For a long time, head coach Liam Rosenior’s first European game in charge looked like heading towards a bleak conclusion, the rookie visitors from Cyprus holding out admirably as Chelsea pressure grew and with it a tetchiness inside the ground.

A desperately poor first half of ponderous sideways passing prompted the urgency and alarm for a more direct approach after the break.

It took until the 76th minute though, with Chelsea facing the prospect of needing to win away to Napoli next week and favours from elsewhere in order to scrape a top-eight finish, for the breakthrough, Caicedo barrelling into a header to rescue his side.

From the start they had felt able to be patient against a side that had never scored an away goal in this competition. Visiting boss Albert Celades, the former Barcelona and Real Madrid midfielder, had been in his job even less time than Rosenior but his team defended with impressive discipline and orderliness.

There was no action at all until the 15th minute when Reece James curled a foot wide from 20 yards, then Enzo Fernandez headed in Pedro Neto’s cross but was penalised, harshly it appeared, for a push on his defender.

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Pafos nearly led from their only first-half attack when winger Jaja’s shot deflected off James and completely wrong-footed Filip Jorgensen before striking the post.

Benoit Badiashile glanced Alejandro Garnacho’s cross wide, Caicedo’s rocket was beaten away by goalkeeper Jay Gorter, but Chelsea were without bite, holding Pafos comfortably at arms length without penetrating.

Instead they dragged the visitors back and forth across the pitch, swinging over the occasional cross to be either headed out or watched drift harmlessly behind.

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Finally in added time there was a tweak to the formula, James breaking the line with a pass directly through midfield into Liam Delap. He knocked it first time for Caicedo who released the onrushing Jorrel Hato up from left-back but Gorter was on hand to race out and save.

There was the usual fanfare from home fans when Estevao was sent on for the second half. It was in this competition that the Brazilian had his finest night in the defeat of Barcelona, and there was a sense here that it would take a moment of individual brilliance to release Chelsea from their inertia.

It took him less than five minutes, a fizzing volley from Fernandez’s pass requiring an impressive save, and suddenly the stadium found its voice.

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A wonderfully inventive back-heel inside the box from, of all people, Badiashile released Estevao for another chance which he skewed wide. This was a different Chelsea to that from the first half, now finding space and picking away at the threads of the Pafos defence.

Neto and Caicedo each tried their luck from outside the box, Gorter down low to deny both. The plan now seemed to be keep the ball in central areas, keep the visitors guessing about where the next assault would come from and wait for a mistake.

They were 14 minutes away from an uncomfortable final matchday in Naples when Wesley Fofana flicked the ball on at a corner and Caicedo pounced with a header to send relief around west London.