Chelsea have recovered from an early missed penalty to take a 2-0 lead over Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Champions League Group G opener at Stamford Bridge.
Jose Mourinho said before the match that his side had both eyes on victory over the Israeli champions despite enduring their worst start to a domestic season in 29 years, but they missed a golden opportunity to take the lead after just six minutes.
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Maccabi goalkeeper Predrag Rajkovic was shown only yellow for bringing down Willian after former Chelsea defender Tal Ben Haim's mistake, but Eden Hazard skied his penalty over the crossbar.
Any thoughts that such a let-off meant that it was to be the visitors' lucky night were quickly quashed however, as Willian followed up a dangerous ball into the box with a whipped free kick which beat everyone before sailing past Rajkovic for the opener.
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The goalscorer had to be replaced by Diego Costa midway through the first half but that did not stop the Chelsea pressure as Gary Cahill just failed to hit the target with a header.
The visitors had a chance to net a shock equaliser when Eran Zahavi broke Chelsea's high line but could only put his header over the bar instead of converting his eighth Champions League goal of the season.
They were made to rue that miss on the stroke of half time as Ben Haim was adjudged to have fouled Costa and Oscar took over penalty duties from Hazard to double Chelsea's advantage on his return from injury.
Tom Nightingale
