Just a few minutes into the second half, something in Hakim Ziyech’s muscle memory seemed to click. Kai Havertz drove into the opponent’s half and dropped the ball off at the feet of his teammate. A single, deft touch took it out of Ziyech’s feet, settling it perfectly like a free-kick in a menacing area 25 yards from the byline in the right-hand channel. His second touch whipped it into the box, bending wickedly towards the “Corridor of Uncertainty” for a goalkeeper between the six-yard line and the penalty spot. Timo Werner was hovering waiting but the Krasnodar defence were just about alert to the threat.
The ball it lead nothing more than a skewed, second-effort shot from Mateo Kovacic on the edge of the box, but it was a sign that Ziyech, starting for Chelsea for the first time since his £36million move from Ajax, was starting to find his feet. By the end of the game, he would have 80 minutes of football under his belt and his first Chelsea goal, the third of four scored on the night.
All of this should be familiar. Chelsea fans will remember well the perfect left-footed cross Ziyech summoned for Ajax to find Quincy Promes at the back post during their mad 4-4 Champions League game this time last year. It was a pattern he often followed, cutting back to bend the ball in from deep and Promes was more often than not the chief beneficiary. Werner, who relishes drifting in between centre-half and left-back, may be thinking he too can be similarly successful if the pair start together more often in the future.
With Roman Abramovich in the stadium, it is possible Frank Lampard felt under pressure to put on his Sunday best, tactically: his actual outfit of a round-necked jumper with no shirt underneath and suit trousers left something to be desired. Along with Ziyech, Werner, Havertz and Ben Chilwell all started. When you include goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, there was £221m of shiny new talent on show for Abramovich to admire.
The front four, which included Callum Hudson-Odoi who has only started one Premier League game this season and has to prove he will not be the odd man out in Chelsea’s new-look squad, played with remarkable fluidity when you consider the paucity of time they have spent together as a squad.
Ziyech started ostensibly on the right hand side of the three in a 4-2-3-1 shape. It is his preferred position but with Havertz also present, who likes to drift from central areas into channels on either side, the Moroccan often found himself drifting centrally or as Werner came deep to try to drive at defenders, he was often the furthest Chelsea player forward.
It took him some 10 minutes to have a meaningful touch but when he did, it was clear Krasnodar had done their homework. , and when he picked the ball up in a similar area, Evgeni Chernov’s plan was clear: show him down the line onto his right. It was almost comical how much space he allowed to his left, Ziyech’s right, and he tried to catch the goalkeeper out with a shot at the near post.
The plan was recognised quickly and the dual threat of Ziyech became immediately apparent. Three minutes later, he came inside with the ball and drew two defenders, both blocking his left foot, creating a huge space for Cesar Azpilicueta. He found Werner who was tripped for the penalty that Jorginho missed.
Ziyech continued to come inside and Azpilicueta, who is by no means Chelsea’s most attacking option at right-back, was more than happy to trouble the Krasnodar defence on the overlap and less frequently the underlap. One can only imagine that Reece James on the Chelsea bench was licking his lips at what he was watching as time and again Ziyech drew defensive eyes and bodies inside.
Once he had landed that first cross in the second half, he seemed to grow in confidence and could or perhaps should have had a goal for his troubles in the 67th minute, bamboozling his marker with step-overs but scuffed his shot straight at the keeper.
There was little sign of tiring either; Lampard made a triple change with 20 minutes left but left the Moroccan, who had not started a game since March, out on the pitch.
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