After former Blues defender Fikayo Tomori was dismissed early, Chelsea easily defeated AC Milan. Mason Mount was pulled back by Tomori in the area, and Jorginho successfully converted the penalty.
With a decisive goal against his former team, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang increased the lead. However, Reece James' limping off in the second half dealt Chelsea and England a setback.
Graham Potter has managed Chelsea without a loss in his first five games, winning four of them. With seven points from four games, Chelsea now leads Group E, but the race is still very close with Red Bull Salzburg on six points, Milan, and Dinamo Zagreb each with four.
James and Tomori Had a Bad Night.
Since Milan were soundly defeated at Stamford Bridge last week, Tomori's reunion with his old team has not gone well. On Tuesday, the former Chelsea youth product played only 18 minutes.
When Tomori put his arm on England teammate Mount's shoulder, the game that appeared to be close was suddenly blown wide open, sending the midfielder tumbling to the ground.
To the chagrin of the home crowd, referee Daniel Siebert, who was at the center of the drama the entire time, determined that there had been enough contact to constitute a penalty and that Tomori had not attempted to play the ball, overriding the double jeopardy rule and causing him to show the red card.
After much deliberation between Tomori and the Milan players, the penalty was calmly converted by Jorginho after he was forced to leave the field.
Stefano Pioli, the manager of Milan, stated, "I definitely don't think the referee has had one of his finer evenings."
The penalty and red card, he continued, "changed everything.
It was unnecessary for Chelsea to play with a numerical advantage. Reviewing the episode seems pointless, so I won't. I'd prefer not to remark. Despite my poor English, I told the referee what I thought, and I believe he understood.
Mount, who received a caution for arguing with Olivier Giroud following the penalty, was outstanding for the first 45 minutes until being replaced by Conor Gallagher at halftime.
The England midfielder caused Milan a ton of difficulties and demonstrated why his managers for club and country are so impressed with him before Potter made the decision to remove Mount from the fire line of both the incensed home crowd and the card-happy Siebert.
Gareth Southgate is encouraged by James' performance, but with less than six weeks till the World Cup, the sight of James hobbling off after hurting his knee in the ground when making a challenge is concerning.
Being so well-stocked at right-back in the past, Southgate is now concerned about the health of James, Kyle Walker, and Trent Alexander-Arnold, who have all recently had injuries.
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