Goals from Pedro, Willian and English youngster Callum Hudson-Odoi were enough for Chelsea to breeze past Dynamo Kyiv and take a firm hold of their Europa League tie.
Pedro's early opener gave the Blues confidence in what could have been a difficult and nervy game. Instead, Chelsea kept hold of the ball and launched attack after attack against the disorganised Dynamo defence.
Willian settled any nerves in the 65th minute with a wonderful strike and Hudson-Odoi finished the scoring with a late effort in the 90th minute.
Maurizio Sarri would have hoped his side could have taken more of their chances and buried the tie ahead of the return leg in Ukraine, but the lead is still one the Italian will be satisfied with.
Here's 90min's breakdown of the game.
Chelsea
Key Talking Point
Willian's second half free kick was a thing of beauty. He took just two steps before burying the ball into the top right hand corner of Denys Boyko's goal. There was not much the Ukrainian goalkeeper could do when the Brazilian caressed the ball into his goal.
Willian had been relatively quite until his 65th minute strike, but as soon as he stood over the ball, there was a sense that something special was coming. His goal seemed to spark the 30-year-old into life, and he was an attacking threat until he was replaced by Callum Hudson-Odoi.
Willian's goal will be remembered by Chelsea fans as one of his best in a blue shirt and, in terms of this game, it came at a time when the Blues and their fans could have started to get nervy.
Player Ratings
Starting XI: Arrizabalaga (5); Zappacosta (6), Luiz (6), Christensen (6), Alonso (5); Kovacic (7), Jorginho (7), Barkley (6); Pedro (8*), Giroud (7), Willian (7).
Substitutions: Loftus-Cheek (6), Kante (6), Hudson-Odoi (7).
STAR MAN - Pedro carried much of Chelsea's attacking threat. The diminutive Spaniard found the holes in Dynamo Kyiv's defence over and over again, scoring early on after a clever one-two with striker Olivier Giroud.
He found himself lining up on the right hand side rather than his typical left sided berth, yet this didn't seem to faze the 31-year-old. He caused Dynamo's defence countless problems, but was only rewarded for his efforts with the one goal. On another day, Pedro could easily have had a hat-trick
Dynamo Kyiv
Key Talking Point
Kyiv registered just five shots all game, with only one of those being on target. Getting a crucial away goal would have been on manager Aleksandr Khatskevich's wish-list before the game, yet despite Mykola Shaparenko's attempts to start attacking moves for his team, his teammates lacked the industry to trouble the Chelsea back-line.
Striker Nazariy Rusyn struggled to make any sort of impact, yet he was a willing runner for the long balls pumped forward by his teammates. If Kyiv want to progress to the quarter finals, they will have to show more attacking intent.
It wasn't until the 83rd minute that Dynamo put the Chelsea defence under any sort of pressure, but it was a case of a little too late for the Ukrainian side. They will also need to improve defensively if they are to keep the Blues out when they visit
Player Ratings
Starting XI: Boyko (7); Mykolenko (5), Shabanov (5), Burda (5), Kedziora (6); Shepelev (6), Sydorchuk (5), Buyalsky (5), Shaparenko (6), Tsigankov (6); Rusyn (6)
Substitutions: Garmash (6), Sidcley (6).
STAR MAN - It was clear quite early on that Ukrainian goalkeeper Denys Boyko was going to have to be on top form if he was going to save his team from a thrashing.
Chelsea's attack was relentless and gave Boyko little time to rest in between attacking forays but the 31-year-old stood firm and made some good saves.
He denied both Pedro and Ross Barkley within the first 30 minutes, stopping Chelsea racing into a 3-0 lead following Pedro's early opener.
Boyko was unfortunate for the opener, with the Spaniard slotting the ball in the net through the keeper's legs. Pedro continued to pepper the Ukrainian's goal and he stood firm, denying the Chelsea winger a first half hat-trick.
If it wasn't for the experienced stopper, this tie would have been out of sight for Dynamo Kyiv.
Looking Ahead
Chelsea welcome Wolves to Stamford Bridge in their next fixture with Maurizio Sarri hoping to see his team move into the Champions League places with a victory should results elsewhere go their way.
Dynamo Kyiv face bottom side and city rivals Arsenal Kyiv in their next league game. Dynamo will be looking to get one over on their local rivals and solidify their second place position, before the second leg next week.
Source : 90min