Chelsea confirmed their dominance in the Conference League and ended the league phase as league leaders after another comfortable home win against Shamrock Rovers.
Rovers started the day in sixth place but had no answer to the quality of Enzo Maresca’s shadow side as striker Marc Guiu scored a first-half hat-trick.
The Irish team threatened early on when Johnny Kenny failed to block a dangerous cross and Guiu quickly punished him by taking advantage of a defensive error and scoring.
The visitors were briefly level when Markus Poom – son of former Derby, Sunderland and Arsenal goalkeeper Mart – shot through a crowd.
Marc Cucurella makes it 5️⃣ for Chelsea 🤩
📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/booesylj6U
– Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) December 19, 2024
But another mistake allowed Guiu to put Chelsea back in the lead and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall sealed victory with a confident finish.
Guiu headed well from Noni Madueke’s cross, while Marc Cucurella broke into the box after the break and finished like a centre-forward.
Chelsea will now play in the round of 16 in March, while Rovers – despite the heavy defeat – have a place in the play-off round in February.
Marc Guiu is now the top scorer in the Conference League with 6 goals ⚡⚽️ pic.twitter.com/xGRSqP9Ygn
– Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) December 19, 2024
Guiu stakes his claim?
Guiu, the 18-year-old former Barcelona striker, is not yet in head coach Maresca’s starting XI in the Premier League but has been selected for the fourth time in Europe. He showed a poacher’s instinct to bury the visiting team, twice intercepting passes back to the goalkeeper to score before scoring his third with a fine header.
Chelsea had more than 80 percent possession in the first 25 minutes, but it took a catastrophic defensive error to take the lead.
Renato Veiga threw a looping ball forward for Tyrique George to chase. Darragh Burns was the first to get there, but his header back to his goalkeeper was completely misjudged, allowing Guiu to sneak in and put Chelsea ahead.
Daniel Cleary offered Guiu another gift when his pass back to Leon Pohls was undercut and couldn’t reach his goalkeeper, but he had the perfect trajectory for Guiu to get there first and get around Pohls to make it 2-1 achieve.
Maresca later sent academy graduates Samuel Rak-Sakyi, Harrison Murray-Campbell and Harvey Vale to get a taste of European football. The then 18-year-old winger George almost opened his Chelsea account, but Rovers captain Lopes refused on the line.
