As proud as Chelsea and their head coach Enzo Maresca may be that their second team looked like a well-oiled group of stars who could play in the Premier League, this match was generally uncompetitive.

Mudryk, Neto, Dewsbury-Hall, Nkunku and Tosin Adarabioyo were among the stars who came in from the depths of the massive 29-man squad pictured in this year’s team photo two weeks ago.

Cole Palmer, Romeo Lavia and Wesley Fofana have not been selected for this competition – they can rest every Thursday – while Ben Chilwell is simply out of favour.

Still, Maresca chose not to pick Nicolas Jackson or Jadon Sancho and gave them the night off.

It could have encouraged Gent, but through Watanabe and Gandelman they could only score two goals against the run of play, with Englishman Archie Brown and former Chelsea striker Eidur Gudjohnsen’s son Andri having efforts on target.

But Chelsea’s £400million team could have scored more against Gent, whose most expensive signing ever, £6million Momodou Sonko, was on the bench.

In fact, a report from the Transferroom website shows that Chelsea’s squad, valued at £1.1 billion, is worth as much as the other 35 Conference League teams combined.

They are therefore strong favorites to claim glory in Europe this season. That estimated squad value is nothing for the Blues to be ashamed of, but only highlights how European football is changing as the English top flight dominates, especially when facing teams from outside the continent’s big five leagues.