Chelsea signed off their pre-season tour with a 3-3 draw against Johor Darul Ta'zim in Malaysia, and it was a messy ending rather than a controlled one. Liam Delap scored twice from the penalty spot, Chelsea trailed twice, and Antonio Glauder's 89th-minute own goal rescued the result. The match also produced seven yellow cards across 90 minutes.

Delap's first Chelsea goals since January

BBC Sport's live report said Delap scored his first Chelsea goals since January as the side drew with Johor Darul Ta'zim in the final match of their pre-season tour. Those two penalties were the clearest positive for Chelsea on a night that otherwise kept getting scrappy.

Delap had scored two goals in his last five competitive matches before this friendly run, which fits the broader picture of a player still settling into the side. His recent average rating of 6.2 across those five games points to steady enough output, but not much else. Chelsea have also come into the fixture on a mixed run in their last five competitive matches, and that lack of sharpness showed again here.

A bad-tempered finish to the tour

Dom Smith wrote that six goals and seven yellow cards saw 90 minutes end all square, which captures the mood of the night more accurately than any polished summary. Chelsea were expected to settle the match by a penalty shootout, but the players never re-emerged at Stadium Sultan Ibrahim Larkin. Standard's report and the BBC's live coverage leave slightly different impressions of the ending, but both point to the same fact, Chelsea left Malaysia with a draw and plenty to tidy up.

The late equaliser came when Mykhailo Mudryk crossed and Glauder turned the ball into his own net in the 89th minute. Chelsea's tour had opened with a 3-0 win over AC Milan in Jakarta on Saturday, so this was a sharper and sloppier finish than that result suggested.

The wider read is fairly blunt. Chelsea are listed sixth in the current Premier League standing, but this friendly was about rhythm rather than rank, and the rhythm was broken too often. They leave the tour with Delap's penalty double, seven bookings in the game, and a 3-3 draw that felt more like escape than momentum.

Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 2 outlets. How we work →