Chelsea FC and Atletico Madrid battled to a scoreless draw in the first leg of the Champions League semifinal in Madrid at the Estadio Vicente Calderon. Jose Mourinho came in to the match with a more defensive minded lineup by featuring Frank Lampard, Ramires, John Obi Mikel, and David Luiz in the midfield. Ashley Cole made his first start in three months and put in an excellent defensive performance. The story of the game will be the injuries suffered to two of Chelsea’s stalwarts.
In the 15th minute, Petr Cech stepped up to tip a corner over the bar and was undercut by an Atletico Madrid player that was bundled over by David Luiz. Cech fell awkwardly on his right elbow and he immediately rolled around in some discomfort. He made the gesture right away that he needed to be substituted and he ended up being right. After some attention from the Chelsea physios, Cech was subbed off for Mark Schwarzer and held his shoulder as he walked off.
Schwarzer was partially responsible for Sunderland’s equalizer on the weekend by not securing a shot that he really should have done better with. He was not tested all that often but when he was, Schwarzer stepped up to keep Chelsea in the match. His first real test came in the 33rd when he tipped a long drive from Suarez around the post. It looked as if the shot was going wide all along but Schwarzer did well to get a hand to it anyway.
In the second half, more sparks would fly as the tension and tempers were rising. The 64th minute saw Lampard get booked for a soft challenge that was severely exaggerated in order to persuade the referee to pull his card out and force the Chelsea man to miss the second leg. Just five minutes later from an Atletico Madrid corner, John Terry tweaked his foot and ankle stepping on a teammates foot and suffered an injury. Terry tried to play through the injury but was unable to and was taken off for Andre Schurrle. David Luiz stepped in to defense in place of Terry and Atletico Madrid began to have their best spell of the match.
In the 74th minute there was a real moment of controversy as Frank Lampard stretched to trap a ball with his shoulder/upper arm which was judged to be a handball by the referee. The Atletico Madrid players surrounded the referee rallying for a second yellow for Lampard and a small scuffle broke out. Gabi and John Obi Mikel both received yellow cards for their actions in the scuffle and both will miss the second leg of the tie. The resulting free kick was deflected and Mark Schwarzer did well to get two hands behind the shot and push it around his right post.
Atletico Madrid continued to attack and had several headed chances that they should have done better with but they were easily saved or were well wide. The match continued in that vein as Chelsea soaked up pressure and looked to waste time rather than chase a goal. A 0-0 result is not bad for both sides but keeping a clean sheet for Chelsea with both Cech and Terry being substituted off was a major victory for the Blues. The real test will come next week at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea fans and staff wait for confirmation on the John Terry injury and the severity of Petr Cech’s.
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