Suzy Wrack's match report
Right then, final scores are in from the other early afternoon Champions League games and to nobody’s great surprise Wolfsburg and Lyon are safely in the quarter-finals. Bayern Munich (6-1 up from their first leg), Paris St-Germain (5-0), Barcelona (4-0) and Manchester City (3-0) will probably join them, with the tie between St Polten and Rosengard, who drew 2-2 in their first leg and play again in about four and a half hours, the only Round of 16 encounter that can be described as particularly poised. The drama will certainly heat up in the last eight, and Chelsea are in that very important, luxurious and shiny hat.
And with that, I’m off. Bye!
Chelsea were extremely lucky to get their penalty, which I don’t think was a handball at all, and if Atletico had scored their own penalties across the two matches they would be going through to the quarter-finals. But that being said the English side defended well in this game and looked fairly comfortable for most of it, at least until Ajibade joined the attack and Atletico briefly committed some more players forward. Ajibade should have scored from Castellanos’s cross in what was the only clear opportunity for either side from open play until Laurent scored in the 93rd minute, and an earlier opener for the “home” team might have changed things. Emma Hayes’ side are through, but their Champions League rivals won’t be overawed by anything they showed us today.
Talking of Champions League rivals, there are two other Champions League games taking place at the moment. Lyon are 3-1 up in Brondby, and 5-1 ahead on aggregate, while Wolfsburg lead Lillestrom 2-0 today, and 4-0 on aggregate. There are 10 minutes to go in both matches.
Final score: Atletico Madrid 1-1 Chelsea (Chelsea win 3-1 on aggregate)
90+5 mins: Castellanos thwacks a shot wide of the near post from an extremely unpromising position on the right, and as the ensuing goal kick is in the air the referee blows for full time! Chelsea are in the final eight!
GOAL! Atletico Madrid 1-1 Chelsea (Laurent, 90+3 mins)
Lovely finish! A cross from the left is chested down by Nkout, probably an attempt to control it for herself, but it runs perfectly to Laurent, whose first touch takes the ball out of her feet and whose second sends it curling past Berger and into the far corner!
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90+3 mins: We’re now midway through four minutes of stoppage time.
90+1 mins: Kirby does a spin on the ball to escape from two defenders. She then gives the ball away, but the turn was lovely.
90 mins: The game has been a bit of a mess since the goal, with neither team keeping the ball well or attacking inventively and the outcome virtually decided.
87 mins: Chelsea win a free-kick, which they lift over the defence to Kerr, who was one of three or four offside players.
84 mins: Hannah Blundell comes on for Ji, the game’s eighth substitution.
83 mins: Atletico attack down the right, but Knaak is outfoxed by Andersson’s entirely accidental backheel.
79 mins: Emelyne Laurent comes on for Duggan, whose penalty miss was her last significant contribution to this year’s Champions League (probably).
GOAL! Atletico Madrid 0-1 Chelsea (Mjelde, 77 mins)
That’s how to take a penalty! Lindahl dives low to her left as the ball flies high to her right, and Chelsea have surely got this tie won no!
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76 mins: Penalty to Chelsea! Reiten gets the ball on the left and tries to take on Garcia. The ball comes off the Atletico player’s side - I’m not sure there was any arm involved at all, and if there was it made little difference to anything - and the referee points to the spot again!
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They've only gone and missed another one!
75 mins: Toni Duggan takes it, and successfully sends Berger diving the wrong way, but she thunders the ball into the bar with such force that it rebounds out of the area!
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74 mins: Atletico have a penalty! De la Cruz’s shot hits Charles’ raised arm, and the referee points to the spot!
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73 mins: It’s almost all Atletico now, and they’re playing a full-time front four.
71 mins: Close! Nkout chests the ball down on the edge of the box, turns and thumps a left-footer just over the bar!
70 mins: The game is mainly stoppage at the moment. Kirby is currently off the field getting treatment for cramp.
