Chelsea began the evening with just one point from their opening two games of this season's UEFA Champions League group stage, and had a point to prove and three points to gain. Here's what we learnt....

No joy for the old boys

Former Chelsea players Olivier Giroud and Fikayo Tomori returned to Stamford Bridge in AC Milan's starting line-up. Whilst Giroud had a quiet game, and was replaced in the second half, Tomori was often at the heart of the action, paying close attention to former team-mate Reece James, who appeared to have the run of the right side of the pitch in the second half.

Tomori was lucky not to receive a second yellow card for a challenge on James, who ran the Milan defence ragged and saw them off in the games latter stages. Tomori will be particularly disappointed with his role in Chelsea's second goal. 

Reece James breaks barriers

On that note, with a man of the match performance, an assist and a goal, Reece James was undoubtably the games star performer. Having assisted Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang for his first home goal, the Stamford Bridge crowd were still singing James' name as he connected with a loose ball and drove into the box to smash the ball into the net.

His performance was so notable that he even received the recognition of the official Champions League Twitter account, calling out the 'special player', as did most of his team mates on their own social media accounts. Take notes Trent! 

Rafael Leao's talent is real

Though he had few opportunities to impress in the second half of the game, Rafael Leao, a player rumoured to have a price tag of £100million and to be interesting Chelsea, showed real flashes of talent.

He showed the ability to carry Milan going forward and tussled with James and opening goalscorer Wesley Fofana (and then his replacement Trevoh Chalobah) in the first half, where Milan had started the better of the times, keeping the ball in the opening minutes.

His play was physical and direct, cutting in from the left-hand side to drive towards Kepa's goal and he was unfortunate that his side's poor finishing failed to reward his performance as Milan's best player by far. 

Feeling the Chill

Ben Chilwell retained his place in the starting line-up for his best run of games for this season so far and was integral in keeping a clean sheet for Chelsea, also linking up well with Mason Mount down the left.

But his main contribution was to keep the score at 1-0, when he made a last ditch challenge to deter Rade Krunic as he attempted to strike the ball goal wards. The familiar substitution of Chilwell for Marc Cucurella, or vice-versa, didn't take place, which shows how solid Chilwell was at the back in Graham Potter's first clean sheet as manager, having shown his prowess in front of goal in Chelsea's last home league game against West Ham United in September.

Competition for places is rife as we know, but the arrival of Cucurella appears to have raised Chilwell's game and the effectiveness of the two wing-backs was as apparent as it was in the early stages of last season. Keeping quality players in these positions, in the event of injuries, is fundamental to Chelsea's success this season - and you sense that Potter knows it! 

Pottering On

Graham Potter secured his first home win as Chelsea manager and his first win in the Champions League with the win against AC Milan and puts his side in a healthy position to travel to the San Siro next week, with Chelsea now second in their group and confident of making it through to the knockout rounds.

Once the game seemed secure, Potter brought on Conor Gallagher and Armando Broja, both of which proved popular with the Stamford Bridge crowd who are keen to see young promising players given time to develop against top quality opponents.

Potter's challenge will be keeping his plethora of talent happy while he finds his best eleven, but with so many games to come, not to mention a World Cup, keeping his players fit and healthy, will also be a challenge.

Wesley Fofana left the game on crutches, after being withdrawn during the first half, and is likely to miss this weekend's clash against Wolverhampton Wanderers, though his replacement, Chalobah, also impressed when called upon. Cue the jokes about Potter working his magic....

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