Reaction and analysis
And with that, I’m off. Here’s the match report again. Bye!
Thomas Tuchel is a happy chap and has a happy chat:
Fantastic result and fantastic goal, and well deserved. A lot of concentration, that we wanted to dominate in the opponents’ half, never to lose our concentration or the precision of our passing, not to do mistakes too early in our passing and take a risk in the last 20 metres. That was the challenge. And at the same time to be aware of quick counter-attacks. It was a very disciplined performance, we had a deserved clean sheet, and this is the basis of a big away win, but it is half-time.
We analysed the matches, we knew [Atletico defending in numbers, effectively with a back six] could happen. We told the guys that if it happened maybe it’s also our quality, and the respect, that made them do it. We want to be brave, and play int he opponents’ half, and not be afraid. The intention was to keep the intensity high with runs and with counter-pressing, and this is what we did very well - we never let them breathe, we never let them counter. Fortunately we got a big reward with this result.
I don’t want to be critical. It was OK to take a risk in the last metres of the pitch. We created a lot of situations where we could start attacks, I’m very happy with that. I’m confident, because I see the will, I see the hunger, I see the desire. We will not stop pushing the guys, and encouraging them to improve.
Jacob Steinberg has filed his match report:
In the end it came down to Chelsea’s ambition. While Atletico Madrid were held back by Diego Simeone’s negativity, Thomas Tuchel told his team to play. Liberated, Chelsea stood up to be counted. They let their football do the talking instead of rising to Luis Suárez’s provocation, earning their reward when Olivier Giroud gave them a slender advantage to take back to Stamford Bridge with a special goal.
Tuchel could celebrate a perfect away display in Bucharest, where the tie was played due to Covid-19 restrictions. Chelsea, who have a wonderful chance to progress beyond the last 16 for the first time since 2016, were far more progressive than Atlético. It was a complete performance and the only disappointment is that Jorginho and the outstanding Mason Mount will be suspended for the second leg on 17 March.
Much more here:
Olivier Giroud has a chat on the telly:
We came here with strong intentions to win the game. We analysed well their game and knew how we could give them trouble offensively. I think we were very strong at the back, and I think we had the better chances. It’s a deserved win tonight I think. We know the importance of the away goal in European cups, which is why I was very pleased to help the team to win the game. We managed well the game, we faced a great team and I think we were very, very committed, and we knew their main strength, so I think we dealt with that. We just need now to stay focused and finish the job at home. I didn’t know what to think about the goal. I just tried to focus on hitting the ball well. I was pleased to see the ball in the back of the net, but to be honest I had no clue about being offside or not.
Atletico offered very little in attack tonight, and Chelsea were largely comfortable at the back and dominant in midfield. They didn’t create much, as Atleti defended in numbers, and I can’t remember any chance from in front goal other than Giroud’s, which was a phenomenal finish even if Mario Hermoso’s accidental assist, somehow managing to clear the ball gently over his rigth shoulder, was probably even more astonishing.
Final score: Club Atlético de Madrid 0-1 Chelsea
90+6 mins: Several throw-ins and another free kick later, it’s all over! It wasn’t consistently thrilling, but it was a convincing Chelsea performance and a deserved victory.
90+2 mins: Lemar trips Pulisic and is booked. Chelsea take their time over the free kick.
90+1 mins: There will be six minutes of stoppage time, half of them earned by the goal-based VAR delay.
90 mins: Lemar has the ball on the right for Atleti, but Chelsea close down not only him but all his forward options, and he is forced to turn back.
34 - Aged 34 years and 146 days, Olivier Giroud is the oldest player to score in the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League for Chelsea, and the oldest to do so for an English side since Ryan Giggs (37) in April 2011 vs Schalke. Golden. pic.twitter.com/6xTgTcwrS7
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 23, 2021
86 mins: Yet more substitutional action, though as when Atletico made a triple change a few minutes ago the director has only shown us one of them: Kai Havertz replaces Olivier Giroud. Oh, and Pulisic for Werner
85 mins: Atleti have also brought Vitolo and Lucas Torreira on, and taken Saul Niguez and Hermoso.
83 mins: Werner is played in on the right, but is so much faster than his teammates that there are no passing options for him when he arrives in the penalty area, so he just lashes a shot goalwards from an unpromising angle, and Oblak tips it wide.
82 mins: Moussa Dembele comes on for Correa, and Renan Lodi for Joao Felix.
80 mins: Reece James replaces Hudson-Odoi.
78 mins: A great chance for Chelsea to make a great chance, but a succession of passes aren’t quite right and force their recipients to pass up potential shooting chances, and it all ends with Hudson-Odoi crossing to nobody from the right.
76 mins: Correa has a snap-shot from the edge of the area that hits a defender. It’s interesting mainly because Correa hasn’t spent much time on the edge of the area until now, suggesting Atleti want an equaliser tonight.
74 mins: A double change for Chelsea, who bring Ziyech and Kante on and take Kovacic and Mount off.
73 mins: On first viewing it really did look like Mount got the touch, making Giroud a couple of yards offside. The linesman really can’t be blamed for his flag-waving.
