Here’s Ed Aarons’ report from Zagreb.
Thomas Tuchel speaks, very honestly, but he is seething.
It’s an underperformance from us. We don’t finish our half-chances We conceded a counterattack that is far too easy. And we lose the next match. There’s too much to analyse, I am part of this. At the moment, everything is missing. I will not talk about individuals, we play as a team, we lose as a team. I need to find a solution for the next match. It’s not enough, it has noting to do with a worry, that’s reality.
Jeff Sachs gets in touch: “Thank you for your coverage. Another example of money doesn’t buy success, Tuchel reached his ceiling....like Klopp.”
Controversial.
Agreed, he was excellent. And played a big part in Orsic’s goal.
@JohnBrewin_ Bruno Petković could easily play as No.9 at big club. His link-up play is excellent and I reckon he'd excel in Premiership.
— ShakenMartinelli (@ShakenMartinel1) September 6, 2022
Full-time: Dinamo Zagreb 1-0 Chelsea
And that’s it. A huge win for Dinamo, and they deserve the three points and the plaudits. They were excellent while Chelsea were hopeless. Dinamo should be handed the credit for that but perhaps only Reece James looked anything like of the standard that would be expected. Thomas Tuchel glowers, he has a big job on now. The defence was ropey, the midfield lightweight and the forward line was blunt. Other than that, there’s not much to work on.
Updated
90+8 min: Dinamo run the ball down into the corner, as a famous victory is sensed….
90+7 min: Ziyech and James squabble over who takes it. Ziyech takes it – and does the same as last time. Rubbish, frankly. A gift to Dinamo, too.
90+6 min: Dinamo’s fans roaring on their heroes, who have given everything. Chelsea get a free-kick where the last one was, after Reece James is fouled.
90+4: Jorginho fouled in Jorginho territory. What will he – or anyone else – attempt? Ziyech fancies it. Head down, and into the wall. He’s had a shocker.
90+3 min: Ziyech penalised for picking the ball up for a throw when it had not actually yet run out of play. It’s been that type of night.
90+1 min: Eight minutes added on. Tuchel’s complaints about timewasting have been heard, and the use of the cart has been duly noted as a complete blag.
90 min: Petkovic is patient as he holds up the ball, buying his defence time as he does so. Twice it goes to him, and the second time he buys the foul.
89 min: Ademi is subbed off, taking his time, and on comes Baturina, the teenage sub.
86 min: Amazing scenes as James hits the post, and then as the ball comes across to Ziyech, he hits Livakovic after Jorginho’s shot is saved. Ziyech was offside, say. the robots. He should be relieved about that, as that should have been knocked in.
85 min: Thomas Tuchel is still muttering away…There could be some choice words spoken in post-match.
84 min: Ugly scenes as it becomes apparent that Cucurella’s tackle, down the back of Ivanusec’s Achilles, opens up the Dinamo player’s sock. No claret but the cart comes on to take him off.
83 min: All Chelsea now….
82 min: Incredible defending, as Broja looks to have an open goal to head at. Ljubicic suddenly arrives on the scene, and blocks it away from goal.
80 min: The ball loops into the Dinamo box, begging to be hit by a Chelsea player but again the clearance is made. There is confirmation that Tuchel has been booked for his complaints from the sideline.
78 min: Ziyech, again, is wasteful. Ademi, the Dinamo captain, is down after running into Fofana. Again, time is wasted and Tuchel, sat in his chair, grumbles though also seems resigned to his fate.
77 min: Two Dinamo changes. On come Lauritsen and Spikic, off go Moharrami and the man, the legend, Orsic. They take ages over them and Chelsea complain, with a yellow card brandished in the direction of Tuchel.
Updated
75 min: Final Chelsea change: off goes Sterling and on comes Pulisic.
74 min: Ziyech’s pass to the left is poor and Thomas Tuchel is fuming.
73 min: Koulibaly commits what looks like a tactical foul and gets away without a booking, and then Orsic gives Fofana, who has also had a nightmare, a chasing. Chelsea’s defence have been a mess.
