Chelsea capped off their pre-season by beating Lyon 5-4 on penalties at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night.
Just two days after being comfortably beaten 2-0 by Manchester City in the Community Shield at Wembley, a much-changed Chelsea side struggled to gain control on their International Champions Cup friendly against French giants Lyon.
With Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri only having been in charge for a few weeks, the Blues were hardly expected to dazzle and blow the 18,457-strong crowd who had made it to Stamford Bridge on a hot, humid and drizzly Tuesday evening.
But perhaps Chelsea supporters would have expected to see more control of possession, as is usual with Sarri teams, but instead they saw Lyon dominate the ball and have the best chance of the first half.
That came when Houssem Aouar drove a low shot inches wide of Marcin Bulka's goal, who was standing in for the absent Thibaut Courtois who has not yet returrned for training.
Despite pre-game attention focusing on Courtois and Chelsea's pursuit of potential replacement, Athletic Bilbao's Kepa Arrizabalaga, Bulka did well as did Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who so often drove Chelsea's attacks forward with style and precision.
Willian, who captained the side in the first half, provided a light for Chelsea fans one minute before the break when he drove a free-kick toward goal, which Anthony Lopes saved.
With the first half ending goalless, Sarri decided to make wholesale changes in the second period - bringing on World Cup winners Olivier Giroud and N'Golo Kante while Eden Hazard returned to much applause.
The substitutes brought with them an improved performance, though no goals, which forced the friendly to penalties.
That was won by Eden Hazard after substitute Rob Green denied Pape Cheikh Diop to hand Chelsea a 5-4 penalty shoot-out victory just days before their Premier League opener against Huddersfield on Saturday.