67 mins: Another couple of substitutions from Atletico, who take off Strom and bring on Garcia and replace Kazadi with Knaak. Chelsea bring Fleming on for Harder.
64 mins: Ajibade seemed to be brought down by Andersson inside the Chelsea penalty area, a few seconds before that chance. The referee didn’t see it as a foul, though, and Berger would probably have saved the penalty anyway.
63 mins: What a chance! Castellanos gets to the byline, gets her head up, and picks out Ajibade with her centre, who stretches out her left foot and volleys over the bar!
60 mins: And with that Ludmila’s race is run, as Atletico take off their top scoreras well as Santos, and Ajibade and Iglesias de la Cruz come on.
59 mins: Kerr is robustly tackled on the Chelsea left, but the referee waves play on and Atletico break down the same flank, ending with Ludmila sprinting down the wing and Bright coming across to boff the ball into touch.
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55 mins: Kirby is played in down the right wing, but is offside by a distance.
52 mins: Charles shoulders Ludmila out of the way as both go for a loose ball inside the Chelsea penalty area, a challenge that strays deep into seen-them-given territory but comes out the other side unscathed.
49 mins: Ludmila goes down the right, but her cross towards Nkout is feeble, and cut out. Having spent much of the first half on the left, Ludmila is very much on the right now.
46 mins: Peeeeeep! For the final time (unless there’s extra time), we are off!
The players are on their way back out. Over the next 45 minutes Atletico have to score twice, will start pushing more players forward and leaving fewer back, and goals at one end or the other, or indeed both, become inevitable. Don’t they?
Half time: Atletico Madrid 0-0 Chelsea (0-2 on aggregate)
45+3 mins: That’s half time. Chelsea have been largely comfortable at the back and occasionally threatening on the break, and they stake their two-goal lead into what is effectively three-quarter time.
45+2 mins: Atletico attack, and after Bright misjudges the flight of the ball Nkout runs clear, but there’s only Ludmila to her left, plus three defenders around her, and her cross is behind them all.
45+1 mins: There will be three minutes of stoppage time, give or take.
45 mins: Kirby leads a Chelsea break after another poor short corner, but her pass to Mjelde is rubbish. Happily Strom slips, and Mjelde runs clear! She’s already sprinted 70 yards though, is already knackered, and she’s swiftly caught by defenders and the move collapses.
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42 mins: England goes down after that shot, though I didn’t see any contact between her and anyone else, and after a couple of minutes’ treatment she goes off, and Reiten comes on to replace her.
39 mins: Duggan hits a volley from a couple of yards outside the area which dips perfectly towards the corner of goal, but Berger dives to her left to keep it out.
37 mins: The ball is played through to Ludmila, but for the second time already the offside flag goes up when the Brazilian looked level at worst.
36 mins: Ludmila’s attempted pass to Nkout rolls through to Berger, who has absolutely no intention of picking it up, kicking it, o doing anything at all unless she absolutely has to. Eventually Nkout closes her down and she gets on with it.
33 mins: A shot on target! It comes from Santos, who does a lovely turn to make some space before hitting a right-footed shot straight at Berger from outside the area.
31 mins: Another Atletico corner. As the ball comes in Nkout goes down, with a Chelsea player under her, and the referee gives the English side a free kick.
29 mins: A pass to Kerr opens up in front of England, but by the time she sees it and takes it Kazadi, who has done a pretty good job on Kerr so far, has closed it down again.
28 mins: A delay while Charles deals with some kind of eye issue, which eventually forces her off the pitch for some eye drops.
26 mins: Mjelde and Bright go for the same high ball and run into each other, and Castellanos picks up the loose ball, turns and hits a decent left-footer from 25 yards that goes just over the bar.
26 mins: This match is going very well for Chelsea, who are limiting Atletico’s attacking threat while looking good themselves on the break. They win a corner, which is half cleared and eventually Bright hammers a volley goalwards, but there’s a defender in the way.
