Chelsea's Dominance Under Xabi Alonso: 3-0 Victory Over AC Milan
Chelsea finally looked like a Xabi Alonso team.
Under the Jakarta humidity, after two flat defeats and a week of questions, they dismantled AC Milan 3-0 with a performance that had structure, bite and, crucially, a plan. Joao Pedro scored twice, Moises Caicedo ran the game, and the 3-4-3 that Alonso trusts most clicked into sharp focus.
This was not pre-season drift. This was intent.
Alonso goes all-in on 3-4-3
The experimental halfway house between a 4-2-3-1 and a back three is gone, at least for now. Alonso committed fully to his 3-4-3 and Chelsea immediately looked more coherent, more aggressive, more dangerous.
Caicedo and Romeo Lavia formed the pivot, and both were outstanding. Caicedo often dropped into the back line to launch attacks, dictating tempo from deep. Lavia had the more dogged job: track Luka Modric and shut off Milan’s passing lanes. Modric barely influenced the game. Job done.
Out wide, the system came to life. Marco Palestra, operating off the left, was a constant menace. Comfortable on either foot, he drove inside, went outside, and kept Milan guessing. His versatility made him a natural outlet and one of Chelsea’s standout performers.
The shape looked natural. The roles were clear. The patterns finally resembled Alonso’s football rather than a trial run of it.
McPhee’s fingerprints on set pieces
Chelsea scored 10 goals from corners in the entire 2025/26 Premier League season. In Jakarta, they scored two in 90 minutes.
Austin McPhee has barely unpacked his bags, but his influence already felt tangible. Routines were sharper, movements more deliberate, and Milan repeatedly failed to track runners.
Right on the stroke of half-time, the pressure told. From a corner, Joao Pedro peeled away from goalkeeper Lorenzo Torriani, found space, and glanced Caicedo’s delivery into the far corner. It was a clever, rehearsed move, not a hopeful swing into the box.
Three minutes after the restart, another corner brought more damage. The first ball wasn’t cleared, it dropped to Caicedo on the edge of the area, and he met it with a crisp volley to make it 3-0. Again, bodies were positioned exactly where they needed to be.
For a team that has long underperformed at dead balls, this felt like a shift, not a coincidence.
Joao Pedro responds, then runs riot
Joao Pedro’s afternoon told its own story.
On 42 minutes, he should have scored. Palestra cut inside brilliantly and slid the ball across to him, only for the forward to scoop his first-time effort over from a prime position. Hands went to heads. It felt like another chapter in a frustrating pre-season.
He didn’t sulk. He reset.
In first-half stoppage time, he made amends. That near-post dart, the glancing header, the opener. Same player, very different outcome.
Then came the killer blow. Milan made seven changes at half-time and lost all defensive rhythm. Within seconds of the restart, Pedro Neto bent in an in-swinging cross from the right. Joao Pedro ghosted in at the back post and finished smartly for 2-0.
Two goals in two minutes of football either side of the break. One from a set piece, one from open play. Both ruthless. Both the product of a side that suddenly looked sure of itself in the final third.
Waves of chances, woodwork rattled
The scoreline could have been heavier.
Pedro Neto had already forced Torriani into a full-stretch save on 27 minutes with a curling effort from a loose ball. After the interval, Chelsea kept pushing, even as Alonso turned to his bench.
Geovany Quenda, lively and direct, stood up his man in the area on 74 minutes, burst past him and hammered a shot against the near post. The technique and confidence were there; only the frame of the goal denied him.
On the opposite flank, Nicolas Jackson produced a similar moment. He twisted away from his marker with a jinking run, drove into the box and crashed a shot against the woodwork as he aimed for the near corner. Before that, he had threaded a superb reverse pass to create a chance for Cole Palmer. He did almost everything but score.
Late on, Estevao got his moment. Slipped in down the right, he went straight for goal, then tried to lift the ball over Torriani. The Milan goalkeeper stood tall, read it, and tipped the effort over the bar.
Chelsea’s attacking waves never really relented. For a side that had looked blunt against Juventus three days earlier, the contrast was stark.
Identity emerging, confidence restored
Strip away the caveats – pre-season, heavy changes, travel fatigue – and one thing remains: this was Chelsea’s most convincing outing under Alonso so far.
The hallmarks were clear. A committed 3-4-3. Midfielders trusted with responsibility. Wing-backs as genuine weapons. Set pieces treated as an opportunity, not an afterthought. A front line rotating, pressing, and finally finishing.
After a 6-4 shootout against Western Sydney Wanderers, a 1-2 defeat to Tottenham, and a toothless 0-1 loss to Juventus, this 3-0 over Milan felt like a line in the sand.
There is still Johor Darul Ta'zim to come, then Real Sociedad at Stamford Bridge before the real stuff begins. The questions will get harder, the stakes higher.
But in Jakarta, for the first time this summer, Chelsea looked less like a team searching for itself and more like one beginning to understand exactly what Xabi Alonso wants them to be.
