Ziyech: Chelsea winger's imposing cameo impact against RB Salzburg

Hakim Ziyech put up a fine showing as Chelsea played out a 1-1 draw with RB Salzburg in Wednesday’s Champions League outing.

The Morocco international was introduced for Cesar Azpilicueta in the 81st minute at Stamford Bridge. Nevertheless, he could not help the Blues overcome the Red Bulls.

Even at that, statistics proved that Ziyech put up a decent showing despite featuring for nine minutes against Matthias Jaissle’s men.

The former Ajax man accounted for three shots on target, three crosses, and one dribble.

In the tight encounter, the 29-year-old was dispossessed once with 18 touches, six passes and 66.7% passing accuracy to his credit.

Defensively, Ziyech did not add any value to Graham Potter’s team as he scored zero per tackles, interceptions and blocked shots.

That was not the case for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who was replaced by Armando Broja in the 66th minute after an insignificant showing.

The former Gabon international contributed three shots – which went off target – and was caught offside once.

Elsewhere, Senegal international Kalidou Koulibaly, Nigeria prospect Carney Chukwuemeka, and Sierra Leone prospect Trevoh Chalobah were unused substitutes while injury ruled out goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.

“We’re frustrated with just the one point,” Potter told the Chelsea website.

“I thought the application and attitude of the players was fantastic and I really enjoyed how they went about their work against a good opponent that makes it difficult for you.

“We got Raheem into some good one-v-one situations, especially in the first half. They got some good blocks in but we scored a good goal. Then in a period of the game where we didn’t really control it as well as we had, we concede which is disappointing but it can happen at this level.”

Ziyech’s outing against Salzburg is before Morocco’s upcoming friendlies against Chile and Paraguay.

Before his return to international football, he had fallen out with former coach Vahid Halilhodzic, who excluded him from the Atlas Lions squad that played in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.

Morocco are pooled alongside Croatia, Belgium and Canada in the global football showpiece to be held from November 20 to December 18, 2022.