Chelsea were again thankful to Willian and his set-piece mastery as they beat Dynamo Kiev 2-1 in the Champions League tonight for just their second win in their last eight matches in all competitions.
An Aleksandr Dragovic goal at each end had left the Blues in danger of another damaging result, but Willian stepped up with this magnificent free-kick winner after 83 minutes at Stamford Bridge.
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Willian now has five goals for the season, and all of them have been from dead-ball situations. He is Chelsea’s top scorer, closely followed by own goals which is how the hosts took a 34th-minute lead.
The Brazilian was involved again, with Dragovic clumsily heading into his own net at the near post to join Alan Hutton, Calum Chambers and Federico Fernandez in accidentally scoring for Chelsea this term.
The Premier League champions enjoyed a good spell during which Jose Mourinho appeared irked on the touchline after they were refused a penalty when Diego Costa went down under seemingly little contact.
Dragovic’s equaliser on 77 minutes, after Chelsea failed to clear a corner, seemed to pave the way for more post-match moaning from Mourinho, who has been fined £40,000 and banned from the stadium for Saturday’s visit of Stoke City because of his criticism of referees this season, as BBC Sport reports.
But Willian saved his manager the trouble with another set-piece special which sealed Chelsea a win that lifts them above Dynamo into second in Group G, three points adrift of Porto with two games to play.
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