Giroud scores hat-trick as Chelsea stroll past Dynamo Kiev

It was a playing surface Maurizio Sarri described as a “disaster” before kick-off but Chelsea displayed perfect pitch here to skate into the quarter-finals.

Sarri’s players had the cigars out in a thoroughly lop-sided affair, which included a hat-trick from Olivier Giroud, as those pre-match fears over a potential minefield at the Olympic Stadium proved unfounded.

Giroud has nine goals in this season’s Europa League after his excellent treble and Chelsea must now be the favourites to win the competition and salvage Sarri’s often turbulent debut season in English football.

With nine wins and a draw from their ten games in Europe they will be formidable opponents in the last eight, as they bid to repeat their success of 2013. Crucially, winning this often maligned competition will ensure the return of Champions League football and, perhaps, save Sarri’s job.

This was a cakewalk on a poor frozen surface, and Sarri’s warnings over a “dangerous” opponent were surely lost in translation. 

While Giroud extended his impressive run in Europe, there was also another hugely encouraging performance from Callum Hudson-Odoi, who contributed to the thrashing with the final goal.

Dynamo manager Aleksandr Khatskevich had insisted his team needed a “miracle” to overturn the 3-0 deficit from the first leg, with the Ukranian Premier League’s second-placed team failing to register a shot on target at Stamford Bridge.

Any hopes of a monumental shock were over after just five minutes.

Willian’s corner from the right was flicked on by Ruben Loftus-Cheek into a crowded penalty area and Giroud had the simple task of stabbing the ball home from six yards.

Loftus-Cheek almost added a second goal in the 11^th minute, advancing into the area and driving in a low shot which was saved by Denys Boyko, and Chelsea were almost embarrassingly superior.

Denys Garmash, the Dynamo forward, did have a goal disallowed for offside but all those fears Sarri had over the poor pitch were a distant memory.

The second Chelsea goal came in the 32^nd minute, after an exquisite cross into the box from Marcos Alonso. The left-back ran into space after a neat exchange of passes with Loftus-Cheek, spotted Giroud and then bent a brilliant ball around the home defence to present the Frenchman with a simple finish.

Alonso added the third in injury time, poking the ball over the line after a fine cross from Hudson-Odoi on the right.

Dynamo’s captain Serhly Sydorchuk finally registered their first shots on target in the second half – after 141 minutes of the tie – when his initial effort was saved by Kepe Arrizabalaga before then striking the post from the rebound.

But Giroud secured the match ball just before the hour mark with a glancing header from Willian’s free kick.

Hudson-Odoi completed the rout in the 79^th minute, breaking clear and slotting the ball past Boyko. A triumphant night for Sarriball