Buoyed by the expectedly loud home crowd, Heidenheim came out strong from the blocks and almost scored a goal within two minutes.

However, Chelsea quickly coped with the task and developed into a fairly even game over the next 20 to 25 minutes. Marc Guiu missed several good chances on the one hand, while Filip Jörgensen made several important saves on the other.

Christopher Nkunku then had a great chance to score the first goal but put his chip just over the bar after half an hour. A few minutes later, Mykhailo Mudryk appeared to win a penalty, but the referee thought he had dived and didn’t change his mind, even when he saw how wrong he was on the VAR review. That’s rare!

Nkunku, Guiu and even Tosin Adarabioyo all came close to scoring before the half-time whistle, but our finishing remained wasteful and we went into the break goalless.

The second half started similarly to the first, but then Chelsea took control and we opened the scoring with a really well-taken goal from Nkunku. We had chances to improve the game, but we couldn’t beat the home team away from home.

In return, they woke up and pushed for an equalizer in the final 20 minutes, with Jörgensen making another excellent stop to keep his team clean – and the defense holding a great line and recording two Heidenheim goals for offside.

Meanwhile, Chelsea had a couple of wonderful chances to put the game to bed before Mudryk showed everyone else how to finish properly by hitting the top corner with a great shot first time.

Job done…but not before Mr. Referee wanted to end the game as he had started as a star and continued to play the game until Casadei received a second yellow card and was sent off. Silliness.

Carefree.

• Ten changes from the weekend, only Benoît Badiashile keeps his place
• Nkunku has scored in every game in the Conference League so far, including qualifying
• Mudryk has scored in three straight Conference League games
• Sancho with a few assists
• A goalkeeping performance on both sides
• So that’s 4 wins out of 4 in the Conference League league and staying at the top
• Next up: Aston Villa at home on Sunday
• KTBFFH

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