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Soccer-Giroud winner puts Chelsea in Champions League knockout stagesChelsea top Group E with 10 points from four games
Reuters
Last Updated IST
Chelsea's French forward Olivier Giroud celebrates after scoring his team's second goal during the UEFA Champions League Group E football match between Stade Rennais FC and Chelsea FC at the Roazhon Park stadium. Credit: AFP.
Chelsea's French forward Olivier Giroud celebrates after scoring his team's second goal during the UEFA Champions League Group E football match between Stade Rennais FC and Chelsea FC at the Roazhon Park stadium. Credit: AFP.

Striker Olivier Giroud scored a dramatic last-minute winner as Chelsea booked their place in the Champions League last 16 with a 2-1 victory over Stade Rennais at Roazhon Park on Tuesday.

Sehrou Guirassy looked as though he had secured a point for his side with an equaliser minutes earlier, but Giroud profited from some poor Rennes defending to claim the win after Callum Hudson-Odoi had put the visitors in front in the first half.

Chelsea top Group E with 10 points from four games, level with Sevilla but ahead on goal-difference, after the Spanish side also claimed a late 2-1 victory in Russia against Krasnodar to seal their passage into the knockout stages.

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Rennes, who have one point, had their moments but were largely kept at bay by Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, who left the Brittany club for Stamford Bridge in September and made a number of outstanding saves.

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(Published 25 November 2020, 01:34 IST)