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The Chelsea winner arrived with just four minutes of normal time to play. Petr David Josek

Chelsea bring advantage to Stamford Bridge after late Alonso header snatches first-leg win

The winning goal arrived with just four minutes of normal time remaining in their Europa League quarter-final tie.

MARCOS ALONSO SNATCHED a precious 1-0 away win for Chelsea in their Europa League quarter-final first leg at Slavia Prague on Thursday.

The Blues started with N’Golo Kante and Eden Hazard on the bench and were outplayed for long periods until Alonso headed in an unlikely winner four minutes from time.

Victory was scarcely deserved for Chelsea, with Kepa Arrizabalaga starring in the away goal and the notion of a kind draw for the visitors put to bed by an excellent Slavia display.

But Maurizio Sarri’s decision to rest key men was ultimately justified as his side prepare to visit Liverpool on Sunday in complete control of this European tie ahead of next week’s return leg at Stamford Bridge.

An off-balance Simon Deli directed his second-minute header wide and Slavia continued to put Sarri’s men under pressure.

Willian almost stole the opener against the run of play, crashing a superb 20-yard strike off the crossbar, but the hosts were well on top once more by the interval.

Hazard was called from the bench after almost an hour of Chelsea toil and they immediately clicked into gear, with Ondrej Kolar blocking well from Antonio Rudiger before Willian drilled just wide.

The Blues left spaces at the back to exploit, though, and only a smart Kepa parry denied Ibrahim Traore a breakaway winner, while the goalkeeper later kept out an acrobatic Jan Boril effort.

And those saves gave Chelsea the foundation to chase a vital goal that arrived as Willian’s deep cross picked out Alonso for a powerful downward header.

Gavan Casey and Murray Kinsella are joined by Bernard Jackman to discuss Izzy Folau’s impending sacking by Australia and all the week’s news on the latest episode of The42 Rugby Weekly:


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    Mute James Doyle
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    Apr 11th 2019, 10:27 PM

    And they even got a bit of pre game racism against Salah into the bargain: Chelsea fans must be delighted tonight!

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    Mute #JUSTICE4NOEL
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    Apr 11th 2019, 10:58 PM

    @James Doyle: Ah yes, because a small minority of fools represent a whole fan base,,, ah yes that must be it James.

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    Mute James Doyle
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    Apr 11th 2019, 11:05 PM

    @#JUSTICE4NOEL: it’s not the first or even second time though is it. It may be a “minority” but they never seem to get a y smaller.

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    Mute Willy Motley
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    Apr 12th 2019, 12:24 AM

    @#JUSTICE4NOEL: how many times this year alone? Stop with the nonsense

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    Mute Dave O Keeffe
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    Apr 12th 2019, 12:25 AM

    @#JUSTICE4NOEL: the type of fans that travel to midweek European away fixtures. These are not fair weather fans.

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    Mute Kevin O'Sullivan
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    Apr 11th 2019, 10:35 PM

    Good result even though performance was average.

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