Willian scored a wonderful free-kick to spare Jose Mourinho’s blushes as Chelsea beat Dynamo Kiev 2-1 in the Champions League.
Chelsea were in control of Wednesday night’s match after Kiev’s Aleksandar Dragovic headed past his own ‘keeper in the first half, but the centre-back redeemed himself and left Stamford Bridge stunned by netting an equaliser on 77 minutes.
With the pressure mounting, Mourinho threw on Eden Hazard from the bench and he won the free-kick from which Willian hammered the ball into the top corner with eight minutes remaining.
The result leaves Chelsea in a strong positon to qualify from Group G as they have taken seven points from four games, with a trip to Maccabi Tel Aviv and a home match against Porto to come.
Chelsea’s home defeat against Liverpool on Saturday was remarkably the reigning Premier League champions’ sixth league loss in 11, leaving Mourinho under intense pressure to keep his job.
Chants of ‘Jose Mourinho’ erupted in the moments prior to kick-off against Kiev and continued throughout as the home faithful showed their support.
The Blues, with Hazard dropped to the bench as one of three changes, started well and Oscar steered a Cesar Azpilicueta cross straight at Dynamo goalkeeper Olexandr Shovkovskiy.
Costa blasted over before Chelsea went ahead after Asmir Begovic’s unconvincing clearance found Baba Rahman, in at left-back.
His cross-field pass found Willian, whose cross was turned in at the near post by Dragovic in the 34th minute.
Diego Costa then burst past Dragovic and Yevhen Khacheridi just before half-time and hit the deck looking for a penalty, but the referee waved away his strong appeal.
Kiev came out with a renewed vigour in the second half and Kurt Zouma’s fine tackle denied Artem Kravets as the Dynamo forward raced through on goal.
Chelsea survived a penalty appeal against them when Derlis Gonzalez felt his shot had been handled by Ramires.
Dynamo continued to press, with substitute Junior Moraes seeing his shot repelled by Begovic before Zouma fluffed a chance from just three yards out to double a fragile lead.
That lead was eroded away just four minutes later.
Begovic failed to reach a high ball from a corner and Dragovic showed great control to fire in.
Mourinho then unleased Hazard into the fray – and it was a change that worked wonders.
His skill drew a foul 25 yards out and Willian, one of few players to be absolved of blame amid a miserable run, strode up and whacked a tremendous effort into the top corner.
Source Skysports
