Chelsea managed to hang on for their first International Champions Cup victory over Liverpool on Wednesday night. Gary Cahill scored the game’s loan goal in the opening half. Even when the London-based club went down to 10-men late on, they managed to stay compact enough to pick up the full three points.          

Chelsea find the opening goal

The opening goal of the match came on just 10 minutes. Chelsea had won a corner which Cesc Fabregas stood over. Fabregas whipped his delivery to the far post where Gary Cahill made darting run. Cahill got enough power into his header to nod it past Liverpool’s Loris Karius.

Seven minutes after the goal, the Reds had their first decent chance of the night. Alberto Moreno tried to send a ball towards the right of the penalty box but he over hit his attempt by just a few inches. On 22 minutes, Liverpool nearly found their equalizer. Philippe Coutinho sent a free kick towards what would have been the far post. However, Asmir Begovic made a fantastic diving save to preserve his clean sheet.

Most of Chelsea’s attack came down the left hand side of the pitch in the opening 45 minutes. That in part was due to Victor Moses’ domination down that wing. Throughout preseason, the 25-year-old has shown that he has the potential to make an impact on the Chelsea squad. Tonight proved to be more of the same. In the 33rd minute, Moses slashed at the ball from well outside the area. While the attempt missed the target completely, it showed Moses’ brilliance.

Three minutes following the Moses chance, Liverpool were certain they had found their first goal of the night. They built up play nicely before a ball got slipped through to Roberto Firmino. Firmino thought he had placed his shot into the back of the net. Unfortunately, he was a couple of steps in front of the Chelsea backline. As a result, the assistant referee rose his flag and the cheers from the Liverpool supporters quickly stopped celebrating.

Late on in the second half, Chelsea were reduced to 10 men. The Blues lost possession in the middle of the area and Cesc Fabregas went to ty to win the ball back. Fabregas went in late on a challenge with Liverpool defender Ragnar Klavan. The studs of Fabregas were showing and the tackle was late. It might have been harsh because it’s a pre-season friendly, but the referee gave the correct decision in the end.

Coming up next

Both sides continue their International Champions Cup campaign this weekend. Chelsea travel to Ann Arbor, Michigan to face off against La Liga giants Real Madrid. The Reds head back to their base in Northern California to play Italian side AC Milan

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