ft. ADVANTAGE CHELSEA! 👊#PORCHE pic.twitter.com/q0i0Jyvr25
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) April 7, 2021
And that will be all from me. It looks very much like we will see Real Madrid against Chelsea in the last four of the Champions League, what with Real beating Liverpool 3-1 in their first leg last night. Thanks for reading tonight, well played Chelsea, and see you next time.
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Tuchel talks: “Yeah, the result is excellent, of course. It was a tough match against a strong Porto side, [who are] very hard to play, very good individual skills, a proud club, a proud team, an emotional team ... there were many moments where we suffered, but we accepted it ... in some moments it was a good game, in some moments we suffered and we lacked precision ... but the spirit was good and the result was an excellent result.
“I was pretty sure about that [that they would have a reaction after loss to West Brom] ... So that was not a big concern. We had a big loss, of course, but it was our responsibility and we accepted it, me included, for all of us. We were ready to respond ... there will always be setbacks in sports and in football and it is the biggest challenge to bounce back. We had a lot of wins together and a lot of excellent results. Now we had a loss together and now we have a reaction after a loss together ... it brings us closer together, it increases the trust.
“Yeah I’m very, very happy that he [Mount] scores, it was a very important goal, an away goal that opened up the game for us and calms us a little bit. I’m very happy for Mason ... Mason is always ready to help us with his goals. Well done.
“He [Chilwell] kept the composure, it was very well done. It was super-important to get a second away goal. Chilly forced the mistake, and kept cool ... he’s not a regular scorer but I’m very happy ... it’s half-time and we need to keep on going.”
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Sid Lowe was our man on the scene in Seville. And here’s his match report:
Chelsea visit sunny Selhurst Park to meet Crystal Palace in the Premier League at 5.30pm on Saturday, then will head back to Seville for the second leg of this tie. Four days after that, it’s an FA Cup semi-final against the titans of Manchester City on the Saturday, closely followed by another league game against Brighton the following Tuesday. It’s all go, it really is.
The scorer of the first goal, Mason Mount, speaks to BT Sport: “We knew it was going to be a tough game ... we knew how hard it is to play against them, we didn’t have many chances, but we kept going. We obviously got the goal first-half, and the second late on secured a good win, but that’s only half the tie ... It’s about time it [a Champions League goal] come [for me] ... it’s a good time for it to come.
“It was a good pass by “Jorgy” and I just had a bit of space, so I just hit it after my first touch, and yeah, it went in, so obviously I was very happy with that. It took us in at half-time 1-0 up and in a good position. I’m always working on my finishing ... I don’t think you can work on it enough ... so yeah very happy to score one tonight, but most importantly we got the win. Chilwell showed great composure, to be fair ... very good finish from him, he’ll be buzzing with that.
“We definitely needed a reaction tonight [after the West Brom defeat]. After the game, we put it behind us, and we said we need to improve. We’re getting better and better. That game was something we looked at briefly the next day, and we moved on.
“The job’s not done ... we’ll be ready [for the second leg].”
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Full time! Porto 0-2 Chelsea
A fine night’s work for Thomas Tuchel and Chelsea following that weekend drubbing by Big Sam and West Brom. Two away goals are their reward for a coherent and impressive display all round. Porto had their moments, they played impressively in the first half, when they had no fewer than eight efforts on goal. But Chelsea emerged looking more confident and dynamic after the interval. The introduction of Giroud made a difference and his fellow substitute Pulisic was unfortunate to see a powerful strike cannon back off the crossbar. Azpilicueta looked fortunate to get away with a push in the back of Marega in the second half, which was not checked by the VAR, but Chelsea were mostly comfortable.
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90 min + 2: Christensen fouls Díaz, and Porto have one last chance to get something. It’s whipped in well but Mbemba cannot reach it as he tries to head goalwards.
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90 min: Ciaran Murphy emails: “First thing I thought when Chilly went round the keeper was 2012 and Torres famous goal against Barcelona, forever known as goalgasm due to Gary Neville’s excitable reaction.”
Kovacic goes off.
