Chelsea put aside slumping Premier League fortunes by beginning their Champions League campaign with a comfortable 4-0 win over Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Willian, Oscar, Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas grabbed the goals as the hosts eased to three Group G points at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday.
Eden Hazard has come under scrutiny following that below-par run of results, and his night started in similarly frustrating fashion when he blazed a penalty way over the crossbar in the sixth minute.
Jose Mourinho's men responded strongly, with the impressive Willian opening the scoring before being withdrawn with a hamstring injury.
And the scoring was wrapped up in the 78th minute, Fabregas completing a good night's work by slotting into an empty net.
Chelsea's poor form did not have an immediate impact as they started impressively.
Having been fortunate to avoid a red card, Rajkovic was thanking his luck again when Hazard missed the target.
Undeterred, Chelsea continued to press forward and took the lead after 15 minutes.
The Brazilian's impressive display lasted just 23 minutes, however, as he was sustained a muscle problem.
Nikola Mitrovic delivered a pin-point set-piece and the prolific Eran Zahavi could only head over Asmir Begovic's crossbar.
That miss proved costly as the hosts were awarded another spot-kick just before half-time, Costa going down easily under a challenge from former Chelsea defender Tal Ben Haim.
Oscar deserved much of the credit, his clever run meaning Fabregas' cross found Costa, who hammered an unstoppable shot into the net.
Chelsea opted for a more controlled approach thereafter, knocking the ball around confidently in a manner that belied the pre-match talk of decline.
