Chelsea vs. AS Roma, Champions League: Half-time report

It’s been a strangely eventful first 45 minutes at Stamford Bridge, as Chelsea look to make it three wins out of three games in the UEFA Champions League. Antonio Conte opted to revert to a 3-5-2 formation, as against Atletico Madrid, with David Luiz pushed into midfield and Andreas Christensen taking his place in the heart of defence. Roma have lined up in a 4-3-3, with Radja Nainggolan pushing furthest forward among a midfield also consisting of Kevin Strootman and Maxime Gonalons.

David Luiz broke the deadlock with a perfectly-executed strike from distance, and Eden Hazard calmly slotted Morata’s ricocheted shot past Alisson Becker to make it 2-0 in the 37th minute.

Roma have seen majority of the ball thus far and created the most chances, but it’s the Blues who head into the break, leading. Diego Perrotti has had three attempts on goal, two of them well-struck from distance but off-target, while the latter was a squandered opportunity in the penalty area as the young attacker could only shoot straight at Thibaut Courtois. Radja Nainggolan, too, had a scorching shot on goal saved by Courtois in close proximity. The Italian side did pull a goal back somewhat deservedly, however, as Alexander Kolarov breezed past Cesar Azpilicueta and fired in from the edge of the area, although his shot seemed to have taken a slight deflection off Andreas Christensen (who hasn’t yet put a foot wrong).

Hazard’s goal summed up the half nicely; Roma have been the superior side so far but Chelsea have been alert to capitalise on their mistakes.

Onto the next 45!