Facing off as two of the six sides with 100% records in this season’s Conference League, Heidenheim gave a good account of themselves during an evenly-matched opening 20 minutes in which they showed flashes of attacking intent.
In fact, after Marc Guiu and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall forced saves from Kevin Muller at the other end, it was the hosts that almost broke the deadlock through Paul Wanner, who danced into the box before firing a near-post effort at Filip Jorgensen.
That chance proved to be somewhat of a wake-up call for Chelsea, who came close via their top scorer Christopher Nkunku’s lofted finish soon after.
The Blues then had a penalty appeal turned down when referee Serdar Gozubuyuk reversed his decision to award Mykhailo Mudryk a spot-kick following a VAR intervention.
Ending the half in the ascendancy, the visitors were unable to turn their dominance into a first-half lead, with uüller again coming to the rescue, this time to deny Nkunku from close range.
Having claimed a competition record 8-0 victory over Noah in their last Conference League match, Chelsea were finding a Heidenheim side who had conceded just one European goal considerably harder to break down.
However, six minutes into the second period, Nkunku continued his record of having scored in each of Chelsea’s five European fixtures this season, taking Jadon Sancho’s pass in his stride and firing home from inside the box.
Now chasing the game, the German side carved out several chances, with Leo Scienza firing a pair of shots towards the Blues’ goal before Jorgensen made a vital stop, denying Wanner from scoring what looked to be a certain goal.
An open second half continued to produce chances as Nkunku struck a tame effort when one-on-one, allowing Maximilian Breunig to seemingly equalise from a diving header, only to be flagged offside.
Eventually, Chelsea put the game to bed in the 86th minute when a side-footed effort from Mudryk left Müller with no chance.
That goal meant that Cesare Casadei’s stoppage-time red card didn’t hurt Enzo Maresca’s side and helped end a three-game winless run in Germany as the Blues retake their place at the top of the Conference League standings.
As for Heidenheim, another offside goal from Breunig late on meant they’ve now failed to score in four of their last six home matches.
That is far from ideal for a side struggling domestically, but with three wins from four in Europe, Frank Schmidt’s side sit inside the automatic qualification spots with two games to play.
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