71 min: Chelsea sub: Cucurella on for Chiwell, as the Spaniard makes his Champions League debut.
70 min: Havertz has plenty of time to shoot or pass, and Misic cuts in to clear up as the German dallies.
68 min: Ziyech fizzes in a ball that goes beyond Broja.
66 min: Sutalo clears the danger, and Ljubicic follows up, and Koulibaly is booked for clattering into Orsic. Chelsea have been rotten and now appear to be losing discipline. Orsic takes his time over getting treatment, so it’s their time they are wasting.
Updated
64 min: Chelsea and Dinamo is getting a bit heated. Mason Mount, already booked, gets involved in a skirmish and Tuchel is ranting into the central European late-summer night.
62 min: Joe Pearson gets involved: “Just catching up after getting home from running some errands. When Dinamo scored you said Chelsea “folded like a packet of sandwiches”. Are folding sandwiches some English delicacy that this sheltered Midwesterner is somehow unaware of?”
Think our sandwiches are more flexible than those Stateside, and very volatile. I once heard one venerable TV commentator once described a player as “exploding like a packet of sandwiches”. Versatile, too. Consider that an hommage.
61 min: Broja gets an glimpse but can only smash the ball into the hands of Livakovic as Mount was speeding along to try and get on the end of it.
60 min: Chelsea subs: Kovacic and Aubameyang off, on come Jorginho and Broja.
58 min: Penalty claim for Chelsea, as Havertz is banged into. Mason Mount is booked for complaining.
57 min: Kepa is asked to make a brilliant save to deny Ristovski, who wallops it from the right-hand side.
55 min: Orsic corner:
Ira Seligman: “He was also brilliant as a late sub in Croatia’s Round of 16 loss to Spain at Euro 2020. It’s somewhat surprising that he hasn’t been swooped up by a larger club.”
Edward Chukwurah “Orsic also scored a Europa League hat-trick against Spurs in 2021 (remember Spurs losing to a team whose manager had just been sentenced to jail? That match). He may be better than the Championship.”
Ingo Herzke: “Didn’t orsic score ALL THREE goals against tottenham in the Europa League. And another three against Atalanta in the CL? Not too shabby.”
54 min: Chelsea looking a little more dangerous though also a little impatient.
52 min: Dinamo head the ball clear as it’s aimed at Aubameyang in the box, and that’s another mark of their defensive qualities.
50 min: Chelsea get the ball in the net. Kovacic plays in Chilwell, who slides the ball across and Aubameyang slides in. Again, an offside, and it was an offside. These robots are doing their job so far.
49 min: Havertz, on the right, spins and cuts the ball in, and Aubameyang is again sluggish as the ball comes in. The ideas are there, the execution is not.
47 min: Tuchel frantic on the sidelines. Is his job in danger? Under the previous ownership, it might be. Under the new owners, it still might be.
46 min: Half-time change for Chelsea, on comes Ziyech for Azpilicueta, as they go four at the back. Aubameyang and Kovacic surely don’t have much running left in them yet.
Updated
Half-time emails are in:
Harriet Osborn: “Speaking of Orsic being good for the Championship, weren’t Burnley sniffing around before they settled on Weghorst?”
Richard Hirst: “You are raising my hopes about what Mitrovic could do to Fofana on Saturday. Please desist, since we all know it’s the hope that kills you.”
Vendela Raket: “remind us again of the pricetags of some of these little lambs looking pathetic against the lowest ranked side in the whole competition; it’s not that some of them cost £80m is it?”
Believe the summer spend was Chelsea £250m and Dinamo £5m.
Half-time: Dinamo Zagreb 1-0 Chelsea
The goal came against the run of play but once it did, Dinamo have been fine value for their lead, and Chelsea have been a wobbling mess. Thomas Tuchel doesn’t look at all happy as he goes down the tunnel. Lots of work to do for Chelsea.
45+1 min: A swing and a miss from Aubameyang, the ball having been directed beyond him by Sterling. The rustiness continues for the striker.
44 min: Dinamo on the counter, and it comes to Orsic on the edge of the box, Chilwell blocks it but the home team retain possession and are up in numbers. A fresh air shot from Orsic ends the danger.
