Such is the gap between the two sides that only a win would do for Chelsea and new head coach Liam Rosenior.
This was a David‑versus‑Goliath encounter – Pafos are undertaking their first Champions League campaign and had not faced an English team in this season's competition.
The Cypriot champions are valued at just £26.2m, compared with Chelsea's squad worth more than £1bn, according to the football data website Transfermarkt.
However, a classic low‑block approach from the side with the competition's oldest average age proved effective. They shut out Chelsea – by contrast the youngest – and rode their luck when Derrick Luckassen was judged to have been pushed by Enzo Fernandez in the build‑up to the disallowed early header.
But Chelsea were also too ponderous in possession, creating only a handful of further clear‑cut chances until Moises Caicedo eventually won the match.
Victory in such circumstances will do little to build a positive narrative, but Rosenior avoided the banana skin feared before kick-off – praising Pafos' ongoing push to reach the play‑off round, which the Blues are desperate to avoid.
Missing those two matches in February would give Chelsea two midweeks off and provide Rosenior – appointed a fortnight ago – with more time to train the squad and impose his identity on the group.
It will be an exciting finale at Napoli's Diego Armando Maradona Stadium next week, with Antonio Conte's Italian champions also needing a win to stay in the competition.
Rosenior's former side Strasbourg were exciting to watch and played with intensity and flair, but that style has not been evident since his appointment.
For now, it is a case of building momentum and taking things one step at a time to reach the level the Englishman wants from his Chelsea team.
