Chelsea 5-1 Ajax: First-half salvo helps Blues demolish Dutch giants on landmark Champions League appearance | OneFootball

Chelsea marked their 200th Champions League game with a 5-1 thrashing of Ajax when the teams went head-to-head at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday.

Fresh from their 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest at the weekend, Enzo Maresca’s side were bidding for a fourth straight victory across all competitions.

The game kicked off on a dour note as both sides eased their way into the game.

Unsurprisingly, Chelsea produced the first effort on target of the match through Marc Guiu. The Spaniard raced on to an Enzo Fernández through ball but was denied by an onrushing Remko Pasveer.

The visitors were reduced to ten men in the 15th minute when Kenneth Taylor was sent off for a rash challenge on Facundo Buonanotte.

Chelsea wasted no time making their numerical advantage count, thanks to a composed finish from Guiu inside the box. He became Chelsea’s youngest-ever Champions League goalscorer at the time.

The Blues’ one-goal lead soon became two with Moises Caicedo registering his fourth strike of the season from outside the box, although the shot took a deflection off Josip Sutalo.

Ajax looked to be chasing a lost cause half an hour into the contest, but dragged themselves back into contention 12 minutes from the interval.

Tosin Adarabioyo’s foul on Raul Moro provided Wout Weghorst the chance to open his Champions League account from 12 yards, and he made no mistake to halve the deficit.

That goal stirred belief among the Ajax faithful that their team could still get something from the game, although a disastrous end to the first half rained on their parade.

Weghorst and Youri Baas were penalised for fouls on Fernandez and Estevao, which handed Chelsea a pair of spot kicks six minutes apart.

Tasked with the responsibility of facing Pasveer from 12 yards, Fernandez and Estevao made no mistake with their respective assignments to put Chelsea 4-1 up heading into the interval.

Estevao’s strike made him Chelsea’s youngest-ever Champions League goalscorer.

Buoyed by the possession of a three-goal advantage, Chelsea rang the changes for the start of the second half with Andrey Santos, Trevoh Chalobah and Tyrique George all coming on.

Santos and George wasted no time making an impact as the former assisted the latter to grab Chelsea’s fifth goal of the evening.

Chelsea’s hunger to score more goals despite being 5-1 up was evident, but they were unable to add to their tally, thanks to a couple of decent saves from Pasveer to deny Jamie Bynoe-Gittens and Estevao.

The Blues have now won a second consecutive European outing to keep the juggernaut rolling ahead of Saturday’s Premier League encounter against Sunderland.