Meanwhile, in Italy, Federico Chiesa proved to be a big game player once again with the only goal in Juventus’ 1-0 Champions League win over holders Chelsea which could kick-start their faltering season.

Sat 10th in Serie A after a succession of unconvincing performances domestically, Juve top Group H with a perfect six points thanks to a superbly taken winner 10 seconds after halftime from Chiesa, one of Italy’s stars at Euro 2020.

Massimiliano Allegri’s side took down the European champions, despite missing starting forwards Paulo Dybala and Alvaro Morata, with a disciplined performance that sucked the life out of the Blues and restricted them to very little in front of goal.

“We showed the Juventus spirit tonight, and that’s what the coach asks of us,” Chiesa, who has been criticised by Allegri this season, told Amazon.

“There has never been any problem between me and the coach, I do what he asks of me. When Juve start off poorly there is always a lot of unnecessary noise: we all want to take the club back to the top.”

Juve are three points clear of both Chelsea and Zenit, who they play in Saint Petersburg in three weeks.

“The players put in a great performance against the European champions. We were solid defensively and conceded very few chances. (Wojciech) Szczesny barely had a save to make,” said Allegri to Amazon.

Federico Chiesa, a star for Italy in the European Championship and a scourge of England in that final proved so again with the goal for Juventus that condemned Chelsea to a Champions League defeat and with it a mini-inquest.

When you are champions of Europe, when you have the ambitions and expectations that come with being Chelsea then any loss draws extra scrutiny. But having been defeated at home by Manchester City last weekend in the Premier League it is two defeats in two big games without scoring in just five days and that leads to added debate. It is also Chelsea’s first Champions League group-stage loss in two years, and 13 matches.

Head coach Thomas Tuchel is well aware of all of that and admitted his team were not good enough. Although it would obviously be a major shock if Chelsea do not progress from this group, with back-to-back games against the whipping boys of Malmo to come, they have ceded control and may even need a result in their final group game, away to Zenit St Petersburg.

It also means that Chelsea have only once come from behind to win under Tuchel while, on his return to Italy, where he was selected as Serie A’s best player last season, it was a frustrating evening for Romelu Lukaku.

Not so for Chiesa. The exciting young Italian winger’s reputation grows and grows and he was the contest’s outstanding player and deserved to cap it with an outstanding goal just 10 seconds into the second half when Chelsea were caught cold; that will infuriate Tuchel as much as the fact that for all their possession they created little of substance. Having run himself into the ground, Chiesa was substituted to a standing ovation and it was well deserved as Juventus are getting their season back-on-track. They will savour this win just as it will irritate Chelsea.

Having started with no English players on the pitch, for the first time under Tuchel and the first time since the Uefa Super Cup two years ago, Chelsea ended the tie with no fewer than five. It looked curious that Tuchel did not use Timo Werner or Saul Niguez and it added to the theme of Italy v England although Italy v Belgium was equally as important as Juventus captain Leonardo Bonucci – who scored in that Euro 2020 final – got the better of Lukaku. That was save for one occasion when he allowed himself to be rolled by the striker who had a clear sight of goal but slashed his shot wildly over.

It prompted Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri to bring on the old warhorse Giorgio Chiellini to operate as a third centre-back and he reacted in typical fashion: the odd, sly foul, a push, a pull – and plenty of chest-bumping and fist-bumping as Juventus saw the game out and celebrated as if it was worth far more than just three precious points in the Champions League group stages.

Tactically, Allegri got it right. Chelsea dominated possession – at times it was up to 78 per cent before settling on 66 per cent – and their players averaged 69 passes each to just 21 for Juventus but it appeared Allegri was largely content with that and defending deep while Tuchel will be left wondering how his team did not fashion sufficient chances and rarely provided enough service for Lukaku. In fact, the only shot Chelsea have had on target in their last two games was a tame effort by Lukaku, from a corner, after just eight minutes here. The statistics showed they had 16 attempts at goal, their most ever in a Champions League tie without scoring, but that is a distortion of what happened.

Juventus now had something to defend. Could Chelsea break them down? Tuchel made a triple substitution, and then another change, but it was Juventus who should have scored again with Chiesa’s excellent, raking, cross-field ball being cushioned on the volley by Juan Cuadrado into Bernardeschi’s path only for him to somehow steer it wide.

With that, Bernardeschi was also substituted. By now the game had opened up but Juventus threw themselves into challenges, typified with Manuel Locatelli launching forward to charge down Kovacic’s goal-bound effort. Still there was one final chance, deep into injury-time, with Kai Havertz reaching a corner only to head over. Even then he was under pressure from defenders who celebrated the miss as if it were a goal for them. In truth, Chelsea just did not do enough. And that will hurt.