GOAL! Atletico Madrid 0-1 Chelsea (Giroud, 67 mins)
It’s an actual goal! The ball comes in from the left, spins up off a combination of Mount and Hermoso - entirely off Hermoso, it transpires - and drops to Giroud, whose overhead sent the ball past Oblak and just inside the post!
Updated
69 mins: The VAR is having a long old look at this.
67 mins: Giroud has the ball in the net! But the flag is up: he was offside before the ball came through to him, and there might have been a handball in the build-up as well. Still, a fabulous if ultimately worthless overhead finish.
64 mins: Jorginho trips Joao Felix, is booked, and becomes the second player to miss the second leg as a result of fouling the Portuguese tyro.
62 mins: Llorente, just inside the Chelsea half, kicks the ball into Werner and rugby tackles him rather than let the forward chase the rebound into an empty Atletico half. It was the most professional of fouls, and 20 yards closer to goal would surely have led to a red card, but at that distance it’s only yellow.
58 mins: Atletico break down the left, Lemar’s cross is partically cleared and Joao Felix sends a bicycle kick well over the bar.
57 mins: The ball breaks to Suarez inside the area, but there’s a defender blocking his path to goal and he shoots anyway. The resulting corner is cleared. Atleti seem to have cut out the easy route to the right flank for Chelsea since half-time, and as a result the central midfielders are just playing the ball among themselves with little obvious idea about what to do next.
55 mins: Alonso crosses from the left, Savic heads clear, and Giroud has his head in his hands again.
53 mins: Nearly a chance for Chelsea, but Werner can’t pick out Giroud with his centre from the left, leaving the Frechman with his head in his hands as Atleti clear the ball.
52 mins: Already two second-half goals in the night’s other Champions League game, where it’s now Lazio 1-4 Bayern Munich.
48 mins: Suarez reverse-kicks Azpilicueta and goes down, winning a free kick. Then Hudson-Odoi challenges him, and down he goes again, with the same result.
46 mins: Peeeeeep! Half two is happening.
The players are back out and ready for more.
Chelsea have played pretty well so far, with Alonso putting in a few good crosses from the left, Hudson-Odoi and Mount combining well on the right without quite producing the killer ball, and the defence, early Mendy-related scare aside, looking reasonably strong.
“Surely Chelsea could have worn their first kit, there’s not much of a clash,” sniffs Julian Menz. “I get the kit-marketing aspect, but that strip is so awful no-one is going to buy it anyway. My dear departed dad had pyjamas like that.”
Half time: Club Atlético de Madrid 0-0 Chelsea
45+2 mins: Half of the time has been played, and none of the goals have been scored.
45+1 mins: Just the one minute of stoppage time is to be played at the end of the first half.
45 mins: Nice work by Mount and Hudson-Odoi on the right, but Mount takes one touch too many before crossing, and hits a defender.
43 mins: Giroud can’t bring down a long pass into the Atletico penalty area, and insists a defender handled the ball in stopping him. The VAR spends 0.8 seconds watching replays before dismissing his appeal. Meanwhile in tonight’s other game, it’s now 0-3.
THREEEEEEEE 😍😍😍@leroy_sane taps in after a superb Kingsley #Coman solo run 👌
— 🏆🏆🏆FC Bayern English🏆🏆🏆 (@FCBayernEN) February 23, 2021
♦️ #LAZFCB 0-3 (42') ♦️ pic.twitter.com/Y4z1iHp2Z9
41 mins: Another decent break from Chelsea, which ends with Alonso lifting a ball from the left to Mount, wide of goal on the right, whose attempted cushion-volleyed cross back in is all wrong. Goal kick.
39 mins: Werner spins into space behind Savic and from well wide of goal and an acute angle lashes a shot goalwards, but it’s straight at Oblak’s head and he gets his hands up in time to save his face a bit of pain.
37 mins: Jorginho tries to lift the ball over Atletico’s defence to Hudson-Odoi, but it’s justoverlong. He needs to keep playing the exact same pass (well, maybe just a fraction less strong), because there is promise there.
34 mins: Koke gets a bit of treatment after taking an arm to the side of the head from Alonso as both compete for a high ball.
32 mins: Meanwhile in tonight’s other game, the young English/German (delete as appropriate) ace Jamal Musiala has made it Lazio 0-2 Bayern Munich.
What a finish from 17-year-old Jamal Musiala for Bayern! 🎯
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) February 23, 2021
That build-up play from Alphonso Davies 😍 pic.twitter.com/Gbix4z0b4o
26 mins: A nice move from Chelsea sees Kovacic give the ball to Alonso, in space on the left, and his cross is met by a diving Giroud, whose header flies straight into a defender.
Updated
25 mins: Alonso’s low 20-yarder is saved by Oblak. It’s the night’s first shot on target, but the keeper is not seriously troubled.
23 mins: Lemar takes a poor touch in his own half and nearly gives the ball away to Mount, but he manages to run into the Chelsea player and win a free-kick instead.
