MOL Vidi 2-2 Chelsea: Chelsea player ratings | UEFA Europa League 2018-19
Chelsea travelled to Hungary to play their final group L match against MOL Vidi on Thursday. Already sitting pretty at the top of their group with a perfect 15 points out of five games, the West Londoners were hoping to make it six wins out of six.
Both sides met last time in October and the visitors won 1-0 courtesy an Alvaro Morata goal. The Hungarian champions were battling it out with fellow group L team BATE Borisov with whom they were level at six points and needed a better result than them against Chelsea in order to qualify for the knockout stage.
Maurizio Sarri was expecting a difficult match given that Vidi had plenty to play for:
‘For us it’s a very difficult match for us to prepare because we don’t have a material target. The last match against Vidi was really very difficult because they defended very well, with low density. It was difficult for us to score. Maybe it will be a different match because they are fighting for qualification and I think they need to win.’
As for squad news, goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga, Eden Hazard, Cesar Azplicueta, Antonio Rudiger, and Ngolo Kante were rested. Mateo Kovacic, Victor Moses, and Gary Cahill were missing due to injuries. A fresh face, academy player George McEachran was also with the travelling squad.
Sarri also talked about the two youngsters Ethan Ampadu and Callum Hudson-Odoi given that they were expected to feature in the heavily rotated lineup since the last game against Manchester City:
‘It’s up to them. Hudson-Odoi played in the Community Shield in August, he has played two matches in the Europa League. Tomorrow maybe he will be on the pitch. That is four opportunities. They only have to play very well in these opportunities, and for the moment Hudson-Odoi did it, and now I am looking forward to Ampadu doing it. He is a very good player.'
It was seen as a rare opportunity for the Chelsea thinktank to try out the fringe players ahead of the busy Christmas period. At the same time, the hosts were hoping for a historic result in Budapest to have a chance to qualify for the next stage.
Starting Lineups
Chelsea:
Caballero; Zappacosta, Ampadu, Christensen, Emerson; Fabregas (c), Barkley, Loftus-Cheek; Willian, Morata, Hudson-Odoi.
Subs: Cumming, David Luiz, Alonso, Jorginho, McEachran, Pedro, Giroud
MOL Vidi:
Kovacsik, Fiola, Juhasz (c), Vinicius, Stopira, Hadzic, Nego, Nikolov, Huszti, Milanov Scepovic.
Subs: Tujvel, Kovacs, Berecz, Hodzic, Patkai, Tamas, Hangya