Hakim Ziyech scored the only goal of the game as Chelsea beat Malmo to move a step further towards the knockout stages. Meanwhile, Juventus secured their place in the Round of 16 with a 4-2 win over Zenit Saint-Petersburg.
Missing several key players again, Thomas Tuchel stuck with the front three of Callum Hudson-Odoi, Kai Havertz, and Ziyech for Chelsea’s trip to Malmo. Despite the talent on offer, the home side was able to keep Chelsea’s front three shackled for large parts of the first half and a few of the second.
The breakthrough arrived in the 56th minute when Havertz released Hudson-Odoi down the right flank after some good hold-up play. The Chelsea academy graduate subsequently sent a low, early cross towards the back post, where it was tapped in by Ziyech.
As far as goals go, that was the only one either side scored during the game. Havertz came close to adding one to his name in both halves, only to shoot straight at the goalkeeper on both occasions from inside the box.
There was a late cameo for Christian Pulisic – which nearly turned into a goalscoring one – who returned from a long injury lay-off. The American, released beyond the last man in what was to be the final action of the game, rounded the goalkeeper. But with a defender back on the line and the angle getting narrower every millisecond, the USA international put his shot wide of the post.
Chelsea need just a point from their final two games to qualify for the knockout stages. Juventus, on the other hand, already have. The Bianconeri beat Zenit Saint-Petersburg 4-2 to book their place in the Last 16.
Paulo Dybala scored twice – either side of an own goal by Leonardo Bonucci – to give Juve the lead.
Federico Chiesa added a third from close range in the 73rd minute, and Alvaro Morata put the cherry on top of the cake by capitalizing on a Dejan Lovren mistake late on.
Sardar Azmoun pulled one back for Zenit in the final minutes of the game, but the Iranian’s goal wasn’t enough to trouble the Italian giants.