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85 min: Chilwell sprints down the left - there is a defensive blunder by Porto’s Corona, who tries to control a long pass from Kovacic, but it gets away from him, and in a flash the Chelsea wing-back is bearing down on Marchesín, one-on-one. He coolly clips the ball beyond the goalkeeper, chases on to it, and passes it into the empty net. Porto were very good at times in the first half, but Chelsea have turned the screw in the second half, and they are going to win this ‘away’ leg in convincing fashion.
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Goal! 86 min: Porto 0-2 Chelsea (Chilwell)
Huge! The wing-back doubles Chelsea’s lead with a brilliant run and cool finish.
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84 min: Chelsea’s Pulisic slams a shot against the crossbar! Wonderful work by Giroud and Kovacic in the build-up. Giroud links up play exquisitely, playing a return pass for Kovacic, who has space to run into, and time to pick a pass in behind for Pulisic, who is unlucky to see his shot cannon back off the bar.
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83 min: Three changes for Porto: Francisco Conceição on for Manafá, Martínez for Marega and Vieira for Otávio.
80 min: Pulisic sends a perceptive pass looking for Azpilicueta on a marauding run from defence, on the right. The captain is stretching for it, tries to cross it first-time, and overhits it. Tuchel will be happy to see his side on the front foot, though. Having just come off, Mount slurps a mysterious pink liquid from a plastic bottle, which I am assuming is not a strawberry milkshake awarded as a treat for his goal.
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78 min: Kanté and Silva are coming on for Chelsea as Tuchel seeks to steady things and maintain this 1-0 scoreline. Grujic bodychecks Pulisic in midfield and goes straight in Slavko Vincic’s book. James and Mount off, Kanté and Silva on, no changes for Porto yet but they are now imminent.
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76 min: Into the final 15 minutes. The commentators point out that Giroud has been on for 11 minutes but not touched the ball. Still, if Chelsea keep the scoreline the same for a 1-0 win, it hardly matters.
74 min: PSG have gone 3-2 up, but I’d like to stress again that we are watching the RIGHT match. What a goal that was by Mount, whenever it was, it seems a long time ago now.
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70 min: Sanusi has gone down after a challenge from Azpilicueta, which looked a bit late and naughty on replay. There is no further action aside from a free-kick to Porto, which is fired into the box, and James does well to clear with his head. Now Marega is tackled in the penalty area by the Chelsea captain - it’s a push in the back - but again the referee is not interested! Azpilicueta is sailing extremely close to the wind here, and why didn’t the VAR check that? Sérgio Conceição will want answers when he sees the replay.
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69 min: The Porto forward Marega continues to make a nuisance of himself, trying to run to a ball looped over the top on the left. Rüdiger, however, is alert to the danger and hoicks it clear. Porto come again, from the resulting throw-in, and Marega turns well and hits a low shot which Mendy saves comfortably enough.
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67 min: Mount’s first-half goal via BT Sport Twitter:
Mason Mount with a brilliant maiden #UCL goal 💥
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) April 7, 2021
The pass, the swivel, the finish! 🔥
Superb stuff from Chelsea! pic.twitter.com/gM45SDlczG
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65 min: It’s Bayern 2-2 PSG now. We are definitely watching the right game, though.
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62 min: Giroud and Pulisic are coming on for Chelsea. Mbemba is booked for a foul on Chilwell in the meantime and Chelsea have a free-kick that they can send into the penalty area. James whips the cross in with pace, Azpilicueta is there to meet it at the near post, but he butchers the header and it flies well wide. That should have been 2-0. Werner comes off for Christian Pulisic, with Olivier “Underrated” Giroud on for Havertz.
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59 min: Whoah! Rüdiger belts a shot from 30 yards which Marchesín saves. But the goalie spills the rasping effort in front of him, and Werner does very well to pounce on the loose ball and pass it across the gaping goal. Havertz is there, being put under pressure by a marker, but he gets a shot away towards the open goal ... and it rolls just wide! After all that, it seems Werner was offside anyway.
