Joao Felix sent a message to manager Enzo Maresca in the form of an inspired brace which guided a second-string Chelsea side past a toothless Panathinaikos.
The former Sheffield United right-back was in the Panathinaikos squad when he was found dead in a swimming pool at his home near Athens this month, aged just 31.
Roared on by a raucous support, the hosts began at a frantic pace with Tin Jedvaj missing a free header to open the scoring just a seconds in and Chelsea looked visibly rattled by the Greek outfit's energy.
That was about as good as it got for Panathinaikos and the home faithful were soon silenced as summer signing Joao Felix flicked a ball into the path of Mikhailo Mudryk before the Ukrainian completed the one-two with a smart pass into the box and Felix duly slotted it home.
The Europa Conference League clash kicked off to an emotional atmosphere after tributes were paid to George Baldock
Chelsea then gained a comfortable foothold on the tie and Enzo Maresca's B-team settled into a rhythm of stroking the ball about with ease and carving apart an inferior Panathinaikos side.
It took just three minutes to double their lead after the restart and the killer goal came from an unlikely source.
Pedro Neto gained a yard of space on the right before floating an enticing ball into the home team's box where Mudryk threw himself ahead of his marker to nod home a first goal of the season which even he looked shocked by.
A rattled Panathinaikos decided to rejoin the contest, briefly making a couple of moves down the Chelsea left, but their comeback was stifled in its infancy by a cruel deflection from a Felix long-shot which gave the Portuguese his second goal.
Things went from bad to worse for Diego Alonso's outfit when the former Atletico Madrid forward tried to surge into the box for his hat-trick only for the ball to hit the hand of Daniel Mancini and the referee to point straight to the spot
Christopher Nkunku ignored the distraction of a green laser shone on his face by a mindless member of the crowd to calmly slot home the penalty and continue his record of scoring in each European match this season.
The perfectionist Maresca will have been bitterly disappointed when Chelsea's defence was carved open courtesy of some creative right-wing play and an Alexander Jeremejeff finish.
But the manager will be happy to go to sleep with a headache tonight as the likes of Felix, Mudryk and Neto all put forward strong arguments for their inclusion in a Blues side whose season is going from strength to strength.