Manager reaction

Viveash expressed pleasure at the victory and performance of his young players, highlighting their work off the ball as particularly impressive. Talking to the official Chelsea website afterwards, he said: ‘We spoke about Schalke's diamond midfield before the game and we worked on our shape yesterday with a 4-2-3-1 and a narrow three in midfield.

‘It was a challenge but I was pleased with the defensive side of our game and you could see at the end how hard the players had worked off the ball. We’re always going to be good in possession and create chances and some of the goals were of fantastic quality. On the few occasions they did break our block I thought Andreas and Ola were exceptional in dealing with one-on-ones and they got it right every single time.

‘I really enjoyed the tactical confrontation because I think they have an outstanding coach and he showed that last season so for me and the staff it was a great tactical challenge.’

With the game coming so soon after a physical encounter in the Under-21 league at Everton on Sunday, Viveash also paid tribute to the fitness levels of his players and praised the work of the medical department.

‘Ruben has played two 90 minutes on a Sunday and a Wednesday for the first time in a long while and that’s very encouraging. He was competing for a place with two of the best midfielders in the Under-21 league last season in Lewis Baker and John Swift and he had a difficult job getting in at times but this year he’s a main player. His run for the second goal was at a vital time for us; it was a brilliant burst forward and a fantastic goal.

‘Izzy Brown has played 60 minutes and 90 minutes and that’s a testament to his fitness and the work our medical team have done with him. I’m sure he’d like to dedicate those goals to them. I looked at him at Everton and thought he was talking really well so we gave him the captaincy today and he produced a real captain’s performance with two goals and leading the line superbly.

‘We’ve had two young full-backs involved who have stepped up another level and both were super so we’re pleased with them and this is a great competition for these boys. I expect to see a lot of Joe Edwards’ youth group involved before the end of the group stage because it’s about getting them experience on this stage, but firstly it’s about getting out of a very tough group so this is a good start for us.’

Chelsea Bradley Collins; Fikayo Tomori (Jake Clarke-Salter 71), Ola Aina, Andreas Christensen, Jay Dasilva; Charlie Colkett (Kasey Palmer 80), Ruben Loftus-Cheek; Charly Musonda (Alex Kiwomya 58), Dominic Solanke, Jeremie Boga; Izzy Brown (c).

Unused subs Jared Thompson, Ruben Sammut, Tammy Abraham, Ike Ugbo

Scorers Brown 9, 56; Solanke 30; Aina 68

Booked Dasilva

Schalke Janik Schilder, Maurice Neubauer, John Malanga, Paul Stieber, Thilo Kehrer (c), Sven Kohler, Marius Schley (Hendrik Lohmar 46), Maurice Multhaup (Hari Coric 58), Leroy Sane, Felix Schroter (Oktawian Skrzecz 58) Felix Platte

Unused subs Leon Bruggemeier, Joshua Bittler, Michael Olczyk, Joseph Boyamba

Scorer Multhaup 14

Sent off Lohmar

Booked Neubauer, Lohmar

By Sam Poplett



- There are highlights of the game and post-match reaction avaialble now on Video on Demand.