Chelsea's Europa League campaign has got off to a winning start with a 1-0 triumph against Sparta Prague in the Czech Republic.

Oscar scored the only goal of the game in the final 10 minutes to give the Blues a first-leg victory in their last-32 tie.

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Frank Lampard saw his early effort saved by Tomas Vaclik before Petr Cech had to improvise to keep out Ladislav Krejci's volley at the other end.

The best chance of the first half eventually fell to David Lafata on 30 minutes, but the striker fluffed his lines and put his shot wide.

© AP Photos

If both teams showed plenty of attacking intent in the opening 45 minutes, the second period saw little action in front of goal.

Cech easily gathered Krejci's long-range drive, while Lampard's tame header posed no problem for Vaclik.

However, Chelsea finally made the breakthrough on 82 minutes when Oscar, who had only been on the pitch for a minute, slotted home following an exchange of passes with Eden Hazard.