24 mins: England heads Kerr’s cross over the bar, and gets a bit of Van Dongen’s elbow in her face for her pains.
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20 mins: Save! Still no shots on target, but Lindahl has to throw out a left leg to stop what would have been an own goal after Kazadi got a foot to Kerr’s pass infield towards England.
18 mins: Atleti win a another corner, and this time Santos sends it straight into the mixer, a very decent delivery that Berger punches away.
14 mins: Atletico win a corner, play it short, and the attempted return pass to Santos is shepherded out of play by a defender, a criminal waste of a potentially useful set piece.
11 mins: Chelsea break, and a lofted pass towards Kerr on the left is well cut out by Kazadi as the Australian looked to be about to burst clear. Chelsea get the ball back, though, and the move ends with a Harder shot that goes wide. Still no shots on target.
8 mins: Ludmila is Atletico’s top scorer and primary outlet. So far she’s regularly pulling wide to the left, where the majority of their attacks are coming from, leaving Nkout alone in the centre.
5 mins: Atletico obviously have to score, but not as badly as they have to not concede, so the time for wild risk-taking is not yet upon us. So far they’re going pretty direct, which will not particularly scare Bright and Mjelde at the heart of Chelsea’s defence.
2 mins: The first shot of the day comes from the right foot of Melanie Leupolz, and it’s not a very good one. Lindahl watches it as it rumbles a yard or so wide from 25 yards.
1 min: Peeeeeep! Atleti get the game started!
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The players pose for slightly weirdly socially distanced team photographs before kick-off, which should happen within a matter of seconds.
The players are on their way out, up some stairs from a subterranean players’ exit.
The pitch at the Stadio Brianteo in Monzao looks fabulous. BT Sport informs me that Michael Jackson played the stadium twice on his Dangerous tour.
The teams!
The starting line-ups have been announced, and look like this:
Atletico Madrid: Lindahl; Kazadi, Aleixandri, Van Dongen, Strom; Castellanos, Silvia Meseguer, Santos, Duggan; Ludmila, Nkout. Subs: Peyraud-Magnin, Knaak, Sampedro, Ajibade, Tounkara, Laurent, Bernabe, Garcia, Iglesias de la Cruz.
Chelsea: Berger; Charles, Mjelde, Bright, Andersson; Harder Leupolz, Ji; Kirby, England, Kerr. Subs: Musovic, Telford, Blundell, Carter, Reiten, Eriksson, Fleming, Spence, Fox, Beevor-Jones.
Referee: Stéphanie Frappart (France).
🏧👥 ALINEACIÓN
— At. Madrid Femenino (@AtletiFemenino) March 10, 2021
¡Ya tenemos 1⃣1⃣❗❕❗
🔴⚪#AúpaAtleti
⭐ #UWCL |⚽#AtletiChelsea pic.twitter.com/VHy2xh0bw2
Your Chelsea team to take on Atletico Madrid! 💪
— Chelsea FC Women (@ChelseaFCW) March 10, 2021
Thoughts, Blues? 🤔#CFCW pic.twitter.com/5pVSvSXBoJ
Hello world!
Chelsea, semi-finalists in the last two seasons, have one foot in the quarter-finals after last week’s 2-0 first-leg win over Atletico Madrid, a scoreline that makes the game seem a lot more comfortable than it was, given the two penalties the Spaniards won and saw saved by Ann-Katrin Berger, but is also less impressive than it seems, given that Chelsea played the vast majority of the match with 10 players. Today they set out to finish the job against a side fourth in Spain’s Primera Division. “We know we’re only halfway there and our levels of concentration and focus have to be even higher than in the first leg. The job isn’t done,” said Emma Hayes, their manager.
Atletico hammered Real Betis 4-0 on Sunday, with one assist for England’s Toni Duggan, but might have half an eye on Saturday’s home derby against Real Madrid, who are one place and three points above them in the league.
Here’s Suzanne Wrack’s match preview. Welcome!
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