Ajax boss John Heitinga said Chelsea were one in all the ‘higher teams’ within the Champions League after his side were thrashed at Stamford Bridge.
In one more high-scoring game on this 12 months’s Champions League, Chelsea thumped Ajax 5-1 to climb to eleventh within the 36-team table.
Enzo Maresca made a staggering ten changes from the side that beat Nottingham Forest on the weekend however the result was never truly unsure from the moment Kenneth Taylor was sent off for Ajax inside 20 minutes.
Marc Guiu put Chelsea ahead from the resulting free-kick before Moises Caicedo continued his superb form together with his team’s second.
Former Manchester United striker Wout Weghorst pulled a goal back for the visitors before Enzo Fernandez and Estevao Willian scored penalties on the stroke of half-time.
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Tyrique George added Chelsea’s fifth after the break because the Blues became the primary team in Champions League history to have three teenage scorers.
Club World Cup winners Chelsea are currently fifth within the Premier League and mid-table within the Champions League but Ajax manager Heitinga rates them as one in all the ‘higher teams’ in Europe.
‘That is one in all the higher teams, not only within the Premier League but I feel also within the Champions League,’ the previous Netherlands defender said. ‘It was a troublesome one for us to take, but it surely is the way it is.
‘The sport plan was working and I feel it was hard for them to interrupt the lines. We even had one offensive transition with Mika Godts. It was stable.
‘Then the red card happened and I feel they scored two goals from the penalty spot, then two goals were deflected. I cannot blame the players, they were working really hard.
‘We got here back into the sport, it was 2-1. Then you will have to hope that you may bring it into half-time after which go again, but we conceded the fifth goal.
‘The one thing that I actually have say to the players is that I actually have a variety of respect for the willingness that they showed on the pitch, working for one another.’
Ajax are bottom of the Champions League group phase, having lost their opening three games while scoring one goal and conceding 11.
‘We must be more stable,’ added Heitinga, who took over at Ajax in the summertime. ‘It’s still going up and down, which is a little bit bit where the club is in the meanwhile.
‘We’re working really hard daily and you possibly can see the development. It was only quarter-hour but you could possibly see the improvements already there.
‘Now now we have to take the great things into our next match and the things we are able to do higher, now we have to learn from that.’
Chelsea boss Maresca, meanwhile, was delighted with the victory – especially given the variety of young players out on the pitch – but admitted the red card ‘modified the sport’.
‘We know the way difficult it’s once we get a red card,’ the Stamford Bridge manager said.
‘We began well with 10 changes… it’s a really demanding season so we’d like to rotate since it’s complicated for those who play all of the games.
‘We all know if you concede a red card with ten minutes to go it’s OK but when it’s greater than an hour to play it’s difficult for everybody.
‘We trust so much the younger players. The strategy of the club. Not only those we buy however the ones from the academy.
‘We could have scored more goals – but we tried to administer the sport. On Saturday now we have Sunderland here. They’re physically strong so we must be ready.’
Newly-promoted Sunderland have only lost two of their opening eight league games ahead of their trip to west London this weekend.
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