By SCM Staff Writer I Thursday, Nov. 06, 2025
AZERBAIJAN – CHELSEA faced a Champions League nightmare deep in Azerbaijan last night as they were held to an embarrassing 2-2 draw by minnows Qarabag FK in a match they should have wrapped up before the half-time tea.
The Blues made the near 5,000-mile round trip to the Tofig Bahramov Republican Stadium in Baku, but ended up looking like tourists who missed their flight home after a shambolic first-half display.
Garnacho, Enzo Fernandez and Liam Delap all had to be thrown on at the break by manager Enzo Maresca after the Azeri champions stunned the Premier League giants to take a shock lead.
The night started brightly enough when the brilliant Brazilian youngster Estêvão fired Chelsea ahead in the 15th minute, drilling home for what looked like the signal for a demolition job.
But Qarabag, roared on by a ferocious home crowd, clearly hadn’t read the script.
Chaos descended on the Chelsea defence as the hosts netted twice in nine dizzying minutes.
First, Leandro Andrade pounced on a rebound to lash home the equaliser on 29 minutes, and then came the real dagger.
Young defender Jorrel Hato was judged to have handled in the box, and Marko Jankovic stepped up to calmly slot the resulting penalty past Robert Sánchez, sending the Blues down the tunnel 2-1 down and sweating heavily.
Maresca’s triple half-time substitution worked immediately when star boy Alejandro Garnacho salvaged a point just seven minutes after the restart, firing a fine left-footed effort into the corner to level the score at 2-2.
The result spares Chelsea the ultimate embarrassment, but leaves them with plenty of questions to answer back in West London.
After an ordeal like that, the least they could have done was win. The flight home is going to be a long one!
