There were flares, smoke bombs, furious chanting and no Eden Hazard for Chelsea to deal with but ultimately it was a case of job done as they got their Europa League campaign off to a winning start on a warm and wild night in northern Greece.
If this was meant to be a case of wandering into the lion’s den for Maurizio Sarri’s men then they departed with barely a scratch on them, with the only negatives to stew on being their lack of ruthlessness following Willian’s early goal and the injury sustained late on by Pedro.
Chelsea’s main worry however is another Spaniard, Alvaro Morata. The former Real Madrid and Juventus star endured yet another frustrating 90 minutes in-front of goal. Having lost his place as Chelsea’s starting striker in the Premier League to Olivier Giroud, The Europa League presented him with a chance to show manager Maurizio Sarri he deserves to start against the big boys.
Instead, the striker gave a woeful performance leaving the Chelsea fanbase concerned with their attacking options..
Wasteful..
Wasteful Morata! Everything is going wrong for this man.
— Rayz Rajbhandari (@Rayzz17) September 21, 2018
Advice..
Morata should start playing golf since his legs are useless.
— UnrulyBari (ex 🇳🇬) (@barrydante) September 21, 2018
Enough..
https://twitter.com/Sarrilogy/status/1043000556933984256
A bit harsh but still..
Chelsea win in Greece, and Álvaro Morata can now add the Europa League to the list of competitions he looks absolutely shite in.
— Paddy Power (@paddypower) September 20, 2018
Torres make 2?
Alvaro Morata lost his confidence at some point last season and has not been able to regain it since. If Morata was wearing number 9 and had blonde hair, you'd think a certain Spaniard by the name of Fernando Torres was still playing for Chelsea.
— EiF (@EiFSoccer) September 20, 2018
To sum it all up for Chelsea fans..
I feel every Chelsea fan has the same opinion on Morata:
– We expect nothing yet we’re still let down
– We want to love him but he makes it so hard— • (@Chelsea_Related) September 20, 2018
Alvaro Morata is doing everything he possibly can to convince Maurizio Sarri that Olivier Giroud deserves to start.
— 🇪🇸 (@Arrizabalager) September 20, 2018
Tired!
Fam, Morata can’t stay on his feet even against Greek vineyard tenders. I’m just tired
— uché (@MyNameIsUche) September 20, 2018