Guiu hat trick helps Chelsea rout Rovers to extend Conference League dominance

Marc Guiu's first-half hat trick helped Chelsea ease past Shamrock Rovers 5-1 on Thursday to complete the league phase of the UEFA Conference League with a 100% record.

The 18-year-old forward, who netted twice in a 3-1 win over Astana in the previous round, opened the scoring in the 22nd minute with a header from close range at Stamford Bridge.

Markus Poom equalized for the Irish visitors, but Guiu restored Chelsea's lead with an angled shot from the left in the 34th.

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall made it 3-1 six minutes later before Guiu completed his first hat trick for the Blues with a header in stoppage time.

“I’ve never seen anyone press like him," Dewsbury-Hall told TNTSports about Guiu. "He doesn’t slow down, he’ll keep working hard. You forget how young he is. He’s only 18. I’m happy that he got his hat trick, he deserves it.”

Guiu, who joined Chelsea from Barcelona this summer, has scored six goals in six games in the third-tier competition.

Marc Cucurella finished off the rout in the second half.

It’s now eight straight wins in all competitions for Enzo Maresca’s team, which equals the club's record set in December 2016.

Of the 36 clubs involved in the revamped competition, the top eight in the standings go directly to the round of 16 in March. Teams ranked ninth to 24th go into the knockout playoffs in February. The bottom 12 teams are eliminated.

Unlike the new-look Champions League and Europa League, teams in the Conference League face six opponents, not eight, in the league phase that replaced the traditional group stage.

Chelsea was the only team that stayed perfect, the only team that qualified to the round of 16 with a game to spare, and it scored 26 in six games, by far the most goals.

Despite its first defeat in the competition, Rovers finished 10th and became the first Irish club to advance to the knockout stage of a European competition.

Top eight

Rolando Mandragora netted for Fiorentina three minutes from time to salvage a 1-1 draw at Vitória, a result that gave the Portuguese team second place with 14 points. Fiorentina, runner-up in the previous two editions, was a point back in third.

Rapid Vienna beat Copenhagen 3-0 to advance from fourth place on 13 points. Djurgården was fifth with 13 points after a 3-1 win over Legia Warsaw, which was seventh place.

Lugano finished sixth after being held 2-2 at home by Pafos from Cyprus.

Cercle Brugge’s 1-1 draw against Basaksehir was enough to finish eighth.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer