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Slavia Prague 0-1 Chelsea: Marcos Alonso goal gives Blues Europa League advantage
MARCOS ALONSO’s late header dragged a lacklustre Chelsea to a 1-0 Europa League win at Slavia Prague. See how the action unfolded with Express Sport.
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SLAVIA PRAGUE 0-1 CHELSEA | ALONSO (85)
Slavia Prague: Kolar, Coufal, Ngadeu Ngadjui, Deli, Boril, Traore, Kral, Masopust, Sevcik, Stoch, Olayinka
Subs: Kovar, Zmrhal, Husbauer, van Buren, Kudela, Skoda, Frydrych
Chelsea: Arrizabalaga, Azpilicueta, Christensen, Rudiger, Alonso, Barkley, Jorginho, Kovacic, Pedro, Giroud, Willian
Subs: Caballero, Kante, Higuain, Hazard, Loftus-Cheek, Zappacosta, Luiz
The Spain full-back ghosted clear in the box to nod home Willian's teasing far-post cross, to hand the Blues the slender advantage midway through their quarter-final.
Chelsea came very close drawing their last-eight first leg tie at the Sinobo Stadium, the Blues struggling for fluency throughout a niggly night in Prague.
Replacement Ruben Loftus-Cheek's smart spin and break turned Slavia's defence at the death however, before Willian served up the perfect cross.
Alonso's third goal of the season and second in the Europa League proved just enough for Chelsea then, but the Stamford Bridge men will hardly be happy with their performance.
Chelsea will now expect to complete the job and move through to the semi-finals when hosting Slavia in the return leg next Thursday.
- Olivier Giroud replaces Gonzalo Higuain in attack
- Eden Hazard and N'Golo Kante start on the bench
- Marcos Alonso gives Chelsea the lead late on
SLAVIA PRAGUE vs CHELSEA
The Slavia Prague vs Chelsea clash starts at 8pm tonight. The match will be televised live on BT Sport 3.
BT Sport subscribers will be able to stream the match online via the video player and the BT Sport app.
Slavia Prague vs Chelsea predicted line-ups
Slavia Prague
(3-5-2): Kolar; Kudela, Ngadeu-Ngadjui, Deli; Masopust, Traore, Sevcik, Karl, Boril; Stoch, Skoda.
Chelsea
(4-3-3): Caballero; Zappacosta, Rudiger, Christensen, Marcos Alonso; Kovacic, Barkley, Kante; Willian, Giroud, Pedrod.