Christian Pulisic subbed on in the 74th minute of Chelsea’s 1-0 win at Malmo in group H. Hakim Ziyech scored in the 56th minute with Malmo finishing without a shot on goal. Romain Gall wasn’t in the squad for Malmo.
“Control was on our side,” Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel said. “We did not suffer difficult situations in our box, we didn’t allow awkward situations. We never lost concentration. It was a deserved win, a close one. There are a lot of reasons why you can stumble today, the pitch wasn’t in good condition, two away games and a lot of travelling, some injured players, but we don’t need to look for reasons because we got the job done.”
In the other group H game, Weston McKennie’s Juventus beat Zenit St Petersburg 4-2 at home. Paulo Dybala put Juve up in the 11th. Zenit equalized from a 26th minute own-goal, but Dybala converted a 58th minute penalty to return the Juventus lead. Federico Chiesa (73rd) and Alvaro Morata (82nd) added Juve goals. Zenit scored two minutes into stoppage time.
John Brooks’s Wolfsburg beat Brenden Aaronson’s RB Salzburg 2-1 at home in group G. Ridle Baku scored for Wolfsburg in the 3rd and Maximilian Wober equalized in the 30th. Lukas Nmecha scored Wolfsburg’s winner in the 60th minute. Brooks saw yellow in the 68th minute.
“It was a very, very intensive match from both teams,” Wolfsburg coach Florian Kohfeldt said. “The fact that we won it is very important for the group table and by the same token, for our confidence levels. And so while I’m absolutely delighted, we can’t ignore the fact that after working really hard to carve out a 1-0 lead, we didn’t play well. The match was on a knife-edge but we ended up getting a win over a very strong opponent.”
Staying in group G, Timothy Weah’s Lille beat Sevilla 2-1 on the road. Trailing from the 15th, Lille’s Jonathan David equalized from the penalty spot in the 43rd minute. Nanitomo Ikone scored their winner in the 51st minute. Jordan Pefok subbed on in the 82nd minute of Young Boys’ 2-0 loss at Villarreal in group F. Villarreal scored in the 36th and 89th minutes. Sergino Dest was a late omission from the Barcelona lineup in their 1-0 win at Dynamo Kyiv in group E. Ansu Fati 70th minute goal was the difference. Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen made four saves to keep the clean sheet. Chris Richards wasn’t in the squad for Bayern Munich’s 5-2 home win over Benfica in group E. Robert Lewandowski had a hat-trick for Bayern.
Moving to the Championship, Ethan Horvath wasn’t in the squad for Nottingham Forest’s 1-1 home draw with Sheffield United. Down a goal from the 78th, Lewis Grabban equalized in the 83rd minute. Duane Holmes subbed out in the 76th minute of Huddersfield Town’s 1-1 draw at Peterborough United. Daniel Ward put Huddersfield up in the 74th and Peterborough United equalized in the 84th minute. In League One, Lynden Gooch subbed out in the 72nd minute of Sunderland’s 3-0 loss at Sheffield Wednesday to goals in the 11th, 39th, and 53rd minutes.
In MLS, LAFC and Vancouver drew 1-1 at Banc of California Stadium. The Whitecaps took the lead through a 14th minute Cristian Dajome goal with Mamadou Fall equalizing for LAFC in first-half stoppage time. With one game left to play, Vancouver is in 6th-place and has not qualified for the playoffs. LAFC is in 9th, two points out of the final playoff spot.
“It can’t stop us,” LAFC coach Bob Bradley said. “This group has continued to push games in ways that I feel very good about, that we feel very good about. They’re really disappointed tonight because I think they felt the winner was there. We’re going to keep going and go to Colorado with an understanding that we got to do our job and hope we get a little bit of luck.”
MLSsoccer’s Charles Boehm previews the Red Bulls hosting Atlanta later tonight. ESPN’s James Olley asks about Chelsea’s goal scoring. The Independent’s Mark Critchley with an interesting take on Manchester United’s Champions League win.
THURSDAY’S SOCCER TV
Europa League on Galavision: Monaco vs PSV at 1:45pm and Leicester City vs Spartak Moscow at 4pm. TUDN has Legia Warsaw vs Napoli at 1:45pm and Bayer Leverkusen vs Real Betis at 4pm. Liga MX on TUDN: UNAM Pumas vs Santos Laguna at 9pm and Atlas vs Queretaro at 11pm ET.
HE’S BAAAAAAAAAACK 🐯 pic.twitter.com/aSPP6dINtQ
— Chelsea FC USA (@ChelseaFCinUSA) November 2, 2021
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