Chelsea teenagers smash Ajax in five-star win
Chelsea made it back-to-back Champions League victories as Enzo Maresca's talented teenagers starred in the Premier League club's 5-1 rout of 10-man Ajax at Stamford Bridge.
The game was put to bed during a frantic opening period that saw a red card, three penalties and five goals, though it was the Blues who eased to victory.
Ajax was a man down after just 17 minutes when captain Kenneth Taylor lunged into a challenge with Facundo Buonanotte, with the initial yellow card upgraded to red after a pitch-side review.
Chelsea made its man advantage count immediately when Marc Guiu tucked Wesley Fofana's header across the box past Remko Pasveer from close range.
Moises Caicedo doubled the Blues' advantage nine minutes later when his shot from distance deflected off Josip Sutalo and into the net, but the first of three first-half penalties was then awarded to the visitors after a clumsy tackle from Tosin Adarabioyo.
The Chelsea defender stepped on the foot of Raul Moro, with Wout Weghorst stepping up to place the ball into the bottom-right corner for Ajax's first goal in the Champions League this season in the 33rd minute.
Weghorst was involved at the other end on the stroke of half-time as he recklessly fouled Enzo Fernandez inside the box, with the Chelsea captain coolly dispatching from 12 yards.
Referee Felix Zwayer pointed to the spot for the third time in the sixth minute of first-half stoppage time when Youri Baas clipped Estevao, who dusted himself down to score the penalty handed to him by Fernandez.
Not wanting to rest on its sizeable advantage, Chelsea moved four goals clear three minutes after the restart through Tyrique George, whose deflected strike wrong-footed Pasveer.
Chelsea was unable to build on its lead, with Estevao and Jamie Gittens going close, though the host was comfortably out of sight to continue impressive run of recent results.
