![\"Joao](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/skysports-joao-pedro-chelsea_7316704.jpg\")
<\/p>\nChelsea bounced back from back-to-back pre-season defeats with their best performance under Xabi Alonso so far as Joao Pedro’s double helped them to a convincing 3-0 win over AC Milan in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The Blues’ previous hybrid between 4-2-3-1 and Alonso’s patented 3-4-3 was ditched in favour of the latter and paid off against the Serie A heavyweights, with Marco Palestra shining at left wing-back and the impact of new set-piece coach Austin McPhee already evident.<\/p>\n
Chelsea scored 10 goals from corners across the whole Premier League season in 2025\/26 but managed two in 90 minutes here, with Joao Pedro peeling off Milan goalkeeper Lorenzo Torriani to glance Moises Caicedo’s delivery home unmarked, moments before the break.<\/p>\n
He doubled his and Chelsea’s lead within a minute of the restart by pouncing at the back post to turn home Pedro Neto’s in-swinging cross, before Caicedo turned provider to scorer by latching onto a volley from another corner from the edge of the box three minutes later.<\/p>\n
Chelsea could have had more with substitutes Geovany Quenda and Nicolas Jackson both lively and denied by the woodwork, but they could settle for a morale-boosting victory and more than an hour in the legs for most of a strong starting line-up in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Image:
\n Joao Pedro nodded Chelsea ahead moments before half-time<\/p>\n
The key moments from Jakarta…27: SAVE! Neto forces Torriani into his first real save of note with a curling effort from a loose ball which has him at full stretch.42: BIG MISS! Joao Pedro should have Chelsea ahead after Palestra turns inside well with the ball and feeds him, but he scoops his first-time effort over when well-placed.45+2: GOAL! Joao Pedro makes up for that miss by turning home Caicedo’s cross from a corner for the opener.46: GOAL! Two goals in as many minutes as Joao Pedro takes advantage of Milan’s seven half-time changes to smartly finish Neto’s cross from close range.49: GOAL! Caicedo makes it three when he latches onto another corner to volley home from the edge of the box.74: POST! Quenda stands up his man in the Milan area before driving past him and smacking the near post with a powerful effort.83: POST! Jackson does likewise on the far side after a fine run as he looks to find the near corner and beat Torriani.87: CHANCE! Estevao is played through down the right and goes straight for goal, before he looks to lift the ball over Torriani who stays tall and turns it over the bar.Analysis: Plenty to please Alonso as identity begins to take shape<\/p>\n
Sky Sports’ Ron Walker:<\/p>\n
It hasn’t always been the case for Chelsea this pre-season but there’s no arguing the virtues of their victory today.<\/p>\n
A number of players impressed, and we perhaps saw the first knockings of the Austin McPhee era of set pieces – a much-needed improvement if this is anything to go by.<\/p>\n
Here’s a summary of what the Blues might take away from this afternoon:<\/p>\n
Palestra’s versatility – The Italian’s ability with both feet makes him an especially useful outlet at wing-back on either side, and he was one of the Blues’ best performers off the left – teeing up Danny Welbeck in the first half before going close to a goal himself in the second. The 21-year-old offered extra threat with his ability to turn inside or out.Set-piece improvements – Chelsea scored 10 goals from corners in the Premier League last season, almost half the total of champions Arsenal, but netted two either side of half-time against AC Milan. Is set-piece coach Austin McPhee, appointed a couple of weeks back, already making an impact?Alonso hallmarks taking shape – In previous games we have seen more of a hybrid 4-2-3-1 and 3-4-3 from Xabi Alonso but this was the latter in all its glory, with Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia given significant responsibility in midfield – and they both shone. Caicedo regularly dropped into the back three to start the build-up while Lavia man-marked Luka Modric, who was largely anonymous.Morale-boosting win – It’s only pre-season but everyone likes winning, right? After back-to-back defeats, including a toothless display against Juventus three days ago, this was a promising return to form, especially with the number of chances created and goals scored.I’m sorry, Mr Jackson? – Nicolas Jackson did everything but score from the bench in his half-hour cameo and was generally superb, creating a fine chance for Cole Palmer with a reverse pass before hitting the woodwork after creating space for himself with a jinking run. Might there be a role for him yet at Stamford Bridge?Chelsea’s pre-season so far…<\/a><\/p>\n July 28: Chelsea 6-4 Western Sydney Wanderers<\/a> – Sydney
August 1: Chelsea 1-2 Tottenham<\/a> – Sydney
August 5: Chelsea 0-1 Juventus<\/a> – Hong Kong
August 8: Chelsea 3-0 AC Milan<\/a> – Jakarta
August 9: Johor Darul Ta’zim vs Chelsea – Johor, 1pm
August 15: Chelsea vs Real Sociedad – Stamford Bridge, 2pm<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chelsea bounced back from back-to-back pre-season defeats with their best performance under Xabi Alonso so far as Joao…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":587199,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-587198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=587198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587198\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/587199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=587198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=587198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=587198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}