Former Premier League goalkeeper Shay Given believes Chelsea have no chance of winning the Champions League after dropping points against Qarabag.
The Blues were held to a 2-2 draw in Azerbaijan on Wednesday night, as they turned in a really disappointing performance.
Estevao gave Chelsea the lead, but two defensive errors saw Chelsea head into half time 2-1 down, before Alejandro Garnacho fired home an equaliser, but the Blues couldn’t find a winner.
Shay Given on Chelsea Champions League chances
The draw meant Chelsea couldn’t make it three wins in a row after beating Benfica and Ajax, and leaves Enzo Maresca’s men on seven points from four games.
A top eight finish secures an automatic path to the last 16, otherwise a two legged play-off needs to be navigated.
Chelsea have some tough games left with Barcelona later this month, before trips to Italy to face Atalanta and Napoli, whilst they finish at home against Pafos.
The Blues have shown they are very much a cup side and can cause surprises, but Given believes they’ve got no chance of winning the Champions League.
“I just felt Chelsea played within themselves, played with an arrogance, or they turned up tonight and [thought] it would be an easy win for them,” he told TNT Sports.
“They had to make big substitutions at half time, bring the big guns on, obviously Garnacho made the difference second half with his goal and maybe could have even nicked it at the end.
“But at the same time, the defending… Qarabag could have grabbed a late winner as well, by the way. It will be a worry from a Chelsea point of view how open they were and how easy they were to cut through at times.
“Other teams will be looking at Chelsea – have they got a chance of winning this competition? I would say on tonight’s performance probably not.”
More defensive concerns for Enzo Maresca
Maresca once again made changes at the back, and once again Chelsea made a number of errors, and Given admitted he was worried about the defence.
“Obviously off the back of the summer, they were brilliant at the Club World Cup, I feel like they’ve come off that a bit, they’ve dipped a bit.
“It worries me at the back the defensive side of things. Caicedo came on earlier in the game, he [Maresca] probably wanted to rest him because he’s covered so much ground this season.
“Lavia again has his injury problems, he’s had to put Caicedo back in the team and make three big subs at half time to make a difference.”
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