It took until the 86th minute for Chelsea to break the deadlock at the Eden Arena in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final tie with Slavia Prague.
Marcos Alonso‘s late header sees the Blues take a 1-0 lead into next Thursday’s return leg after his team toiled against their resilient Czech opponents.
The hosts will feel they deserved more from the game, having created a number of good chances against a much-changed Chelsea side.
Eden Hazard and N’Golo Kante were both brought off the bench during the second half as Maurizio Sarri was forced to use his key players to try and find a crucial away goal.
Chelsea will now be looking ahead to facing Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday as they continue to battle for a Champions League place on two fronts.