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56 min: Porto are pressing. They win a corner, but Pepe is penalised for a foul on Mendy after comprehensively winning the header, which Mendy was trying to punch. Seconds later, Díaz buys a yard of space on the edge of the box and cracks a lovely curling shot fractionally wide of the post with Mendy beaten! “Mendy would have had it covered,” says Robbie Savage after a replay, but he’s surely mistaken.
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55 min: “I’ve noticed on corners Azpilicueta has been tasked with marking Pepe, which feels like a slight mismatch,” writes Alex. “It’s a bit like asking your granny to carry the heavy bag of groceries and your 5-year-old to park the car. Anyways, in Tuchel we trust!”
52 min: Now Díaz wants a penalty after some strong defending by the Chelsea captain Azpilicueta. Díaz goes down in a heap after they go shoulder-to-shoulder, but the ref isn’t convinced, and it’s no penalty.
50 min: Marega bursts down the right, catching Rüdiger out of position. He muscles past the defender and is then faced with a tight angle, with Mendy rushing out of his goal. Marega tries to slide the ball low beyond the Chelsea goalie and into the now empty net, but Mendy does well again and makes the save. Moments before that, Havertz pulled off a crafty handball from a high ball, and Mbemba wanted a booking, but the ref wasn’t interested.
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48 min: Rüdiger drills a superb diagonal pass out to James who is hugging the touchline on the right. James controls it instantly and sprints infield, looking to drive into the box, but is penalised for a foul on his marker. Tuchel shakes his head on the sidelines, presumably at the referee’s decision, rather than perceived incompetence by one or more of his players.
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47 min: A fine Chelsea counter sees the getting plenty of bodies into the Porto box. Mount clips a good cross from the right. Werner climbs to meet it at the far post, and sends it over the bar. Was the cross slightly too high or did he mistime his jump? Jury is out.
Second half kick-off!
We’re under way again. No changes for either side.
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Richard Hirst emails: “Porto 33% possession and eight shots, Chelsea 67% possession and one shot! Lies, damned lies and statistics.”
Indeed, Richard. Especially as uefa.com reckons it’s in fact 43% possession for Porto to 57% per cent for Chelsea. Good stats either way.
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Half-time! Porto 0-1 Chelsea
Mason Mount’s first Champions League goal, which was a moment of magic from the England international on 32 minutes, separates the sides. Porto have been very good, and will be frustrated to be behind due to that one flash of inspiration from Mount and Jorginho, whose pass created the chance. Chelsea are ahead, sure, but anyone who was labouring under the misapprehension that Porto was an ‘easy’ draw for Tuchel’s side will be reconsidering.
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45 min: Another corner for Porto. Grujic heads it down, Mendy saves. Half-time.
40 min: Into the last five minutes of the half, with Porto pressing forward in attack. Otávio goes down under a clumsy challenge from Havertz. A set-piece for Porto in a useful advanced position. They pump it into the box, the ball drops to Corona who hits a low, powerful volley from the edge of the area, which is goalbound, but Azpilicueta blocks for a corner by sticking out his left boot. From the resulting corner, a thunderous header by Pepe is flying into the net - but is beaten out by Mendy! From the next corner, it’s a comfortable gather for Mendy from another header, and the danger is clear for Chelsea just for the moment.
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32 min: That’s a very, very good goal by Mount and rather unexpected given the shape of the game so far. Jorginho gets on the ball ‘in the hole’, moves forward and plays an angled right-footed pass to Mount, who takes it quite beautifully, using one touch to control the ball with his left foot, swivelling in one smooth movement and leaving his marker in his wake, before looking up with a clear sight of goal, albeit from an angle. He hits a low shot which arrows into the far bottom corner, swerving away from the goalkeeper Marchesín. Their first shot on target, and first goal for Chelsea. With the impressive way Porto were defending, that seemed to arrive almost from nowhere.
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Goal! 32 min: Porto 0-1 Chelsea (Mount)
There it is!
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30 min: Chelsea have a little bit of front-foot possession, but Porto are defending incredibly solidly and there is no way through. As the ball is moved around the pitch by Chelsea, the Porto backline (which has become a back six for now) moves in perfect unison, adjusting their position accordingly to cut off the angles.
