Tuesday April 13th 2021
CL semi-finals for the first time since 2014
Chelsea defend and lose successfully
Not much is offensive for Chelsea in the quarter-final second leg of the Champions League. But that’s enough to go one round. The success from the first leg and an almost perfect defensive performance are enough for Thomas Tuchel’s team for the first semi-final since 2014.
A solid defensive performance until shortly before the final whistle was enough for Chelsea under coach Thomas Tuchel to advance to the semi-finals of the Champions League. The top club from the English Premier League managed to return to the top four in Europe for the first time since 2014 with a 0: 1 (0: 0) in the second leg against FC Porto. Chelsea won the first leg 2-0 last week, the overhead kick Goal by Mehdi Taremi in stoppage time caused tremors in the Chelsea camp for only a few seconds.
For the team around the national players Kai Havertz, Antonio Rüdiger and the attacker Timo Werner, who was not used on Tuesday, it is now either against Liverpool or Real Madrid in the semifinals. Havertz and Rüdiger played in Seville from the start. Due to corona-related travel restrictions, the game did not take place at Stamford Bridge in London, but again in the stadium in Spain.
Accompanied by the loud twittering of birds, the Portuguese, who were under pressure to score two goals, took the initiative from the start, but hardly had any clear opportunities. At the latest in his own penalty area, the defensive around Rüdiger, who played in the back three on the left, cleared all efforts. Only in stoppage time was Taremi able to take advantage of a carelessness with his beautiful overhead kick (90 + 4 minutes).
On the offensive, Chelsea itself remained largely harmless. After 27 minutes there was a good ball win in midfield, but Havertz could not take advantage of the superiority situation around the penalty area. Former Dortmund’s Christian Pulisic missed the clearest chance for Chelsea to make it 1-0 when he was unable to process a pass in the six-yard box (54th minute). Substitute Taremi came to the end on the other side, but his header from standing was no real threat.
As the game progressed, Chelsea refrained from their own actions and was apparently only concerned with defending the lead from the first leg. The Portuguese had missed a lot of opportunities, while the Premier League club was very efficient thanks to the goals from Mason Mount and Ben Chilwell. That was enough and the nice winning goal Taremis had no effect.
With his German professional trio, Tuchel still has the chance of two titles in his first season in England. The FA Cup will face Manchester City in the semi-finals on Saturday.
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