After what felt like forever finally, Olivier Giroud has ended his goal drought for Chelsea as his lone has cemented the Blues qualification to the second round of the UEFA Europa Cup on a very cold night in Belarus.
The player’s second-half header was enough to earn a 1-0 win and secure qualification for the Europa League knockout stages with two games to spare.
Chelsea’s coach Maurizio Sarri left several first team regulars in London, but included Jorginho from the off after Cesc Fabregas’ late withdrawal with illness, while Eden Hazard started his first game since the draw with Manchester United on October 20.
It was also an exciting night for England internationals Ross Barkley and Ruben Loftus-Cheek who were both named in Gareth Southgate’s England squad earlier in the day, and both did start together for Chelsea for the first time.
It was a woeful first-half showing from Chelsea, against a home side who showed they wanted it more than the visiting side in a showing better than their performance from the reverse fixture at Stamford Bridge when Ruben Loftus-Cheek had Chelsea 2-0 up after eight minutes.
Eventually, it was a simple delivery into the box that made the breakthrough shortly after the interval, as Emerson Palmieri crossed early for Giroud to head home his third goal in as many games against BATE, with question marks over the goalkeeping.
Chelsea will look to preserve their record as the only unbeaten team in Europe’s top five leagues when they visit Everton on Sunday.
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