27 min: Reece James tries to catch Porto out with a clever left-footed pass from out on halfway, looking to curl it around the corner into the right channel for Werner. But Werner, as it turns out, is just offside. But that, perhaps concerningly for Chelsea, is the closest they’ve come to opening up this defence, aside from that one early cross from Havertz.
24 min: Porto nearly score straight from a corner! First up they fashion a good opening which leads to the set-piece. Otávio swings it in, and seems to deliberately try and catch out Mendy with a curler aimed under the crossbar. To his credit, the Chelsea goalie is alive to the danger, and pushes the ball away. It’s nodded back into the danger area and Sanusi volleys over! Too close for comfort, for Chelsea.
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23 min: Lee Madden emails: “This Chelsea front three lacks an out and out striker. Mount is a great link up player and Werner is very quick but hardly a natural finisher from what we’ve seen this season. That leaves Havertz who is talented but not delivered for Chelsea yet.... surely Giroud would’ve been the right person to start with? He’s delivered in the Champions League this season, links play well and provides a more direct alternative to Havertz.”
20 min: Porto, in defence, have a flat back five, which becomes a back three when they push up the pitch. They look exceptionally well drilled, almost like they are channelling the spirit of Mourinho’s old Porto side that won the Big Cup back in 03/04. That’s not to say that they are posing no threat in attack, either. They have been the better side so far and Tuchel will be concerned with this.
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16 min: Chelsea grasp a chance to break out from defence. Mount crosses deep for the onrushing James, on the right, but the Porto gloveman Marchesín does well to come off his line and catch the cross before it can reach the Chelsea wing-back.
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14 min: Some excellent crisp passing by Porto around the Chelsea penalty area ends with a chance for Sanusi to cross from the left. He gets it all wrong, and scuffs it out harmlessly for a goal kick, but there was some seriously slick passing in that move by tonight’s ‘home’ side. They weaved their way through the Chelsea back line. There is a close-up shot of Christensen, one of the three Chelsea centre-backs, looking a bit stressed by all the defending they are having to do.
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10 min: Corona finds a yard of space on the Porto left now, and chips a reasonable cross into the danger zone. Mendy, however, is able to claim it comfortably. But Porto then come again on the right - the ball is cut back for Díaz, whose shot is blocked. Then a brilliant volley by Uribe flashes just over the crossbar and kisses the top of the net on its way over! That would have been a spectacular goal, and it was only inches away. Warning signs for Chelsea ...
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8 min: Porto win a free-kick in a promising area on the right wing. But instead of sticking it into the mixer, they somewhat bizarrely choosed to play the dead ball back towards the halfway line, and Chelsea are grateful to be able to push out from their own penalty area. Is that an early indication of the kind of ambition Porto are going to show for getting a result tonight?
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5 min: The early tempo is high, Chelsea are enjoying more of the ball, and zipping it around pretty well. Mount makes progress on the right now, from a pass by Azpilicueta. He is crowded out but he wins a corner. PSG have taken the lead against Bayern.
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2 min: Porto immediately looking to press Chelsea when their opponents have possession. The Chelsea goalkeeper Mendy is half a second away from being charged down by Marega, but clears in time. Havertz then makes a dart on the left, and crosses along the six-yard box, but no one is there to meet his delivery.
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First-half kick-off!
Here we go. Porto playing in blue and white, Chelsea playing in red (pink?) with blue trim.
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The teams are out on the pitch. I’m genuinely intrigued to see what we get tonight. It could be a stultifying, risk-free encounter in which both teams look to next week’s second leg at the same venue. Or will they come out swinging, aiming to achieve a decisive advantage in the ‘first half’ of the tie? We’ll see. Time for the anthem. The Chaaaaaammmmppppions!
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On BT Sport, Gary Lineker is talking about Timo Werner’s struggles since he joined Chelsea: “I never minded missing chances, I only worried when I wasn’t getting chances, then you question your movement ... you miss some, you score some, and it’s important not to let the ones that you miss affect you ... that’s your mental strength, and ultimately ... if you haven’t got that, you’re going to struggle.”
