Alex Disasi shines in thrilling Chelsea-Liverpool stalemate

Chelsea and Liverpool's intense rivalry continues in 1-1 draw, marked by debut goals and thrilling action.

Axel Disasi wheels away in celebrations after leveling matters for Chelsea against Liverpool late in the first half at Stamford Bridge on Sunday. It ended 1-1. (Photo credit: GOAL)

Even though we predicted it here at footballnus.com, we certainly didn’t see the sort of end-to-end football that Chelsea-Liverpool delivered coming in the "El-Caicedo" derby

Liverpool’s midfield weakness came to the fore in their 1-1 draw against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, while Chelsea’s long road to recovery also started, but with lots of encouragement from the young bunch that kicked off the Mauricio Pochettino era.

The Blues named Nicolas Jackson, Axel Disasi, and Levi Colwill in the starting lineup for the trio to make their competitive debuts, and it was a beautiful scene for the crowd at the packed Stamford Bridge Stadium on Sunday.

Liverpool also paraded two new names in the middle of the pack: Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister ran the midfield for the Kops, and they both delivered to justify their respective inclusions, with the former contributing to the opener.

Liverpool drew the first blood when Mohammed Salah slid in Luis Diaz, who jabbed the ball past another debutant in the Chelsea goal, Robert Sanchez.

But Disasi marked his first game as a Chelsea player with a goal to equalise off a pass from Ben Chilwell.

The first half was a game of end-to-end, with Liverpool hitting the crossbar through Salah in the process, and the Egyptian also thought he had registered his customary opening-day goal midway into the first half, but his goal was rightly chalked off for offside.

Chelsea also had a goal disallowed for offside as Chilwell danced around Allison before slotting home for what would have been 2-1 to Chelsea, with the home crowd roaring hard in celebrations, but the screen revealed their worst fear, a red line that meant offside.

The second half wasn’t different.

Both sides saw the woodwork deny them a goal, and Chelsea dominated the exchanges for up to twenty second-half minutes with nothing to show for it.

And for the seventh straight time, a game between these two ends in a draw.

Up next for Liverpool is a game at home against Bournemouth.

The last time they hosted the Cherries, they heaped nine goals past them.

And for Chelsea, it’s a trip to neighbours West Ham, always a feisty game at that end of West London.