Joao Pedro scored a brace as Chelsea rounded off their preseason preparations at Stamford Bridge with a 3-1 victory against Spanish side, Real Sociedad.
Morgan Rogers marked his debut with a goal which started off the encounter before the visitor came back level. Joao Pedro finished it off with the Blues fielding out all new signings this summer.
Xabi Alonso came into this encounter with a plan of giving World Cup and new signings their opportunity to play having missed other preseason encounters in Asia.
The Chelsea manager use a 3-4-3 formation which saw Morgan Rogers, Joao Pedro and Pedro Neto all starting upfront against Real Sociedad who did well enough stopping them at some points.
Morgan Rogers wasted no time in scoring the opening goal in the 9th minute. The England international responded quickly from a spilled strike which he tucked in neatly to make it 1-0.
As expected, the Premier League side saw more of the ball against their opponent who had to wait back and see if they could pounce on any misplaced pass to counter.
Play continue with both teams hitting the 40th minute mark with thing still staying 1-0 between both teams. Real Sociedad came close at some point, but they failed to make anything count for themselves.
The Spanish side were able to draw level after a wonderful goal from Aramburu in the 45th minute. It was 1-1 between both teams with nothing much left to be played in the first half.
Coming into the second half, it was a stalemate with both teams needing to make something different happen in the encounter which looked balanced.
Despite the match being a friendly one, there was so much both teams had to play for. The World Champions did not make much of a change before coming on for the second half.
Chelsea restored their advantage after a clever finish from Joao Pedro in the 47th minute of the encounter. The Brazilian did well enough to finish off his opportunity which made the scoreline 2-1.
The Spanish side looked a bit down after conceding a second goal very early in the second half after they were able to get themselves back before the break.
Opportunities kept on coming and going, but none of both teams could make it count to change the current scoreline. Some changes were made by both teams as the encounter carried on forward.
New signings like Pep Chavarria and others were able to come into the match and make their contributions. The changes made impact instantly as the Blues increased their advantage.
Joao Pedro was set loosed with a pass which saw him raced through before being able to calming beat the goalkeeper with a well place strike in the 77th minute.
The game continued with more substitutes coming on from both ends, but there was nothing happening after the goal from the Brazilian, Pedro who made it a brace for himself.
Chelsea finished off the game with a 3-1 victory against Real Sociedad as their last preseason game before they commence the 2026/2027 season which will see them take on Fulham as their opening match.
Xabi Alonso and his players will head into their opening game of the season knowing they have what it takes to fight for the League and every other competition they will be playing.
Luckily, the Blues won’t have too much games in their hands as they won’t feature in Europe after failing to qualify for all three UEFA Competitions which they happen to have won all.
Real Sociedad came into the match and gave it a good fight despite them losing a 3-1 against Chelsea who were no doubt the better of both teams all through the 90 minutes that was played.
