PARIS, France: Alejandro Garnacho spared Chelsea’s blushes as the Argentine’s equaliser rescued a 2-2 draw against Qarabag.
Enzo Maresca’s side were in danger of an embarrassing loss in Baku after falling behind in the first half.
Estevao Willian gave Chelsea an early lead but Leandro Andrade equalised before Marko Jankovic converted a penalty to give the Azerbaijani minnows hope of a famous upset.
Former Manchester United winger, Garnacho, came off the bench to bail out the Blues with his composed finish after the interval.
“I think the big difference was inside the box,” said Chelsea boss, Enzo Maresca.
“Again we conceded silly goals that we could avoid and we could probably finish better with most of the actions that we created.”
Meanwhile, Dan Burn’s superb header set Newcastle on their way to a 2-0 home win over Athletic Bilbao.
Joelinton added a second shortly after half-time as the Magpies won for the third time in four European outings to move up to sixth place.
“Really pleased with today,” Newcastle manager, Eddie Howe, told TNT Sports.
“We had a quick turnaround for this game. I don’t think it was us at our best but we’re in a good position now in this competition.”
Jose Mourinho’s Benfica slumped to a fourth defeat in a row as Patrik Schick got the only goal in a 1-0 win for Bayer Leverkusen in Lisbon.
Ajax are also still without a point after Victor Osimhen bagged a hat-trick to power Galatasaray to a 3-0 victory in Amsterdam.
Osimhem is the top scorer with six goals in this season’s Champions League, one ahead of Haaland, Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe.
Lazar Samardzic hit a 90th-minute winner as Atalanta downed Marseille 1-0 at the Velodrome despite missing an early penalty.
Debutants Pafos from Cyprus picked up their first win as they beat Villarreal 1-0 thanks to a second-half header from Dutch defender, Derrick Luckassen. – AFP
