Chelsea v Sporting Lisbon 3-1: Match report

Chelsea finished the Champions League group stage by becoming one of only three unbeaten teams to go through to the next stage.

A penalty goal from Cesc Fabregas opened the scoring before Andre Schurrle doubled the lead inside 16 minutes. John Obi Mikel scored a rare goal in the second half to make it three for Chelsea after Jonathan Silva had pulled one back for Sporting.

The Portuguese side needed only a point from the Bridge to go through to the knockout stages of the competition, but have to prepare for Europa League in February as they lost and Schalke won against Maribor.

First Half

Jose Mourinho made a few changes to the team that lost at Newcastle, giving Eden Hazard, John Terry, Thibaut Courtois, Oscar, Branislav Ivanovic and Willian a well-deserved break.

That opened up for squad rotation with Petr Cech, Filipe Luis, Kurt Zouma, Andre Schurrle, Mikel and Mohamed Salah all starting.

Luis was quickly involved down the left side when he received the ball inside the area. He was brought down after a cheeky nutmeg before attempting to run past Ricardo Esgaio, and the referee pointed to the spot.

Fabregas sent the keeper to his right side before he calmly placed the ball in the middle of the goal.

At 16 minutes, Nemanja Matic played in Schurrle on about 20 yards. The German international turned swiftly before finding the bottom corner for Chelsea’s second goal on the night.

Both Schurrle, Matic and Sporting’s Islam Slimani had decent opportunities to add to the scoring in the first half, but all failed to find the back of the net.

Second half

Sporting needed goals in this game and came quickly out of the blocks in the second half.

Just six minutes into the half they got their goal when Andre Carrillo crossed from the right side. Schurrle’s clearing header fell straight into the feet of Silva, who pulled one back for the visitors with a decent finish along the ground.

Few minutes later Chelsea got a freekick on their left side and Fabregas curled it in towards the goal. Gary Cahill got his head to the ball and flicked it towards the goal where Mikel popped up out of nowhere to get Chelsea’s third from only half a yard out.

The points were then sealed and despite their best efforts, Sporting could do nothing to prevent a two-goal defeat at the Bridge.

Chelsea are through as group winners and we will be following the draw for the next stage.

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Cech (c); Azpilicueta, Zouma, Cahill, Filipe Luis; Mikel, Matic; Schurrle (Ramires 74), Fabregas (Loftus-Cheek 83), Salah (Remy 71); Diego Costa.