Kick-off is literally less than 20 minutes away.
Tuchel talks to BT Sport: “It’s not a blow at all that Kanté will not start, we have him on the bench, and I’m delighted about that ... tonight is about running, about attacking the box, it’s about being fluid in our attacks, that’s the target for our front three guys ... It’s difficult to create chances against Porto ... and it’s a big task. It’s a team effort to attack, and a team effort to defend ... we went for this lineup with full confidence and full trust.”
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Good to see the Chelsea faithful getting firmly behind Tuchel over on Twitter.
Regardless of whatever Thomas Tuchel is doing, we need to mention Frank secured us against the odds Champions league football last season. Without Frank this campaign would never have been possible. Thank you Frank Lampard. FOREVER LEGEND! LET'S WIN IT FOR HIM 💙👌 pic.twitter.com/0Rn6hePGMq
— Sir Frank Lampard's Chelsea (@ChelsMHL_) April 7, 2021
Harrison Boase kicks off the evening’s emailing in fine style:
“Interesting fact about the weekend result with West Brom. The last time Chelsea conceded five goals at home was in the 2011/12 season. The last time West Brom scored five away from home was the 2011/12 season. Manchester City won the league that year. I think it was Gary Neville who famously said “it’s written in the stars” as Drogba stepped up to the spot to secure our first CL title, maybe he should check his crystal ball?”
Team news
Porto team: Marchesín, Manafá, Mbemba, Pepe, Sanusi, Corona, Grujic, Uribe, Otávio, Marega, Díaz. Subs: Diogo Leite, N’Diaye, Cláudio Ramos, Baró, João Mário, Felipe Anderson, Martínez, Evanilson, Nanu, Sarr, Vieira, Francisco Conceição.
⚽𝕆 ℕ𝕆𝕊𝕊𝕆 𝟙𝟙 𝕀ℕ𝕀ℂ𝕀𝔸𝕃⚽#FCPorto #FCPCFC #UCL pic.twitter.com/L45J1UVWB3
— FC Porto (@FCPorto) April 7, 2021
Chelsea team: Mendy, Azpilicueta (capt.), Christensen, Rüdiger, James, Jorginho, Kovacic, Chilwell, Mount, Havertz, Werner. Subs: Arrizabalaga, Alonso, Thiago Silva, Kanté, Abraham, Pulisic, Caballero, Zouma, Giroud, Hudson-Odoi, Ziyech, Emerson Palmieri.
Referee: Slavko Vincic (Slovenia)
Five changes for Chelsea from the West Brom defeat. Rüdiger and Christensen partner up in central defence and a front three of Havertz, Werner and Mount. It will be interesting to see the extent to which the likes of Chilwell, James and Azpilicueta get forward from defence. Certainly plenty of options on the bench for Tuchel, should he require them.
Chelsea team news is in! 🤝#PORCHE pic.twitter.com/lIdSQjCSSv
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) April 7, 2021
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Tonight’s BT Sport studio dream team: Lineker, Ferdinand, Cole and Hoddle.
“Last night was good. We had goals. That’s all you can ask for these days ... you want goals, excitement,” observes Ferdinand, looking ahead to tonight.
“After that result at the weekend, there are a few little doubts,” chips in Cole of that hammering by West Brom. “It’s the first time we’ve seen any frailties in Tuchel’s Chelsea team. It’s a big night for the club.”
Hoddle: “I expect Chelsea to come out all guns blazing ... the players will be hurt from the weekend ... they showed so much complacency ... tonight, Tuchel’s thinking: ‘I’m going to get a response from these players.’”
“Another draw and a defeat and he’ll be out, won’t he, the way things work at Chelsea?” quips Lineker.
Textbook stuff all round.
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Does anyone here remember when Chelsea won the Champions League back in 2012?
I was at the second leg against Napoli at Stamford Bridge, as Robert Di Matteo’s brave boys fought back from a 3-1 first-leg defeat to make it through. The rest is history.
