Two goals from Christian Pulisic have helped Chelsea to a 5-3 win over Red Bull Salzburg on Wednesday night.
Pulisic netted twice during an eight-minute spell during the first half, while Ross Barkley, Pedro and Michy Batshuayi also got on the scoresheet for the Blues.
Salzburg's goals all came after the break with a Jerome Onguene header being followed by a late double from Takumi Minamino.
Find out how all of the action unfolded in Austria courtesy of Sports Mole's minute-by-minute updates below.
Hello and welcome to Sports Mole's live coverage of the pre-season friendly between Red Bull Salzburg and Chelsea. The Blues have won three of their five games ahead of the new campaign - which includes a victory over Barcelona - but Frank Lampard will want to see improvements from his side in Austria. As the two sets of players make their way out onto the pitch, let's see who features in each starting lineup...
RED BULL SALZBURG XI: Stankovic; Kristensen, Pongracic, Mwepu, Ulmer; Ashimeru, Samassekou, Camara, Szoboszlai; Hwang, Haaland
CHELSEA XI: Arrizabalaga; Azpilicueta, Zouma, Luiz, Palmieri; Kovacic, Jorginho, Barkley; Pedro, Abraham, Pulisic
KICKOFF: Salzburg get us underway!
SHOT! The home side have wasted no time in going on the front foot. Ashimeru found some space on the edge of the area, only for his low effort to be easily saved by Arrizabalaga.
Chelsea win a free kick on the edge of the area. It's in a central area, so expect Luiz to take an interest in this.
Well, Luiz did take an interest, but rather than shoot, the defender attempted a precise pass over the wall. It came nowhere near to coming off.
I'd say that we have a capacity crowd for this game. Salzburg have been on the up in recent years, but their supporters are clearly delighted to be welcoming a club from the Premier League.
CHANCE! This is a bit of a let off for Chelsea. Hwang broke clear of the backline before a combination of Palmieri and Arrizabalaga dealt with the immediate danger. However, the forward kept hold of the ball before having a goalbound shot cleared inside the six-yard area.
Better from the Blues, who engineer a move on the edge of the box. Abraham attempted a delicate touch through to a teammate, only for him to get too much power on his pass.
Rather than a pre-season friendly, this feels like a competitive game for both clubs. Lampard will be happy with the nature of the game so far.
We haven't seen too much of Pulisic so far. Much of Chelsea's work going forward has come down the centre or right.
Why didn't he shoot?! Palmieri surges forward before finding Pedro at the back post, around 12 yards from goal. However, the Spaniard instead attempts an ambitious pass on the volley, rather than attempting to find the back of the net.
GOAL! RED BULL SALZBURG 0-1 CHELSEA (CHRISTIAN PULISIC)
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GOAL! Now we have seen some of Pulisic! The USA international receives the ball around 30 yards from goal, before taking a couple of touches forward and finding the bottom corner with a low effort, which struck the inside of the post.
PENALTY! Chelsea now have a penalty, which is won by Pulisic! Kovacic plays the ball through to the winger, who is about to shoot before he is hauled down.
GOAL! RED BULL SALZBURG 0-2 CHELSEA (ROSS BARKLEY)
GOAL! Barkley pulls rank for the spot kick, successfully drilling a low effort to the goalkeeper's right.
That two-goal burst came out of nowhere. Chelsea had been gradually growing into the game, but the quality of Pulisic has changed the course of this friendly.
GOAL! RED BULL SALZBURG 0-3 CHELSEA (CHRISTIAN PULISIC)
GOAL! Wowzers. Chelsea survive a corner before taking the route one approach. A stunning long pass from Barkley finds the run of Pulisic, who controls the ball, holds off a defender and dinks a shot over the goalkeeper.
SHOT! Kovacic is now trying to get in on the act with a shot from distance. It's decent enough, but Stankovic is able to get down to his right to claim the ball.
Salzburg look a bit shell-shocked. They had been the better side before going behind.
SHOT! It's very nearly four. Palmieri has the space to bomb forward down the left, and he takes the opportunity to try to find the far top corner, only for Stankovic to tip his effort over the crossbar.
SAVE! Salzburg win a free kick around 30 yards from goal, but the distance will not prevent a shot on goal. It's a brillaint strike from Szoboszlai, too, with Arrizabalaga needing to fling himself to his left to palm the ball away.
Despite their lead, Chelsea are being made to fight for everything, especially in the middle of the park. It's been refreshing to see a friendly involve so many strong, but fair, challenges.
YELLOW CARD! Zouma goes into the book for tripping Haaland as he was about to take on Luiz.
Chelsea are having to do a fair bit of defending here. Lampard will be eager to see his side keep a clean sheet tonight, having conceded three at Reading on Sunday.
