Heidenheim 0-2 Chelsea: Blues maintain perfect record in the Conference League after their toughest test yet, with Christopher Nkunku staking his claim for more starts
- Chelsea remain top of the Conference League and strolled to another win
- However, they did finish the match with 10 men after a late send-off
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Just as Didier Drogba went to the Champions League and Olivier Giroud to the Europa League, Christopher Nkunku could soon be christened Chelsea’s Mr Conference League given the speed at which the £52m marker is tearing through this competition.
Nkunku may not bring any problems to the Premier League setup – the perils of competing with Cole Palmer in 10th – but, as Enzo Maresca continues to insist, he does indeed have a place at Chelsea. That is currently their top scorer in all competitions.
Nkunku’s second-half strike took him to 11 goals, more than the seven scored by Palmer and Nicolas Jackson. The 27-year-old would have added more had Heidenheim goalkeeper Kevin Muller not done his best impression of a brick wall.
Chelsea will continue to dismiss suggestions that Nkunku is unhappy, although some frustration would be understandable. He is a good finisher and has scored in every Conference League match Chelsea have played this season, including the two-legged play-offs. It is largely thanks to his help that the club has maintained a 100 percent record throughout.
Nkunku was needed here as Heidenheim put up more fight than Gent, Panathinaikos and Noah combined in Chelsea’s previous walkovers, with Mykhailo Mudryk confirming the win late on.
Heidenheim have their own Special One in Frank Schmidt, their manager who was appointed on September 17, 2007 – three days before Jose Mourinho resigned in his first spell at Chelsea, while Shim Mheuka, the Blues’ academy striker, is on the bench. wasn’t even on the couch. born at that time.
Chelsea maintained their perfect record in the Conference League with a 2-0 win over Heidenheim
Mykhailo Mudryk scored a great goal in the second half, with Christopher Nkunku also on the scoresheet
Mudryk curled into the top corner after being denied a first-half penalty following a VAR review
Enzo Maresca has made ten changes to his squad as he continues to roll out a B team in Europe
The Blues ended the match with 10 men when Cesare Casadei was sent off with just seconds left
They love Schmidt here and still call him their ‘king’ even though he is in fifteenth place in the Bundesliga. The opening ten minutes looked like a shooting exercise for Marc Guiu but the raw 18-year-old, a £5m summer signing from Barcelona, failed to convert on any of the four chances that came his way.
His fifth chance to score in the 17th minute was blocked by the feet of Muller, who then flew to his left to deny Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall from 20 yards. It was clear to Chelsea that Heidenheim would not be as weak here as their latest Conference League victim Noah.
Chelsea goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen joined the party when he used a strong right hand to thwart Paul Wanner, Heidenheim’s brightest talent on loan from Bayern Munich at the age of 18.
When Nkunku broke through after 28 minutes, he tried to scoop the ball over Muller, but the lob flew behind. The opportunities were plentiful, but the calm less so.
In the 33rd minute, Mudryk went down after being clipped by Patrick Mainka and Omar Traore as Chelsea thought they had won a penalty. Jadon Sancho stood with the ball at the spot, hoping for his first goal in English football in eighteen months. But after a visit to his field monitor, referee Serdar Gozubuyuk ruled it a dive.
Before halftime, Nkunku danced through the Heidenheim box. The slaloming was something beautiful, but once again Muller was there to keep it goalless. Tosin Adarabioyo also came close in stoppage time when he fired Dewsbury-Hall’s cross wide.
It took five minutes into the second half when Chelsea finally broke through as Sancho cut the ball back and Nkunku scored by checking with the left and finishing with the right for 1-0.
Heidenheim would have equalized had Jorgensen not produced a sensational double save to deny Wanner and Leonardo Scienza. Chelsea wrapped up the win in the 86th minute when Mudryk fired Sancho’s pass into the top corner for 2-0 and game over. They did finish the match with 10 men, with Cesare Casadei being sent off late on.