Chelsea’s 3-3 draw with Johor Darul Ta’zim was a wild finish to Xabi Alonso’s final pre-season friendly of the Asian tour, with the heavily rotated Blues surrendering a 2-1 lead before rescuing a point at the Sultan Ibrahim Stadium.
Arif Aiman opened the scoring for the Malaysian champions before Liam Delap’s penalty brace put Chelsea ahead, only for Óscar Arribas and Bergson to turn the game around.
A late Cristian Glauder own goal from Mykhailo Mudryk‘s cross then rescued a point for the Blues in a six-goal thriller.
Chelsea drew 3-3 with Johor Darul Ta’zim on Sunday, August 9, in their final pre-season friendly of the summer tour. Johor took the lead through Arif Aiman in the 14th minute, finishing from close range after Marcos Guilherme broke clear down the left and squared the ball across the box.
Chelsea drew level five minutes before half-time when Liam Delap won and converted a penalty, making it 1-1 at the break.
Delap struck again in the 62nd minute, powering home his second spot-kick after Jamie Gittens was brought down, to put Chelsea 2-1 up.
The lead lasted three minutes. Óscar Arribas leveled it at 2-2 in the 65th minute with a free-kick that took a deflection off Delap and wrong-footed goalkeeper Gaga Slonina.
Johor then thought they had won it when Bergson, the Malaysia Super League’s top scorer last season, found the corner from 20 yards with four minutes to play.
Chelsea responded almost immediately: a Mykhailo Mudryk cross intended for Delap struck defender Cristian Glauder and went in as an own goal in the 89th minute, sealing the 3-3 draw.
Pre-season results carry limited weight, especially with Alonso naming an entirely new starting XI just 24 hours after a 3-0 win over AC Milan but, several players endured difficult afternoons in Malaysia. Here are four who stood out for the wrong reasons.
The experienced center-back was the clearest underperformer on the night. He looked exposed as Johor repeatedly targeted the flanks against a three-man Chelsea defense that never settled.
Chelsea supporters were particularly critical of his performance afterward, with many questioning his pace and defensive awareness and pointing to the early concession as evidence he’s lost a step.
Handed the captain’s armband in midfield, Essugo struggled for composure and accuracy throughout.
Essugo’s first touch was inconsistent and his passing wayward at times, and he looked overloaded alongside midfield partner Mahdi Nicoll-Jazuli for long stretches, even with a late chance of his own blocked.
Essugo attracted significant criticism from Chelsea supporters after the final whistle. Fan reaction aside, it was a tough audition for a player still establishing himself as a leader in Alonso’s midfield..
The penalty brace masks what was otherwise an underwhelming display in open play. Delap was wasteful in front of goal.
Delap fired wide with space in the box early on and saw a late first-half chance narrowly bobble past the post. The former Ipswich Town striker offered limited hold-up play against a well-organized Johor defense.
The two penalties rescued his numbers and ended a lengthy goal drought, but his overall contribution outside the spot kicks left plenty to be desired.
The back three of Olutayo Subuloye, Tosin, and Aarón Anselmino never settled. Anselmino was forced off with an injury around the half-hour mark and replaced by 16-year-old academy product Reggie Watson, thrown into a backline still finding its shape.
Johor’s direct wide play and quick transitions repeatedly exposed the unit, and its struggles were a direct factor in all three home goals, from Aiman’s early opener to Arribas’s deflected leveler and Bergson’s late strike.
The draw ends Chelsea’s pre-season tour with more questions than answers, and the real story isn’t the scoreline — it’s the gap it exposed.
Alonso fielded an entirely different starting XI to the one that beat Milan, and the drop-off was stark: a back three that couldn’t cope with direct running, a captain in Essugo who couldn’t control the tempo, and a striker in Delap who needed two penalties to justify his place in the XI.
None of that will worry Alonso enough to change his first-choice thinking before the Premier League opener, but it does sharpen the questions around his squad depth — particularly at center-back and in defensive midfield, where Chelsea’s fringe options offered little reassurance against Malaysian champions Johor Darul Ta’zim.
Pre-season is for experimentation, and this game offered plenty of evidence for who still has work to do before Chelsea’s Premier League campaign begins.
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