CHANCE! We haven't seen much of Abraham, but this was a chance for him to make it 4-0. An inswinging delivery found the frontman all on his own, but a header was directed well over the crossbar.
HALF TIME: Red Bull Salzburg 0-3 Chelsea
The half-time whistle goes in Austria and Chelsea lead by a 3-0 scoreline. Salzburg do not deserve to be trailing by that amount of goals, but they simply haven't been able to handle Pulisic.
RESULT! The full-time whistle has just gone in the friendly between Lyon and Liverpool, with the Premier League giants running out 3-1 victors. Click here if you wish to read our on-the-whistle match report.
KICKOFF: Chelsea get us back underway. Salzburg have made a wide array of changes, whereas the Blues have made none.
As you would expect, the home side have started the second half strongly. They are already showing plenty of intent with the ball, especially in the Chelsea half of the pitch.
GOAL! RED BULL SALZBURG 1-3 CHELSEA (JEROME ONGUENE)
GOAL! Salzburg are back in it. An inswinging corner is met by Onguene, who powers a header past Arrizabalaga from eight yards out. Zouma's marking of the centre-back was not good enough.
Chelsea are still showing signs of life at the other end, but they are being given a stiff examination at the back. There are more goals in this match.
Lampard is likely to bide his time before making any alterations. While his team are very much on the back foot, he will want to see how his players deal with this kind of test.
GOAL! RED BULL SALZBURG 1-4 CHELSEA (PEDRO)
GOAL! Wow. It's not the first time I have said that during this match.
Pedro has just scored an astonishing goal. Barkley whipped in an inswinging delivery, which his teammate back-heeled over the goalkeeper and into the far corner. It's majestic.
Chelsea have their flaws at the back, but they look delightful going forward. Barkley has been sensational during pre-season.
Going back to that Pedro goal, the home supporters just stood up and applauded. It really was that good.
CHANCE! Salzburg are still going in search of goals. Arrizabalaga made a half-decent save from a long-range effort, before Daka saw the rebound cleared off the line.
It won't be too long before Lampard makes his first batch of changes. The majority of these players also played the second half at Reading on Sunday.
Pedro has spent the last minute or so receiving some treatment on his ankle. Maybe he just wanted his own substitution so that he could get another round of applause?
It has been a while since the game went through a quiet patch such as this one. It is perhaps a sign that Chelsea are tiring and Salzburg are beginning to think about their fixture at the weekend.
Better from the Blues who put together an attack down the right, but the eventual cross is dealt with by the goalkeeper inside the six-yard box.
SUBSTITUTIONS! Here come some Chelsea changes. Kenedy, Mount, Batshuayi and Alonso have all been introduced.
The home side put together another move down one of the flanks, and Arrizabalaga needs to be alert to divert the ball away from danger when it is sent across the six-yard box.
Now Zouma and Barkley have to make timely blocks from goalbound efforts. Chelsea are still having to work hard here.
YELLOW CARD! Minamino goes into the book for Salzburg after fouling Kovacic, who requires some treatment.
SUBSTITUTIONS! Chelsea make a further two changes as Zappacosta and Christensen replace Kovacic and Azpilicueta.
PENALTY! Chelsea won a penalty in the first half, and Salzburg now have one in the second as a result of a foul by Zappacosta.
GOAL! RED BULL SALZBURG 2-4 CHELSEA (TAKUMI MINAMINO)
GOAL! Minamino is ruthless from 12 yards, firing the ball down the centre and into the roof of the net. There has been a seventh goal as well...
GOAL! RED BULL SALZBURG 2-5 CHELSEA (MICHY BATSHUAYI)
GOAL! This has been some game. Batshuayi is initially denied by a combination of the goalkeeper and the defender but the Belgian keeps hold of the ball to send a shot into the roof of the net from 10 yards out.
There will be two minutes of added-on time.
GOAL! RED BULL SALZBURG 3-5 CHELSEA (TAKUMI MINAMINO)
GOAL! Minamino has his second goal of the game. Azpilicueta made the save from point-blank range, but the ball rebounded off the Salzburg substitute and rolled into the net.
FULL TIME: Red Bull Salzburg 3-5 Chelsea
The full-time whistle goes in Austria and Chelsea have ran out 5-3 victors against Red Bull Salzburg in what turned out to be a crazy game in Austria. Lampard will take positives and negatives from the manner of the win, but this is Chelsea's fourth success in sixth pre-season outings. He would have taken that at the start of the month.
That will be all from Sports Mole for this game. Thank you for joining us this evening, and we hope to see you again soon.
If you would like to read our on-the-whistle match report, you can do so by clicking here. Goodbye for now.
Written by
Darren Plant
Darren Plant