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The winner of this quarter-final will meet Liverpool or Real Madrid in the last four. Liverpool lost 3-1 in Madrid last night, and can hardly be said to be in form, so it looks like a meeting with Zinedene Zidane’s men is on the cards.
Here is Andy Hunter on last night’s match:
“The focus on unforced errors during the game does not detract from the one that Jürgen Klopp made with his team selection. Naby Keïta over Thiago Alcântara was a bewildering choice from the outset.”
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Will the fact that next week’s second leg is also here in Seville affect tonight, tactics-wise? You’d rather think so. Tuchel and Chelsea will not benefit from home advantage next week, so surely it wouldn’t make much sense to sit back and aim for a draw this evening.
What do you reckon, Chelsea fans? Feel free to drop me a line on email or tweet @LukeMcLaughlin with your thoughts.
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Chelsea have already recorded a thumping win at tonight’s venue - the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium - in this season’s Champions League. Olivier Giroud, everyone’s favourite underrated striker (to the point that he’s actually not underrated), knocked in a four goals back in December when they hammered Sevilla:
I’ll bring you tonight’s teams as soon as they’re released. What we do know is that Porto will be without their captain and top-scorer Sérgio Oliveira as well as forward Mehdi Taremi, who are both suspended.
Chelsea have some good news on the fitness front: N’Golo Kanté is back in the squad after missing the West Brom defeat, although is not widely expected to start. Christian Pulisic is also available after coming off at half-time on Saturday with a hamstring niggle. Last but not least, Tammy Abraham is also fit enough to be included in the squad, but again, is not expected to start.
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Porto’s manager, Sérgio Conceição, also had an unseemly incident to deal with recently - although in his case it was a set-to involving himself and the Portimonense manager Paulo Sérgio.
“The pressure or the emotion of a game doesn’t justify my behaviour or Paulo’s,” Conceição said. “It was ugly.”
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Tuchel’s in-tray this week included dealing with headlines that revealed a training-ground flare-up between the defender Antonio Rüdiger and goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga, which the coach insisted was ‘serious’, while simultaneously praising the players for dealing with it among themselves and making friends again. Better to see some passion on the training pitch, you would have thought, than a group of players happy to quietly trouser their inflated salaries regardless?
Preamble
All good things come to an end: even Thomas Tuchel’s opening unbeaten run at Chelsea. He took over in late January and embarked on a 14-match streak without defeat, conceding two goals along the way, so no one expected a capitulation quite as complete as Saturday’s 5-2 shellacking by relegation battlers West Brom. Big Sam Allardyce decisively terminated any remaining hint of new-manager-bounce for Chelsea’s gegenpressing, orange-spritzer-sipping, former Paris Saint-Germain coach Tuchel, and the truth is the Baggies were on top before Thiago Silva’s first-half dismissal appeared to open the floodgates.
Tuchel and Chelsea have been knocked down, then, but the question is, how quickly will they get up again? Management can look easy when you’re winning - or certainly easier - so apart from anything else, tonight’s Champions League quarter-final first leg against Porto in Seville will be a fascinating test of Tuchel’s ability. The evidence of the past couple of months suggests he knows what he’s doing, but it is also hard to escape the suspicion there are some, perhaps even among Chelsea’s own supporters, who were waiting for this gangling Bavarian uber-nerd (© Barney Ronay) to be taught a thing or two about English football.
They got their wish thanks to Big Sam, but tonight should be rather more up Tuchel-strasse: it seems bound to be a cautiously tactical affair against Porto, with neither side wanting to cede the initiative before next Tuesday’s second leg. (Which, by the way, will also be played at Seville’s Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán stadium.) Tuchel is realistic about the expectations placed on him by Roman Abramovich: qualification for next season’s Champions League is naturally a pre-requisite. And, well, winning this season’s edition would hardly hurt, would it? But Porto knocked out Juventus in the last round, so this isn’t going to be easy. A positive result, and the banishment of those Baggies-induced nightmares from Saturday is what Chelsea require. Pre-match reading, team news and more coming up.
Kick-off: 8pm BST.
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