Giroud joins Drogba: The key winners & losers from Dynamo Kyiv 0-5 Chelsea

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Chelsea cruised into the quarter-finals of the Europa League thanks to a 5-0 win over Dynamo Kyiv on Thursday.

It took the Blues just five minutes to build on their 3-0 first-leg lead, with Olivier Giroud opening the scoring from close range. The Frenchman then netted again before Marcos Alonso put the tie beyond any doubt just before half-time.

Giroud completed his hat-trick after an hour and Callum Hudson-Odoi continued his good Europa League run to wrap up the scoring.

Winner: Olivier Giroud

Olivier Giroud has not had the best time since joining Chelsea last January, almost always playing second-fiddle to another striker – first Alvaro Morata and now Gonzalo Higuain.

But the Frenchman is certainly making the most of the opportunities afforded to him in cup competitions, particularly the Europa League.

With Higuain left in England, the Frenchman was given his seventh Europa League start and took just five minutes to score his seventh goal in the competition this season.

It was a simple enough finish but, as always, Giroud had to get himself into the right place at the right time, reading Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s flick on to tap in from close range.

The Frenchman doubled his tally after half an hour with another first-touch finish, this time from Alonso’s excellent cross. But that would not be good enough for Giroud, who completed his hat-trick with a trademark header after an hour.

Standing at nine goals now, Giroud is the top scorer in the Europa League this season and will be key as Chelsea look to win the competition for the second time.

Losers: Dynamo’s attack

Chelsea’s defence has shown its vulnerability on various occasions throughout the season, and Dynamo Kyiv may have fancied their chances of pulling off a shock result should things go their way.

But, the Ukrainian side were shocking in attacking across the two legs, barely troubling Kepa Arrizabalaga in the Chelsea goal.

In fact, it took Dynamo Kyiv 141 minutes of the tie to have their first shot on target – excluding a goal ruled out for offside in the first-half.

Volddymyr Shepelev was the man to have the shot, though his effort from outside the area brought an easy save for Arrizabalaga. It did start a brief foray from the Ukrainian side in front of goal with Serhiy Sydorchuk both forcing Arrizabalaga to make a save and hitting the post from close range within seconds of each other – a spell which summed up Dynamo’s tie.

Winner: Ruben Loftus-Cheek

There was some surprise when Ruben Loftus-Cheek found himself in Gareth Southgate’s England squad for the upcoming Euro 2020 qualifiers, with the midfielder having been used sparingly by Maurizio Sarri in recent weeks.

The midfielder has suffered with injury problems which saw him drop below both Ross Barkley and Mateo Kovacic in the pecking order but, being eased back into the team, Loftus-Cheek has once again shown he is Sarri’s best option for the left central midfielder.

Loftus-Cheek is almost perfect for the role, willing and able to push the ball forward with his mixture of power and dribbling skills – a rare combination for a central midfielder. And he used his physicality to take control of the game on Thursday, giving Dynamo Kyiv nightmares.

He rose highest to nod on Willian’s corner five minutes in, giving Giroud the tap-in for Chelsea’s opening goal. That may have gone down as an official assist, but the Englishman’s role in Chelsea’s second was a lot more impressive.

Receiving the ball from Alonso, Loftus-Cheek showed exquisite strength to hold off Sydorchuk in the middle of the pitch. He then played the ball back to Alonso, whose cross was poked in by Giroud.

Sunday’s game against Everton may come too soon for Loftus-Cheek to start in the Premier League – if only to preserve him from another injury lay-off – but the midfielder has to be picked over Barkley and Kovacic after the international break.

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Loser: Ethan Ampadu

While a lot of the media attention surrounding Chelsea teenagers has been on Callum Hudson-Odoi, the Blues do boast a promising Welshman by the name of Ethan Ampadu.

The youngster, who was specifically mentioned by Sarri in his pre-match press conference, has made just five appearances for the Blues this season – across a variety of positions.

And with Chelsea looking comfortable in the tie after the first leg, the 18-year-old may have hoped to find some game time alongside Hudson-Odoi with Sarri looking to keep legs fresh ahead of the weekend.

The Italian opted to be cautious in fielding Antonio Rudiger to ensure there was no Real Madrid-esque capitulation, but Ampadu’s absence even on the bench was slightly harsh.

Ampadu would have been perfect to call upon from the bench at half-time with Chelsea 6-0 up on aggregate, giving Rudiger rest with the German certain to start against Everton.

The Welshman is certainly a promising young player, but at the moment, he is looking more likely to fall to the Chelsea youth curse than break into the first team.

Winner: Callum Hudson-Odoi

Giroud may be on his way to earning himself the moniker of Mr. Europa League for Chelsea this season, but Hudson-Odoi is going to push the veteran Frenchman all the way.

Criminally underused by Sarri in the eyes of many, the 18-year-old has played 18 games across all competitions so far this season with eight of those coming in the Europa League.

And he is making the most of his game time in the competition, scoring four goals and recording two assists in the Europa League.

Starting against Dynamo Kyiv on Thursday, the teenager actually had a slow start with play predominantly taking place down Chelsea’s left through Willian. But he grew into the game and gave Dynamo’s full-backs problems close to half-time, linking up well with Giroud to set up Alonso’s goal.

He then got himself on the scoresheet 10 minutes from time, racing onto Giroud’s through ball to finish past Denys Boyko under pressure – taking him clear of any other teenager in terms of scoring across the two European cup competitions this season.

Winner: Marcos Alonso

Marcos Alonso was Sarri’s go-to man for most of the season at left-back despite often frustating Chelsea fans with below-par performances.

But in recent weeks the Spaniard looked to have used up all of his lives with his manager, being dropped for Emerson as Chelsea’s starting left-back.

This meant Alonso was starting in Kiev on Thursday night, with Emerson rested for the weekend, and the Spaniard made good of his opportunity with a throwback performance.

Relatively unworried defensively, Alonso was able to join Willian in constantly pressing the Dynamo defence and the Spaniard produced a beautiful cross for Giroud after initially linking up well with Loftus-Cheek.

It was Alonso’s first direct goal contribution for Chelsea since November, when he set up Pedro in a 3-1 win over Crystal Palace.

But that would not be all. Alonso then found himself among the goals once more, tapping in from close range after being allowed to run into the Dynamo Kyiv box.

It may not have Emerson sweating just yet, given the poor nature of the opponents, but Alonso certainly did his case no harm.

The post Giroud joins Drogba: The key winners & losers from Dynamo Kyiv 0-5 Chelsea appeared first on Squawka News.



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