New England Revolution 0-3 Chelsea, Final Whistle on Hate: Post-match reaction

A rather unsafe-looking pitch and an injury to Ruben Loftus-Cheek (so far not much is known about it — not even clear if there was contact or not) were the only bad parts of tonight’s charity friendly at Gillette Stadium, as Chelsea beat the New England Revolution 3-0 in the Final Whistle on Hate.

The game’s biggest aim of course was to raise awareness and funds to combat anti-Semitism, and in that sense it was certainly a rousing success with $4 million raised for 15 different organizations.

A strong Chelsea eleven started the match and grabbed two easy goals before half-time — Barkley and Giroud — then added one more in the second half to entertain the locals.

Now it’s time to rest and recover for a bit — four days off is the word — and then begin preparations in earnest for the Europa League final in two weeks, on May 29.

KTBFFH.

• Starting lineup: Kepa | Alonso, David Luiz (c), Christensen, Zappacosta | Kovačić, Jorginho, Barkley | Hazard, Giroud, Pedro
• Six changes at half time, with Caballero (on for Kepa), Emerson (on for Alonso) Azpilicueta (on for Christensen), Loftus-Cheek (on for Kovačić), Willian (on for Hazard), and Higuain (on for Giroud) coming on.
• It’s perhaps noteworthy that Azplicueta is continuing to deputize as the third center back
• Connor Gallagher replaced RLC just before the 70-minute after the latter’s very concerning injury. These things happen of course, but questions will be asked and fingers will be pointed.
• Reece James and Trevoh Chalobah get the last 15 or so minutes.
• Rob Green even makes an appearance.
• Jorginho and Pedro played the full 90.
• That injury really sapped the fun out of this thing.
• Carefree.