\n Chelsea became the first club in Champions League history to have three teenagers score in a single match during our 5-1 win over Ajax. It is a record Enzo Maresca is proud of on a night where the strength of the Blues’ academy was clear to see.
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Marc Guiu<\/a> (19), Estevao Willian<\/a> (18) and substitute Tyrique George<\/a> (19) all scored during our resounding victory at the Bridge on Wednesday night, with Moises Caicedo<\/a> and Enzo Fernandez<\/a> also getting their names on the scoresheet.<\/p>\n It was a youthful starting XI for the Blues, as Jorrel Hato<\/a> (19), Facundo Buonanotte <\/a>(20) and Jamie Gittens<\/a> (21) were also brought into the line-up as part of ten changes by Maresca, with only Romeo Lavia<\/a> (21) keeping his place from Saturday’s 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest.<\/p>\n There were to be even more teenagers introduced during the second half, as George (19), Josh Acheampong<\/a> (19) and Reggie Walsh<\/a> (17 two days ago) all came on, along with fellow academy graduate Trevoh Chalobah<\/a>.<\/p>\n ‘I’m very proud. It’s a special night for the club, for the young players,’ Maresca said, when asked about becoming the first team to have three teenagers score in a single match.<\/p>\n ‘I think Guiu already scored for Chelsea five or six goals last year in the Conference League, Ty already scored also in the Premier League and Estevao is exactly the same. <\/p>\n ‘I think overall it was a great night, especially for these young players and for the club.’<\/p>\n Chelsea’s starting line-up had the average age of 22 years, 163 days, the youngest of any team in the Champions League this season.<\/p>\n The line-up is also the second youngest starting XI by an English side in Champions League history, with only Arsenal vs Olympiakos in December 2009 naming a younger side (21 years, 151 days). <\/p>\n It was also only the second time in our history where we have named three teenagers (Est\u00eav\u00e3o, Hato, Guiu) in our starting XI for a Champions League match, also doing so in November 2010 versus MSK Zilina (McEachran, Bruma, Kakuta). <\/p>\n When asked about Chelsea’s use of young players and giving them opportunties in competitions like the Champions League, Maresca replied: ‘It’s the strategy of the club. We have so many young players. I think already last season we were the youngest squad in the history of the Premier League, so this season we continue in the same way. <\/p>\n ‘We changed tonight from the Forest game ten players. It’s not easy from the Premier League to the Champions League to change so many players, but we need to do that, otherwise they are going to struggle because of many games. <\/p>\n ‘We need to protect some of the players. Tonight I think was also good because we could rotate players, especially with the red card.’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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