20:29
27 min: Zenit have disrupted Chelsea pretty well so far. The hosts are struggling for fluency and are finding it tough to get the ball back when they lose it.
20:27
25 min: Kovacic beats his man in midfield with a lovely swerve and dash. Then he offloads to Ziyech, who tries to do something similar at the edge of the area. But a fine sliding tackle by Barrios brings an unceremonious end to that scheming.
20:25
23 min: Jorginho pings a low pass from midfield through to Lukaku in the box. The Belgian holds it up and then knocks it back for Ziyech, who lets fly from the edge of the area. It’s blocked.
20:23
21 min: Mount, picking the ball up just outside the area, slips it through to Lukaku. A buzz goes around the ground as fans anticipate another net-burster … but Zenit are wise to the him and quickly crowd out the striker before he can get off a shot.
20:20
18 min: Jorginho catches Claudinho late, giving Zenit a freekick mid-way inside the Chelsea half. Rakitskiy lofts it wide to Santos, who feeds it back for Kuzyaev. The midfielder elects to shoot from 30 yards. And as the ball wafts into the stand, we are reminded that elections don’t always yield a good outcome.
20:18
15 min: The authority that Chelsea may have thought they’d established earlier has evaporated, because Zenit are busy, deft and confident. Not sure how sharp they are but they’re giving Chelsea plenty to think about.
20:13
12 min: Azmoun meets a cross from the right and flicks it on to Claudinho at the back post. The forward takes it down on his chest … which gives James just enough time to sneak in and poke the ball behind for a corner. Which Zenit waste.
20:12
11 min: Rakitskiy steps into midfield and flights a dainty pass towards Azmoun. Christensen keeps his eye on it while backpedalling, and then heads it to safety before the striker could collect.
20:10
9 min: Zenit relieve the pressure with a very tidy move forward. They worked their way from back to front very well until Azmoun miscontrolled at the edge of the Chelsea area.
20:07
6 min: Lukaku gets involved for the first time, receiving the ball at the edge of the D and trying to lay it back for Jorginho. It’s intercepted. But Chelsea seem to have found their stride and have penned Zenit into their own half for the last two or three minutes.
20:04
4 min: Chelsea knock the ball around a bit, with no particular aim other than to curb the visitors’ perkiness.
20:03
2 min: Rüdiger, as ever, is up for the challenge: a Zenit player tries to shuffle past him near the left-hand byline but the German steps in, eases him of the ball and punts it downfield in the general direction of Mount.
20:01
1 min: Chelsea kick off. Zenit immediately show they mean business by harassing their hosts high up, causing some uncomfortable moments for Christensen, in particular, before Chelsea welly clear.
19:58
Before kickoff, the Uefa president hands out some awards: Edouard Mendy collects one for being the best keeper in last season’s tournament; then Ngolo Kanté, Jorginho and Tuchel get some gongs too.
There’s some fireworks to entertain the fans at Stamford Bridge too. Photograph: Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP/Getty Images
Updated
19:57
The teams line up to pay their respects to the official Champions League jingle. Chelsea are decked out in blue, of course, while Zenit are wearing white and the officials are sporting red tops and black shorts and socks.
19:49
Tuchel speaks
The Chelsea manager says that he has made five changes to the side that started against Aston Villa last weekend because the newcomers are all fresh, and confirms that Mount and Ziyech will serve as “half-strikers”.
19:01
Teams
Chelsea: Mendy; Azpilicueta, Christensen, Rüdiger; James, Kovacic, Jorginho, Alonso; Mount, Ziyech; Lukaku
Subs: Kepa, Bergstrom, Silva, Sarr, Chilwell, Werner, Loftus-Cheek, Chalobah, Saul Niguez, Barkley, Hudson-Odoi, Havertz
Zenit: Kritsyuk; Sutormin, Christakov, Rakitskyy, Douglas Santos; Malcolm, Wendel, Barrios, Kuzaev, Claudinho; Azmoun
Subs: Kerzhakov, Odoevski, Krugovoi, Mostovy, Erokhin, Dzyuba, Kravtsov, Khotulev
Referee: B Frankowski
19:00
Preamble
Hello and welcome to the start of Chelsea’s attempt to match the feats of grand clubs such as Nottingham Forest, Ajax and Benfica by defending their European crown. Chelsea’s only previous effort brought abysmal failure, as they were ousted at the group stage and their manager, Roberto Di Matteo, was given the heave-ho even before the end of that. En garde, Herr Tuchel!
That said, this Chelsea side is very different to the one that lifted the Champions League trophy in 2012. Back then, the team were reaching the end of a cycle, and Didier Drogba departed soon after. By contrast, this Chelsea team is on the rise, last season’s Champions League triumph heralding the start of a new era of conquest rather than a culmination; and they are driven by a striker, Romelu Lukaku, at the peak of his powers and served by a glittering cast of creators. Chelsea have the most complete squad in England, a savvy manager and a seriously ominous look about them.
As for Zenit St Petersburg, since beating Rangers in the 2008 Uefa Cup and Manchester United in that year’s Super Cup, they’ve made frustratingly little headway in Europe. They’ve got out of the Champions League group stages three times but then fallen each time in the next round – once to Dortmund and twice to the good old Benfica. They finished bottom of their group in each of the last two seasons. But they have started their domestic league well – top after seven matches – and can stoke themselves with tales of their only previous victory away to English opposition. Remember that? Of course you do, it was against Bradford City in the 2000 Intertoto Cup. Humdinger ahoy!