20 mins: Werner wins a corner, and Chelsea try a pre-worked routine that looks good until Jorginho overhits his pass to Mount.
17 mins: Werner plays a one-two with Giroud and tumbles in the penalty area, but the referee doesn’t think it’s a penalty. Play continues while VAR takes a look.
15 mins: Similar chance for Chelsea! Hudson-Odoi and Mount combine on the right, and the latter’s low cross zips past Werner ahead of the near post and all the way across goal!
14 mins: Chance for Atletico! Suarez gets in down the right, cuts in, bisects the six-yard box with a low centre, and it runs just too far ahead of Lemar with the goal gaping, and he studs it wide!
12 mins: Hudson-Odoi on the right has been the most available option when Chelsea have attacked, with passes available to him over and beyond the backtracking Lemar, but he has yet to do anything with the scrap of attacking space he’s been afforded.
10 mins: They also have four players in the box, and three offering closer support, when Lemar has the ball on the right, so are essentially planning on most players being both in the defence and in the attack.
6 mins: Atletico are playing with a flat back six when Chelsea have the ball, with Lemar and Correa dropping back to help out essentially as full-backs.
3 mins: Nearly a giveaway goal for Atletico! Chelsea try to play the ball around in defence, but it’s passed a little heavily to Mendy, whose first touch is appalling and sends it rolling towards Saul Niguez for a tap-in! He’s saved because his first touch is so bad that Saul can’t control it, and instead is forced wide.
2 mins: A very early booking for Mason Mount, who leans into Joao Felix inside the centre circle, bringing him down. He will therefore miss the second leg (Kovacic and Jorginho are also a booking away from a suspension).
1 min: Peeeeeeep! Chelsea, the “visitors”, get the game under way.
They are now enjoying the Champions League anthem, as indeed are we all (unless you’re following the game only on the blog, in which case the use of your imagination is required).
The players are gathering in the foyer area, enjoying the moments before they come out to enjoy the moments before kick-off.
Thomas Tuchel on the early days of his time at Chelsea: “It’s like an orchestra, where you learn a new song and it becomes a habit to play it, but on the way there is a lack of timing and a bit a lack of rhythm.”
Though if you’ve still got a minute you could check out these wonderful if completely irrelevant to the subject at hand photographs of 1960s Edinburgh:
Finally, Sid Lowe’s interview with Filipe Luis, who played for both of tonight’s teams, albeit rather more for one than the other:
More pre-match reading, Jacob Steinberg now on Thomas Tuchel’s spluttering strikers:
Here’s Josué Seixas on Felipe, who starts his 20th game of the season this evening:
The teams!
The team sheets have been submitted, and the names upon them were these:
Atletico Madrid: Oblak, Savic, Felipe, Hermoso, Llorente, Koke, Lemar, Saul, Correa, Joao Felix, Suarez. Subs: Grbic, Kondogbia, Torreira, Renan Lodi, Dembele, Vitolo, Camello, Garcia, Sanchez, San Roman.
Chelsea: Mendy, Azpilicueta, Christensen, Rudiger, Hudson-Odoi, Jorginho, Kovacic, Alonso, Mount, Werner, Giroud. Subs: Arrizabalaga, Kante, Abraham, Pulisic, Caballero, Zouma, Chilwell, Ziyech, Gilmour, James, Havertz, Emerson Palmieri.
Referee: Felix Brych.
👥 And now… The 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲-𝘂𝗽 for your 𝗔𝘁𝗹𝗲́𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗼 𝗱𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗱𝗿𝗶𝗱 ⚡
— Atlético de Madrid (@atletienglish) February 23, 2021
⭐ #UCL | ⚽ #AtletiChelsea
🔴⚪ #AúpaAtleti pic.twitter.com/pEWJC3X16c
Here's your Chelsea starting 11 for #ATMCHE! 👊🔵 pic.twitter.com/T5FqtEkdiX
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) February 23, 2021
Hello world!
If you’re only as good as your last game Chelsea are in luck, because Atletico lost 2-0 to Levante at the weekend. In every other way, though, they’re in for a very tough night. “It’s clear what you get when you play Atlético: fighting, experience and a team with a strong mentality,” says Tommy Tuchel. Sure, the game’s relocation to Bucharest is quite handy, but even so this is not an easy assignment - for either team. “Take my word for it: it’s not easy to play for Cholo,” Filipe Luis said of Diego Simeone to Sid Lowe this week. “He has zero sentimentality. None. He decides what he has to decide to win.” As for Simeone, he called Tuchel a “great coach who always makes his teams play well, wherever he goes”, and added that he “comes to a club that is very strong economically”, which could either be a bland statement of fact or a bit of a dig at the source of their wealth and subsequent success depending on how you look at it, but I’m going with the latter.
Atletico have a few injury-enforced absentees, including Jose Gimenez and Yannick Carrasco, while Chelsea have left Thiago Silva at home, but any match with Luis Suarez, Joao Felix, Christian Pulisic and Hakim Ziyech on its list of likely participants is a match I want to be watching.
Before we get the chance to do that, though, here’s a first instalment of pre-match reading, with more to come:
