Chelsea kept up their perfect Europa record last night and qualified for the final 32 at a canter but it wasn’t a great performance and they only scraped past BATE Borisov 1-0 thanks to some brilliant goalkeeping from Kepa.
He made a string of top-class saves to secure the three points for Chelsea, including one very late on, after Olivier Giroud’s goal had given them the lead in the 52nd minute.
Fans were quick to acknowledge the part he played in Belarus last night in a game they would have been expecting to win a bit easier.
COMMENTARY
Eyebrows were raised when Chelsea paid an incredible £72million for a goalkeeper that not many people in the UK had heard of. However, he’s showing that it was money well spent. Kepa has been a big part of Chelsea’s fine start to the season and plenty of fans were quick to hail him again last night despite a lacklustre performance. One fan summed it up well when he said, “Post match thoughts: Kepa, Kepa and Kepa.” He’s kept eight clean sheets in 15 games for his new club and he’s starting to break through into the senior Spanish side. It’s no surprise that all three unbeaten teams in the Premier League this season, have three of the best keepers in the world. Liverpool have Alisson, Man City have Ederson, and Kepa can be considered among those two elite players now. One fan said he was better than David de Gea, which we’re happy to debate, while another simply exclaimed “What a signing!”
Here are the best reactions from Chelsea fans to Kepa’s display:
https://twitter.com/bigrobdd/status/1060627216428683264
What a goal keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga is. #CFC
— ?n'golo ? ray?an? (@TheBlooRay__) November 8, 2018
https://twitter.com/SarrifutbolCFC/status/1060620212209438720
We signed ample amount of luck along with kepa ????? #BATECHE #UEL #CFC Unbeaten Sarriball effect.
— Hindustani Dog (Modi ka Parivaar) (@HindustaniDog) November 8, 2018
https://twitter.com/Nexho__11/status/1060619814832689153
Kepa unreal… ??? @ChelseaFC @CFCFoundation #BATEvCFC #BATEvCFC #BATECHE #CFC #Chelsea
— Naeem Mehta (@naeemmehta982) November 8, 2018
https://twitter.com/MyFussbllTweets/status/1060595070464913408
https://twitter.com/rmgmauro/status/1060657801092087808
https://twitter.com/CAgisilou/status/1060711577693945857
https://twitter.com/MorataAm9/status/1060621727137517568