MOL Vidi 2-2 Chelsea: 5 Talking Points, Europa League 2018-19

Chelsea ended their Europa League group stage exploits with a 2-2 draw against Hungarian giants MOL Vidi in Budapest. Two stellar free kicks from Willian and Olivier Giroud helped the Blues salvage a point, after having gone 2-1 down.

The former won a foul and duly converted the spot kick in the 30th minute. However, just 109 seconds later, the home side restored parity through an Ethan Ampadu own goal. Not much the young defender could have done on that occasion.

Surprisingly, on the back of a few urgent and purposeful passages of play, Vidi took the lead in the 56th minute through a thunderous volley from Loic Nego. Olivier Giroud, who could have had a hat-trick to his name, deposited another dead ball to the back of the net to ensure Chelsea remained unbeaten in the Europa League.

With five wins and a draw, the Blues topped their group rather comfortably. They were joined by BATE Borisov, who finished on nine points from their six outings.

Let's take a look at the major talking points from Chelsea's 2-2 draw against Hungarian side MOL Vidi.

#1 Chelsea start positively on a cold, freezing night

Davide Zappacosta was a constant threat down the right

As envisioned by learned supporters and pundits, Chelsea started proceedings on a strong note. They launched attack after attack, forced the opposition to back-pedal and created chances.

Till the 4th minute or so, the hosts didn't manage to have the ball. Ruben Loftus-Cheek went past challenges and looked lively. The Blues won a corner, which was cleared away by Juhasz.

Moments later, Emerson, who threatened all evening, was released down the left. He crossed it into Morata's path and Chelsea won another corner. Willian fizzed in a cross and Morata failed to find the right connection.

Soon, Vidi settled into the game, committed bodies back and defended their goal in numbers. On the contrary, Chelsea looked creative in midfield as they played in a few exquisite passes, but the activity in the final third let them down.

#2 Two goals in quick succession lights up the game

Just when it looked like the match had slowed down, Chelsea injected pace into their approach and won a foul through Willian.

Prior to that, the Blues were not able to carve out openings in a packed Vidi back line that comprised of a six-man defence. As far as the visitors were concerned, both the killer pass and a decisive final touch were missing.

The same was highlighted when the vibrant Hudson-Odoi picked up the ball in the middle third and used his innovation to play Loftus-Cheek through. The Englishman did the right thing by whipping it into the box, but Morata, instead of striking it, attempted a lay-off pass for Fabregas and the chance went begging.

Finally when the game saw some urgency from Chelsea, Willian won a foul on his own. 22 yards out, he smashed the ball into the back of the net to put his side's noses in front.

Just a couple of minutes later, Hadzic sent in a long pass from the left. The ball was flicked into the central area of the final third and then into the net by Ampadu, who reacted quickly but failed to clear his lines.

#3 Life at the moment is very difficult for Alvaro Morata

Morata had a tough outing that worsened due to a knee injury

Alvaro Morata, who has been in considerably decent form of late, was a shock omission when Chelsea upstaged Manchester City last weekend by 2-0. Sarri went for his preferred false 9 option in Eden Hazard, while Olivier Giroud started on the bench.

The former Real Madrid and Juventus forward was sure to be back in the playing XI for this one, with a chance to prove his worth and quality to the coach. However, his performance against Vidi did little to support the same argument.

He wasn't decisive enough with his first touch or passing. More often than not, Chelsea's constructive attacking approach slowed down and broke due to the 26-year-old's casual behaviour upfront.

Neither did he hold up play, nor find the right connection when the ball was fed to his path. Morata needs to improve his mentality and learn to score goals when the team needs him. It cannot always be a purple patch that gets you recognition, how you come out of your torrid times by scoring goals and impressing your fans is what makes one great.

A knee injury before half-time meant that this dead rubber game was one to forget for the striker.

#4 Giroud levels for the Blues, but it means little to them as they qualify with conviction

Post the 65th minute or so, Chelsea upped the pace and created chance after chance. Emerson got to the by-line and perfectly found Olivier Giroud free inside the 18-yard box. The Frenchman scuffed a golden chance. Well, he could have had a hat-trick.

A brilliantly worked free kick by Cesc Fabregas fell to the striker's path with a fabulous chip, but Giroud blazed his strike over the bar. A couple of minutes later, Pedro's shot went just beside the goal.

Giroud though, made amends by converting a free kick that levelled the scoreline. The match ended with the same score, and it meant very little to Chelsea, who would have probably taken a loss as well.

Without major fuss, they have qualified for the knockout stages. Below are the teams they could face in the round-of-32:

Zurich, Slavia Prague, Fenerbahce, Sporting Lisbon, Olympiacos, Celtic, Rapid Vienna, Lazio, Malmo, Krasnodar, Rennes, Viktoria Plzen, Club Brugge, Shakhtar Donetsk or Galatasaray.

#5 Teenagers fairly impress for Chelsea

Callum Hudson-Odoi was the pick of the bunch

The big positive for Chelsea was the impressive show of teenage sensations Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ethan Ampadu.

Along with the others in the second team, they too turned up on the occasion and provided the goods for Sarri.

Speaking of the central defender, Ampadu was excellent at the back. Firstly, his positioning, off and on the ball was excellent. He barely put a foot wrong at the back. The Wales international cleared his lines well, showed a sense of calm and fit into the system almost perfectly. There's not much he could have done about the own-goal.

Hudson-Odoi was easily the most creative and feared attacker of the evening. From his first touch to the incision while picking a pass, the youngster was on top of his game. The 18-year-old created a host of chances, injected pace and looked explosive.

The performance of these two players was a big takeaway for Maurizio Sarri.