Chelsea had to work much harder for Thursday night’s Conference League win over Heidenheim than they have done in previous matchdays in the competition.
It was a pretty even contest overall, Enzo Maresca’s team eventually going in front early in the second half through Christopher Nkunku and doubling that advantage towards the end of the game, courtesy of Mykhailo Mudryk.
But a raw Heidenheim were never out of the game and a more polished performance from them could have made this a quite different result in the end.
How the game unfolded
The visiting Blues, wearing white, dominated possession but both sides created plenty of chances from the earliest stages of the contest. Heidenheim, the ultimate underdog club after spending most of their history in Germany’s lower leagues, certainly weren’t overawed by the occasion.
Mikkel Kaufmann had an early sight of goal when he was just unable to connect with Leo Scienza’s free-kick. Marc Guiu and Kaufmann went on to trade chances, with the Chelsea youngster twice denied by Heidenheim stopper Kevin Muller either side of Filip Jorgensen saving from fellow Dane Kaufmann at the other end.
Both goalkeepers were soon called into action again, Muller parrying from Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Jorgensen keeping his wrist strong to divert a powerful Paul Wanner strike wide. Chelsea then wanted a penalty as Mudryk tumbled under pressure from two defenders. The referee was un-moved, even after a VAR review suggested he take another look at the pitch-side monitor.
Nkunku was the next Chelsea player to test Muller in the closing stages of the first half, but there was no stopping the prolific Frenchman once the game resumed after the break. Heidenheim won’t have been pleased with how it happened, losing the possession to Axel Diasi and the ball working its way into the box via Dewsbury-Hall and Jadon Sancho. Nkunku still had work to do, holding off the attentions of Lennard Maloney before steering past Muller.
Rather than kick on from breaking the deadlock, Chelsea found themselves under pressure. Maloney and Scienza both had chances as Heidenheim searched for the equaliser. Those failed to test Jorgensen, but the young goalkeeper soon proved his ability with a double save from Wanner.
Into the final 20 minutes and Nkunku should have extended Chelsea’s advantage when substitute Joao Felix put him through on goal with an entire half to run into. But Muller won the battle, as he then did against Dewsbury-Hall when the midfielder also only had the goalkeeper to beat.
Heidenheim had the ball in the net when substitute Maximilian Breunig stooped to head beyond Jorgensen, only for a flag to rule it out – he was visibly offside. The killer blow for the hosts finally came in the closing stages when Dewsbury-Hall and Sancho against combined, with the latter cutting it back to the edge of the box for Mudryk to lash in first time.
Remarkably, Breunig put the ball in the net again, but was again flagged offside.
Check out the player ratings for Heidenheim vs Chelsea here.
On paper, this was Chelsea’s toughest game in the Conference League so far and that proved to be the case in reality. Heidenheim weren’t scared of having a go at their illustrious visitors from the first whistle to the last, and a slightly more refined performance might have made it even closer.
Filip Jorgensen made 11 saves over the course of 97 minutes, which was four more than opposite number Kevin Muller. The Denmark Under-21 international pulled off a particularly important double stop when Chelsea had just gone 1-0 up, with the result eventually hinging on that moment.
Jorgensen has been a back-up to Robert Sanchez in the Premier League since joining from Villarreal in the summer, but his displays in Europe – and especially this one – have strengthened his case to be considered becoming the full-time starter moving forward.
As much as Chelsea were put under pressure from Heidenheim, there were also plenty of opportunities to ultimately be out of sight. Christopher Nkunku was guilty of missing one of those, a breakaway one-on-one that he couldn’t convert.
But the Frenchman did break the deadlock with a calm and composed finish, his seventh Conference League goal in six games – including qualifiers – so far this season. He isn’t a starter in the Premier League, mainly because of Cole Palmer, but Chelsea can rely on him in Europe.
Unfortunately, injury seemed to end Nkunku’s night with around 15 minutes to play. He didn’t quite look in full flight when he was played in for that aforementioned one-on-one and was substituted quickly afterwards following a short period of treatment on the pitch.
The Conference League has been an important stage for teenage talent Marc Guiu to get chances. The former Barcelona youngster was bright from the start here and saw a number of goalscoring opportunities fall his way in the first half that he couldn’t quite take.
It’s promising that Guiu is getting himself into the right positions and not losing hope if such chances do go begging. But he will be disappointed all the same that he couldn’t take at least one.
