Chelsea’s teens put on a show as Blues thrash woeful 10-man Ajax
By Robert O'Connor, PA
Chelsea romped to a 5-1 win over Ajax at Stamford Bridge as Brazilian teenager Estevao provided further evidence of his scintillating talent.
It would be tempting to read into a crushing Champions League victory that Enzo Maresca has finally got his team singing after multiple false starts, coming as it did at a canter despite 10 changes from Saturday’s win over Nottingham Forest.
But this was an atrocious display from the Dutch side who were a shadow of the team who drew an eight-goal thriller here six years ago.
They played with 10 men from the 17th minute when captain Kenneth Taylor was sent off for serious foul play, but neither that nor the driving rain in west London could fairly account for what was a desperately poor showing.
Chelsea led 4-1 at the break. Marc Guiu, the 19-year-old striker, got the ball rolling seconds after the red card before Moises Caicedo’s shot deflected in for number two.
Wout Weghorst receded the arrears from the spot, then Enzo Fernandez and Estevao also scored penalties, the 18-year-old’s a confident drive into the top corner, capping the finest individual display of his burgeoning Blues career.
Tyrique George, 19, became the Blues’ third teenage scorer when he netted the fifth early in the second half.
Maresca faced questions before the game about discipline following red cards in five of his team’s last six games, but it was their opponents for a change that were reduced to 10 early on here.
Taylor danced his way clear of the challenge of Estevao and in doing so let the ball run away from him. In lunging to win it back he left his studs high on the ankle of Facundo Buonanotte, sending the referee first to the VAR monitor then inevitably to his pocket.
From the resulting free-kick, the ball was worked to the far post where Wesley Fofana was waiting to head it back across goal and into the path of the unmarked Guiu, who on his first start of the season gratefully shovelled it home.
Caicedo cracked in a second after 27 minutes. Unlike his top-corner strike here against Liverpool earlier in October, a deflection was required, the ball nicking off Josip Sutalo and zipping inside goalkeeper Remko Pasveer at his near post.
Former Manchester United striker Weghorst squeezed his penalty through the hands of Filip Jorgensen after Tosin Adarabioyo’s foul.
Ajax’s lifeline was whipped away within minutes and it was their goalscorer who blew it for them, clattering through the back of Fernandez with a wild tackle to give the Argentina international the opportunity to make it three from the spot, which he duly accepted.
When Youri Baas felled Estevao in stoppage time at the end of the half, the chance fell to the teenager net his first European goal from 12 yards, sent emphatically into the top corner to round off a bizarre 45 minutes.
George’s deflected strike made it five minutes after the interval to compound Ajax’s humiliation.
