Juventus Crushed At Stamford Bridge

JAKARTA - Chelsea continued their step to the last 16 of the Champions League after destroying Juventus 4-0 in the preliminary Group H match at Stamford Bridge Stadium, London, England, Thursday morning.

Citing Antara, with this victory, Chelsea qualified from Group H with Juventus, who had made sure to qualify since the beginning of this month.

The win was also enough to see the reigning champions take over the top spot in Group H with a head-to-head goal difference advantage over Juve, even though they are both on 12 points.

Despite starting the game without a pure striker due to injury to Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner not yet 100 percent fit, Chelsea did not lack a supply of goals coming from defenders Trevoh Chalobah and Reece James and winger Callum Hudson-Odoi.

Then Werner, who came on as a substitute in the middle of the second half, also found the net against Juve to complete the 4-0 victory recorded by Chelsea.

Chalobah continued to prove his worth as one of Cobham's best midfielders as Chelsea took the lead in the 25th minute after capitalizing on a corner to finish off Antonio Ruediger's chest.

Juventus players protested the goal because they thought the ball had hit Ruediger's arm first, but VAR said otherwise and still confirmed the hosts' advantage.

Juventus almost hit back three minutes later, through Alvaro Morata who had beaten goalkeeper Edouard Mendy but Thiago Silva rushed to clear the ball before it crossed the line.

Chelsea's advantage lasted until the break and was doubled by James, who is currently the Blues' top scorer in the Premier League with four goals, through a powerful shot that did not give goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny a chance to block it in the 55th minute.

Three minutes later, the visitors' goal was conceded again as Ruben Loftus-Cheek burst into the Juve box and the space was closed, but the Chelsea midfielder carefully watched Hudson-Odoi stand free to finish for the third.

Mendy in the 83rd minute made an important save by deflecting Weston McKennie's volley from the edge of the box onto the crossbar to keep Chelsea's record of not conceding last until dispersal.

The clean sheet was complemented by Chelsea's fourth goal which was scored by Werner in the fifth minute of injury time using Hakim Ziyech's pass to close the game with the final score 4-0.

The only thing that may cause concern for Thomas Tuchel in this match is the exit of N'Golo Kante in the 37th minute due to injury.

Chelsea will close out Group H with a trip to Russia against Zenit St. Petersburg on December 8, while Juventus host Malmo FF at the Allianz Stadium.