2024-12-19 22:02:00
Chelsea confirmed their dominance in the Conference League by finishing the league stage on top after another crushing home win over Shamrock Rovers.
Rovers started the day in sixth place but had no answer to the quality of Enzo Maresca’s shadow, with striker Marc Guiu helping himself with a first-half hat-trick.
The Irish side threatened early on as Johnny Kenny failed to put an end to a dangerous cross and Guiu quickly punished him by making the most of a defensive error to score.
The visitors were briefly level when Markus Poom – son of the former Derby, Sunderland and Arsenal goalkeeper Mart – fired through the crowd.
Marc Cucurella scores 5️⃣ for Chelsea 🤩
📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/booesylj6U
– Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) December 19, 2024
But another error allowed Guiu to put Chelsea back in front and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall all but sealed the victory with a clinical finish.
Guiu headed a cross from Noni Madueke well while after the break, Marc Cucurella burst into the box and finished like a centre-forward.
Chelsea will now play in the last 16 in March while Rovers – despite the heavy defeat – have a play-off place in February.
Marc Guiu is now the top scorer in the Conference League with 6 goals ⚡⚽️ pic.twitter.com/xGRSqP9Ygn
– Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) December 19, 2024
Guiu claims his rights?
Guiu, the 18-year-old former Barcelona striker has yet to start for manager Maresca in the Premier League, but selected for the fourth time in Europe, he showed a poacher’s instinct to bury the visiting team, twice intercepting passes to the goalkeeper to score before glancing in a beautiful header for his third.
Chelsea enjoyed over 80% possession in the opening 25 minutes, but it took a disastrous defensive error for them to take the lead.
Renato Veiga threw a looping ball forward for Tyrique George to chase down. Darragh Burns reached it first, but his wayward header towards his goalkeeper was woefully misjudged, allowing Guiu to volley and nod Chelsea in front.
Daniel Cleary gave Guiu another gift when his return pass to Leon Pohls was under-touched and took his goalkeeper nowhere, but had the perfect trajectory for Guiu to arrive first and round Pohls to bring the score to 2-1.
Maresca then sent academy graduates Samuel Rak-Sakyi, Harrison Murray-Campbell and Harvey Vale for a taste of European football, then 18-year-old winger George almost opened his account at Chelsea, rejected on the line by Rovers captain Lopes.
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