Shay Given rates Chelsea’s Champions League chances after Qarabag draw

Shay Given believes Chelsea do not have a chance of winning the Champions League this season after their 2-2 draw with Qarabag on Wednesday night.

Chelsea took the lead in the first half in Baku through Estevao but found themselves 2-1 down by half time.

Enzo Maresca made three changes at the break with Alejandro Garnacho, Liam Delap and Enzo Fernandez brought on, and it was Garnacho who levelled the score with an excellent low finish in the 53rd minute.

However, Chelsea looked vulnerable on the counter attack and the draw against Qarabag leaves them on seven points from four Champions League games so far.

‘I just felt Chelsea played within themselves, played with an arrogance, or they turned up tonight and [thought] it would be an easy win for them,’ Given told TNT Sports after Chelsea’s draw.

‘They had to make big substitutions at half time, bring the big guns on, obviously Garnacho made the difference second half with his goal and maybe could have even nicked it at the end.

‘But at the same time, the defending… Qarabag could have grabbed a late winner as well, by the way. It will be a worry from a Chelsea point of view how open they were and how easy they were to cut through at times.

‘Other teams will be looking at Chelsea – have they got a chance of winning this competition? I would say on tonight’s performance probably not.

‘Obviously off the back of the summer, they were brilliant at the Club World Cup, I feel like they’ve come off that a bit, they’ve dipped a bit.

‘It worries me at the back the defensive side of things. Caicedo came on earlier in the game, he [Maresca] probably wanted to rest him because he’s covered so much ground this season. Lavia again has his injury problems, he’s had to put Caicedo back in the team and make three big subs at half time to make a difference.’

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