42 min: Perhaps a sign Dinamo are trying to see out the half. A glimpse of action as Sterling loops the ball over, and Aubameyang is not exactly at the races. There’s an offside, too.
40 min: Chelsea try to pass their way through and Dinamo drop into shape, solid as a rock. Aubameyang is tackled as the ball comes to him, Peric closing him down with alacrity.
Updated
38 min: Petkovic has a shot blocked when he might have played in old mate Orsic. Mason Mount is telling off his colleagues but he has looked way off it in central midfield.
36 min: Dinamo are passing it around like they are entertaining Istra 1961 or Slaven Belupo at home. And Thomas Tuchel is angrily writing notes about his currently hapless team.
34 min: Chilwell attempts to go on the overlap and then runs into the path of Moharrami. Up the front, Fofana is struggling with Petkovic, a centre-forward of the old style, but with a bit of class.
33 min: Orsic is running Chelsea ragged, and then forces a corner, celebrating with a punch of the air. Dinamo are flowing with confidence. Chelsea look ragged. Kovacic almost gets tackled by Orsic on the edge of the box and then fails to find Mason Mount. All. Over. The. Show.
31 min: It’s actually Dinamo who look the better team, with Kepa asked to make a save from Ademi’s low shot. Fair to say they are dangerous on the break.
Updated
29 min: Orsic, the danger man, finds space, linking up with Petkovic and firing over.
Toni gets in touch: “The empty stand visible on TV, the largest at Maksimir, is not safe following damage in two recent earthquakes, hence no spectators there.”
27 min: Kovacic, the former Dinamo player, hurdles a couple of agricultural challenges, and tries to set up an attack only for the danger to be cleared. Dinamo are really digging in and the referee, István Kovács, from Romania.
25 min: Sterling is crowded out as he cuts in from the left from Moharrami, the Dinamo defender, who is not one to be out-muscled.
23 min: Fofana steps out of defence, he’s got some making up to do, the lad.
21 min: Dinamo are frustrating Chelsea’s players as well as their manager at this stage. The ball continues to be dominated by the visitors but composure is in short supply.
19 min: Chelsea step it up, and Dinamo step back. Some head tennis gets the danger clear as Sterling leaps up to nod it on. Tuchel is still ranting away.
17 min: I am reminded that Orsic scored this goal against West Ham last year. He’s 29, and mostly played in Japan and China but a Champo club would love someone like this.
15 min: Chelsea were so dominant and yet the first time Dinamo run at them they fold like a packet of sandwiches. Poor from them. and Tuchel is raging on the bench, even more so when he watched the replay on an iPad.
Goal! Dinamo Zagreb 1-0 Chelsea (Orsic, 13)
Well well well. Football. Chelsea go to sleep and Orsic runs from his own half after Chelsea lose the ball on the edge of the Dinamo box. Petkovic’s ball is a beauty and Orsic speeds past Fofana, and as Kepa approaches, dabs the ball beyond the goalie. It rolls in. What a goal, what a shock. Oh Chelsea!
Updated
12 min: Chelsea dominant, and might be two up. Their £250m of spending ought to see to that, really. Dinamo seem a little overawed.
10 min: Aubameyang seeing plenty of the ball. A pass finds him galloping through and yet he delays and delays and allows himself to be blocked. The movement is there, the instinct is lacking.
9 min: Havertz skips away, the ball squared across and is begging to be knocked in by Aubameyang who is slow to react. So far, the great man looks rusty.
8 min: Chilwell claims he was baulked in the Dinamo box. Nothing doing. And Dinamo mount an attack that Koulibaly clears the danger from…
6 min: Dinamo get the ball but play it around the back before Reece James, new contract to the good, scuttles in to press. Aubameyang gets his first chance to attack, having been played in by Sterling but cuts back. The offside is quick to be called. Was that the robot? Seemed it. The whistle was rapid. Odd, mind, that Auba cut back to try and pass to Sterling. Time was when he would give that the leather.
