Twelve of Chelsea’s 26 top-flight goals this campaign have been scored by defenders, as the Blues are without injured Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner. But tonight, Thomas Tuchel was relieved, not only Chelsea won against Malmo and continued it’s race with Juventus for the first place in Champions League Group H, but also because his forward Hakim Ziyech scored the only goal of the match: Malmo – Chelsea 0-1. 8 – Hakim Ziyech is now the joint-highest scoring Moroccan player in Champions League history, alongside former Arsenal star Marouane Chamakh (8 goals). Atlas. #MALCHE— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 2, 2021 With only his second goal of the season (since the Europen Super Cup win over Villarreal in August), Ziyech could also be the man of the match, as the Moroccan had four shots on goal, but also created four chances – twice as many as any other player on the pitch. Ziyech had a number of opportunities to score last week in the Premier League against Newcastle, and today he also missed a number of chances, but was by far the best player in his team. The only other player on the pitch who could come close to the Moroccan is Malme’s keeper Johan Dahlin, who made a number of great saves, and he is the only reason the game finished with only one goal in the net.Tuchel rotated his players before the Malme match, so Cesar Azpilicueta was back in place of Reece James, while Ruben Loftus-Cheek replaced N’Golo Kante in midfield. Marcos Alonso was finally back as left wing-back in place of Ben Chilwell. Of all substitutes who got the chance today, Loftus-Cheek was the best. He commanded the midfield, completed seven dribbles, and winning 14 duels – nearly twice as many as any other player.The only goal of the match finally came in the 56th minute, when Havertz (missed two chances) passed the ball to Callum Hudson-Odoi on the right, and the Englishman found Ziyech on the other end. Moroccan only needed to tap in and score his 8th goal in the Champions League, as many as former Arsenal scorer Chamakh, which ties him as the Moroccan with most goal in this competition. Malmo never tried to open up and try to equalize, and the statistics confirmed that: 0 shots on target, compared to Chelsea’s 11. The hosts are still winless in group H with for straight defeats and zero points.UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUEGroup stageTuesdayWolfsburg – Salzburg 2-1 (1-1)/Baku 3, Nmecha 60 – Wober 30/Malmo – Chelsea 0-1 (0-0)/Ziyech 56/ 23.00: (1.42) Villareal (5.10) Young Boys (8.00)23.00: (1.70) Sevilla (3.60) Lille (6.00)23.00: (3.15) Atalanta (3.50) Man.Utd. (2.42)23.00: (5.40) Dynamo Kyiv (3.70) Barcelona (1.75)23.00: (1.60) Juventus (4.00) Zenit (6.50)23.00: (1.20) Bayern (8.00) Benfica (14.0)Wednesday20.45: (2.00) Milan (3.50) Porto (4.10)20.45: (1.25) Real Madrid (6.75) Shakhtar (13.0)23.00: (11.0) Sheriff Tiraspol (6.00) Inter (1.30)23.00: (1.40) Sporting (4.90) Besiktas (9.00)23.00: (2.95) RB Leipzig (3.50) PSG (2.50)23.00: (1.13) Man.City (11.0) Club Brugge (19.0)23.00: (2.60) Dortmund (3.50) Ajax (2.80)23.00: (1.70) Liverpool (3.80) Atl.Madrid (5.70)***odds are subject to change
