European competition has offered Maurizio Sarri some respite. Chelsea may not have dazzled in southern Sweden, and the Italian was infuriated by the late concession that has left the tie more delicately balanced than he would have hoped. But, in the context of the wounds inflicted recently on his team at Arsenal, Bournemouth and Manchester City, any victory away from home, however workmanlike, is to be cherished.
Malmö’s late reward, taken neatly on the gallop by Anders Christiansen as he burst away from Mateo Kovacic and on to Markus Rosenberg’s pass, will pep Swedish belief in next week’s return leg. Sarri was still cursing that collective sloppiness when, in stoppage time, Ross Barkley was caught in possession and the home fans briefly, tantalisingly, even sensed they might pull level. That opportunity was snuffed out by a mess of yellow-shirted bodies, though the head coach, a man on edge, made his exasperation very clear.
How he would have craved settling this tie more emphatically given the daunting run of domestic fixtures – Manchester United in the FA Cup, Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final, Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League – that kicks in early next week. “If we concede a goal like this to a team like Manchester City or United or Tottenham, then you risk conceding three goals in 10 minutes,” said Sarri, frustrated that David Luiz and N’Golo Kanté had appeared culpable of letting standards slip marginally and momentarily in the buildup. “So we have to do better.
“But the level of application and attention was good. It could have been better because we had three or four opportunities when it was 2-0, so we could have killed the match off. But I am happy with the confidence. It wasn’t easy to play like this after the last match.” It will take more than one win to recover poise from that six-goal drubbing at the Etihad Stadium but this was a start.
His selection had been a calculated risk, his team’s attritional approach aimed at grinding down opponents still in pre-season with only five friendlies under their belt. Eden Hazard and Kanté were the cavalry flung into the fray late on against tiring legs, yet it was in that period that Malmö scored, with the substitutes ending the game alarmed as at least four supporters ran on to the pitch hoping to claim the visitors’ shirts. Hazard looked particularly shocked to be locked in a bear hug but later said: “It’s not an incident. He just asked for my shirt.”
Bate Borisov 1-0 Arsenal, Galatasaray 1-2 Benfica, Krasnodar 0-0 Leverkusen, Lazio 0-1 Sevilla, Olympiacos 2-2 Dynamo Kyiv, Rapid Vienna 0-1 Inter, Rennes 3-3 Real Betis , Slavia Prague 0-0 Genk, Celtic 0-2 Valencia, Club Brugge 2-1 Red Bull Salzburg, Malmo 1-2 Chelsea, Shakhtar Donetsk 2-2 Eintracht Frankfurt, Sporting 0-1 Villarreal, Viktoria Plzen 2-1 Dinamo Zagreb, Zurich 1-3 Napoli
Nevertheless Uefa will surely investigate as it will, potentially, the exchange of plastic pint glasses and beer lobbed from both sides over the fencing separating rival supporters early on. Police and stewards had moved in to calm that situation. Chelsea are already waiting to hear if they are to be sanctioned for alleged racist chanting in December’s game in Budapest.
They took heart from matters on the field once their pedigree told. They had enjoyed a near monopoly of the ball for long periods, for all that Malmö stretched them at set-plays, even if the possession occasionally lapsed into a plod. At least it served to draw Malmö’s sting and they eventually took the lead from their first clear-cut opportunity. Barkley benefited from Lasse Nielsen’s ill judged attempt to repel Pedro’s centre with a volley rather than a header. The ball bypassed the centre-half to land with the midfielder and, despite a clumsy first touch, he adjusted his feet swiftly enough in time to poke his shot beyond Johan Dahlin before Andreas Vindheim could muster a challenge on the cover.
It was Chelsea’s first goal away from Stamford Bridge this year and a source of relief rather than elation. Their second oozed quality and was plucked on the counterattack from frantic home pressure, just after Arnór Ingvi Traustason had seen a shot deflected wide. Jorginho conjured a fine pass to liberate Barkley, charging forward into enemy territory, with Willian eventually wriggling round his marker to the byline to square for Olivier Giroud. The Frenchman was virtually on the goalline as he backheeled in a fifth Europa League goal of the season. Barkley would be denied further profit by Dahlin’s fingertips, with Giroud twice going close to adding a third to deflate the home crowd, only for Christiansen to fuel late hope.
Malmö will be urged on by 3,500 fans at Stamford Bridge. “We will need to earn qualification,” added Sarri. “We played our football. We need to move the ball forward and back more – it was too horizontal at times – but in the last period we’ve had the problem of [performances being] up and down: lose 4-0, win 5-0, lose 6-0. We need some consistency in the mental condition because, in England, if you are in bad mental condition, in 10 days you can lose three or four very important matches.” The next fortnight will test that resilience.