Romeo Lavia made the long journey only to be forced off with injury after eight minutes, and his replacement, Moises Caicedo, was the first to threaten when he sent a half-volley flying over after a corner was cleared to the edge of the area.
Andrey Santos should have at least hit the target with a close-range chance, but he atoned on 16 minutes when he teed up Estevao to cut inside from the right and rifle the opening goal in at the near post.
The home side had looked dangerous on their rare ventures forward, but hadn’t shaken off the last line of the Blues’ defence. That all changed just before the half-hour mark when Camilo Duran shrugged off Jorrel Hato and powered a strike against the post, which Leandro Andrade tucked away on the rebound.
Qarabag kept the pressure on, and Hato’s dismal half got worse when he gave the ball away, allowing Andrade to put in a cross, which the defender blocked with his hand inside the area.
Marko Janković sent Robert Sánchez the wrong way from the resulting spot-kick to give the hosts the HT lead.
The Horsemen’s advantage lasted until the eighth minute of the second half, when Alejandro Garnacho attempted a square pass, which Kevin Medina cut out, but the loose ball was picked up again by the Argentinian, who buried it in the bottom corner of Mateusz Kochalski’s goal.
The home goalkeeper suddenly had his work cut out, reacting well to an Enzo Fernández effort as Chelsea’s half-time changes made the desired impact.
Nariman Akhundzade and Liam Delap saw efforts go narrowly wide before a driven Fernández strike went a whisker over, as both sides pushed for the crucial fifth goal.
Facundo Buonanotte thought he had found it five minutes from time, but his 25-yard effort swerved agonisingly wide at the last moment.
Oleksiy Kashchuk and Garnacho each passed up guilt-edged opportunities in added time, but the draw means Gurban Gurbanov’s side have avoided defeat to English opposition at the eighth attempt, while it’s just the fourth time in 24 international matches under Maresca that Chelsea haven’t emerged victorious.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Leandro Andrade (Qarabag FK)
