Maccabi Tel Aviv vs Chelsea match report: Blues need just a draw in final game after win in Israel

Maccabi Tel Aviv 0 Chelsea 4

(Getty Images)

This was a small step in the right direction for a Chelsea team still lacking the confidence to make big strides. They won last night, beating Maccabi Tel Aviv 4-0, completing a second successive victory for just the third time this season. They moved up to 10 points in Group G, but because of Dynamo Kiev’s surprising win in Porto they have not confirmed qualification to the last-16 quite yet.

Winning 4-0 in Haifa on a pitch as bad as this one is impressive, although the scoreline slightly flatters Chelsea. They threatened to lose control of this game in the second half, when 1-0 up and only facing 10 men, and needed two Asmir Begovic saves to stay ahead.

It took yet another Willian free-kick to get Chelsea out of that squeeze and there are certainly still questions to be asked about their capacity to create and score in open play. Diego Costa’s lack of movement in the first half prompted a ferocious row with Jose Mourinho, which Costa was fortunate to survive. With John Terry limping off in the second half, this is still a team surrounded by questions as they head back to White Hart Lane on Sunday.

When asked about the win, Mourinho told BT Sport: “It’s very important, especially with what happened in Porto. We really needed to win this match. I hope morale comes, tranquillity comes, confidence comes from this result.

“We [have been] for a long time without two consecutive victories. Everything [in the group] is open for last match but at this moment we are in a good position.”

Mourinho said that Terry is a doubt for the Tottenham game after being carried off on a stretcher.

“We already had one injury on this pitch in training with Ramires Another one tonight with John Terry. We are lucky it was just two. Of course he is a doubt. I don’t want to speak without having tests back in London. I think he is a really big doubt.”

Even given Maccabi’s lack of European pedigree, this was far from the ideal fixture for a team trying to drag themselves out of a slump. In a loud ground, on an awful pitch, 2,000 miles from home, Chelsea came up against a side desperate to make up for their 4-0 embarrassment in September. Chelsea could be forgiven for taking two minutes to get used to their surroundings, but in those two minutes they should have conceded, as Dor Peretz headed over with the first move of the match.

Once Chelsea settled they were a class apart from their tireless but limited hosts. With Oscar, Cesc Fabregas and Nemanja Matic reunited in midfield, they dominated possession, stroking the ball around and hoping for a way through.


 John Terry is a doubt for the Spurs match after being carried off on a stretcher
 (Getty Images)

It came, as it often does with Chelsea these days, from a set piece. Gary Cahill headed Willian’s corner, only for Predrag Rajkovic to turn it onto the post. Cahill was first to the rebound, though, and he finished comfortably.

That stacked the odds in Chelsea’s favour, and when Tal Ben Haim was sent off, any chance of an even game might have gone with him. Ben Haim should be experienced enough to keep his head in games like this, but his ugly double-kick at Diego Costa suggested otherwise.

Costa had not been at his sharpest and when, just before the break, he declined to make a run onto a clever Fabregas pass, Mourinho turned around and kicked the turf in disgust. As Costa walked off at the break, Mourinho told him how he felt, and Costa responded in kind. Loic Remy spent the interval warming up, and when Costa re-emerged 15 minutes later it was one of the surprises of the night.

Almost as unexpected, though, was the ferocious second-half contest Maccabi’s 10 men produced. Catching Chelsea unaware, Maccabi right-back Eli Dasa ran round the back, forcing a save from Asmir Begovic, before Peretz failed to turn in a free-kick from a similar position. When Tal Ben Haim – the winger, still on the pitch – darted down the right on the break, Begovic was required again to keep the ball out of the top corner of the net.

This was the type of tense period that Chelsea have struggled with this season, but they came through it thanks to another set-piece. It was a Willian free-kick which beat Dynamo Kiev two weeks ago and here, the same man killed the game, in the same way, bending the ball over the wall and into the corner.

With the win assured, if not qualification, Chelsea started to open up. They have not scored many good goals in open play this year, but they made one to be very proud of here. Baba Rahman crossed from the left and Oscar darted into the box to head past Rajkovic. The Serbian goalkeeper had made some good saves but he was left with the same scoreline from Stamford Bridge, as Chelsea scored a fourth in added time. Kurt Zouma, on for the injured John Terry, headed in Oscar’s corner.