on seven points in the 36-team league phase of the Champions League after four matches.
