Chelsea maintained their perfect start in the Conference League with a 2-0 victory away to Heidenheim, bringing them within one win of the last-16.
Mykhailo Mudryk and Christopher Nkunku both scored goals in the second half. Mudryk finished late with a beautiful finish into the top corner after Jadon Sancho’s cutback long after the break found the France international, who scored his 11th goal of the season.
They defied their lowly status to give Enzo Maresca’s team, who had Cesare Casadei sent off in stoppage time, their hardest challenge this season in Europe.
Heidenheim has been managed by Frank Schmidt for 17 years, during which time he has guided the team from the fifth division of German football to the Bundesliga and into Europe.
Using his second string once more, the Italian coach, who led Chelsea to their 18th Premier League victory under Schmidt, made ten changes from Saturday’s victory over Leicester.
Marc Guiu, a striker, was given a start as a result.
The 18-year-old nearly beat Kevin Muller at his near post after Mykhailo Mudryk’s ball, but the goalie made a quick save.
Paul Wanner, a teenager on loan from Bayern Munich, put Filip Jorgensen to the test in Chelsea’s goal before Guiu blocked Muller’s legs once more.
The visitors’ next near call came from Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, who fired a hard long-range shot that the goalie deflected for a corner.
After that, Wanner had the finest opportunity of the first twenty-five minutes.
He stole in between Chelsea’s defence and fired towards Jorgensen’s near post, but Maresca’s number two made a brilliant reaction stop to deny him.
Chelsea came within a hair of taking the lead at halftime when Tosin Adarabioyo, who scored his first goal for the team in the 8-0 thumping of Armenian team Noah earlier in November, arrived to meet a whipped free-kick just before the half. His poke went just past the post.
Five minutes after the interval, the breakthrough came. Dewsbury-Hall gained possession as Axel Disasi made a bold attempt to grab the ball near midfield.
He pushed it wide to Sancho on the right, and Nkunku collected his cross with a brilliant first touch before smashing it into the far corner to make it 1-0.
After a fierce battle for the lead, it was almost whipped away from them in a matter of minutes.
When the defence hesitated to clear the ball from the box’s edge, it broke to Leo Scienza, who struck it hard and low, initially in the bottom corner, but Jorgensen made another save.
Jorgensen was relieved to see Scienza’s bold, curling attempt from outside the box fall just inches short of the post a few moments later.
The goalie for Chelsea was undergoing the most extensive testing of his Chelsea career.
In the 69th minute, Wanner raced clear through, but he made a fantastic block to keep him out.
Maximilian Breunig’s header struck the top corner, but Chelsea was spared by the offside flag.
However, the visitors would have the final say when, four minutes from the end, Mudryk met Sancho’s low cross with a spectacular, soaring effort into the roof of the net.
