Romelu Lukaku gives Chelsea win in Champions League

Romelu Lukaku enlivened an otherwise flat Chelsea performance with the sole goal to beat Zenit St Petersburg 1-0 and obtain the Blues’ Champions League defense off to a winning start.

Lukaku never made a Champions League appearance during his first spell at Stamford Bridge but is quickly making up for lost time since returning to Chelsea for a club-record £97 million ($134 million) last month.

The Belgian striker now has four goals in as many games and his predatory instincts 21 minutes from time papered over the cracks of a disappointing display from Thomas Tuchel’s men.

Tuchel urged his players to not rest on their laurels after their surprise run to become European champions last season.

However, the glory of their victory over Manchester City in Porto was hard to dismiss because the German, Edouard Mendy, and Jorginho were presented with awards on the pitch before kick-off as UEFA coach, goalkeeper and player of the year respectively.

Chelsea certainly have the squad depth to be ready to challenge on all fronts this season and Tuchel made five changes from the side that beat Aston Villa 3-0 within the Premier League on Saturday.

Captain Cesar Azpilicueta, Andreas Christensen, Reece James, Jorginho and Mason Mount returned to the starting line-up, but there was still little verve to Chelsea’s attacking play throughout.

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The first half came and went without the house side even registering an attempt on track .

Centre-back Antonio Rudiger looked to require matters into his own hands with a rampaging run forward five minutes after the break, but the finish let the German international down as he blazed wide.

Lukaku showcased his mixture of pace, power and precision ahead of goal to attain his first Stamford Bridge goals for Chelsea against Villa at the weekend.

Zenit had kept the 28-year-old quiet for nearly 70 minutes, but all he needed was one teasing cross from Azpilicueta to urge off the mark within the Champions League for his new club by planting a header past Stanislav Kritsyuk.

Zenit boss Sergei Semak threw on the towering presence of Artem Dzyuba in search of an equaliser and it nearly paid off.

But even the six-foot six-inch (1.97 metre) Russian international couldn’t stretch to urge a clean enough contact on Sardar Azmoun’s cross 10 minutes from time and therefore the ball dribbled wide.

Tuchel immediately shut up shop with the introduction of Thiago Silva and Chelsea held out for a fourth clean sheet in six games this season.