Zappacosta's 'unintentional wondergoal'

Davide Zappacosta has revealed that he did not mean to score on his debut for Chelsea against Qarabag.

Chelsea marked their return to the Champions League with a 6-0 thrashing of the Azerbaijan Premier League champions at Stamford Bridge.

Pedro, Zappacosta, Cesar Azpilicueta, Tiemoue Bakayoko and Michy Batshuayi weighed in with goals as Maksim Medvedev’s own goal put the final nail in the coffin. 

But it was Zappacosta’s goal which was one of the main talking points of the game. 

The Italy international, who signed for the Blues on deadline day for £23million from Torino, made a sublime run down the right flank and scored with a cross-cum-shot which looped into the top left corner. 

Antonio Conte heaped praise on him for his impressive debut performance. 

And Zappacosta was himself delighted at his start to life at Chelsea. 

But the right wing-back admitted that his debut goal was not intentional as he was meant to cross the ball for one of his team-mates to score. 

“I’m really happy. It was a dream debut, scoring at Stamford Bridge,” Zappacosta said.  

“I’m happy for myself, but mainly for the victory to get us going well in the Champions League.

“To be honest I wanted to cross it, but I caught it well and it ended up in the goal. 

“The aims are to go as far as possible. 

“We’re working hard to get out the group and into the next round. 

“It’s an open group and they’ve welcomed me well. I hope it continues!