4 min: To say Dinamo are sat deep is something of an understatement. Theirs is a back five, with wing-backs detailed to sit back.
3 min: An early attack down the left sees Kai Havertz cutting in from the left, before the ball goes back to Chilwell, in the team ahead of Cucurella. Chelsea are dominating possession already.
1 min: Aubameyang takes the kickoff in his Michael Crawford mask, to protect that jaw of his. The camera view suggests the emptiness of the stadium, though there’s plenty of noise from the home fans.
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And away we go in the Croatian capital, where there’s some portentous music ringing out in the open-plan stadium, and plenty of noise as the players come on. It’s not quite full as we hear the Champions League anthem ring out.
Thomas Tuchel speaks, and firstly on the subject of Kepa being selected ahead of Eduoard Mendy, and then on Aubameyang’s selection. Kepa last played against Luton in March in the FA Cup.
First of all, Kepa deserves to play, we have two goalkeepers who compete at the highest level. Edu was a bit unlucky in his last two games, Edu has some problems, with his patella tendons. It’s a decision for Kepa and we took advantage for this competition. We select him because he deserves it.
[Aubameyang] has speed and work rate. It’s also about numbers. We need deep quality, and Auba is a quality player.
The Dinamo coach, Ante Cacic, is quoted by the BBC:
I don’t feel any pressure, I did my job by reaching the group stage. This is a celebration for us. Big clubs are coming to play us. We have a duty to be ourselves and take our chances.
We are playing a match that we really wanted to play. It’s our reward for winning the title. This is a great pleasure for us and I’m sure that we will all benefit from this competition, players and fans.
We are not the favourites in any game, but in every game we will look for our chance. This is not a knockout game: we have to look forward to it and learn from it.
Get prepared for robots to take over the officiating. Semi-automated offside will be used to speed up decisions.
Ed Aarons called it in his preview.
Asked whether Aubameyang was ready to become Chelsea’s new hero despite being handed the “cursed” No 9 shirt, Tuchel – who coached him for two years at Borussia Dortmund between 2015 and 2017 – added: “Don’t put any further ideas into Auba’s head please. When he scores, he can celebrate. He is hungry to play for us, that is what we felt from the first moment and he is invited to prove a point.”
This is the first Champions League match “Auba” will have played since 2017, what with being at Dortmund, Arsenal and Barcelona.
So, a debut for Aubameyang, though he may not be able to play the whole 90 with his jaw problem. Watching Chelsea with an actual centre forward will be something of a novelty. He will have Kai Havertz and Raheem Sterling in support, with Thomas Tuchel playing his usual three at the back and wing-backs.
The teams
Chelsea: Arrizabalaga, James, Fofana, Azpilicueta, Koulibaly, Chilwell, Kovacic, Mount, Havertz, Sterling, Aubameyang. Subs: Jorginho, Pulisic, Loftus-Cheek, Bettinelli, Chalobah, Mendy, Broja, Zakaria, Ziyech, Gallagher, Chukwuemeka, Cucurella
Dinamo Zagreb: Livakovic, Moharrami, Sutalo, Peric, Ristovski, Ademi, Misic, Ivanusec, Ljubicic, Petkovic, Orsic. Subs: Baturina, Bockaj, Bulat, Drmic, Emreli, Lauritsen, Marin, Nevistic, Spikic, Stefuli, Theophile-Catherine, Zagorac
Preamble
Chelsea’s season so far has been rocky. Thomas Tuchel has not cut the happiest of figures on the sidelines, and most beyond the SW London/Surrey delta would agree they got a tad lucky against West Ham at the weekend. The Champions League, the competition they won just 18 months ago, ought to be provide some respite though Dinamo are no mugs, having got past Shkupi, Ludogorets Razgrad and Bodo/Glimt to be here in the group stage. They also got the better of Spurs back in 2021 in the Europa League, you may recall. And beat Sevilla and West Ham in the same competition last year.
What can Chelsea expect? Possible debuts for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Denis Zakaria may increase the intangibles. After that chaotic transfer window it may take time to see the full nu-Chelsea in full flight.
Kick-off is at 5.45pm BST. Join me.
