Chelsea FC Thrash Maccabi Tel-Aviv: 4 Key Takeaways
4. Set Piece Joys
Three of the Chelsea’s four goals came from set-piece situations, with two coming from corner kicks. This is an area where the Blues have not been too impressive this season, which is surprising considering how strong they have been in that area over the past few seasons.
The issue hasn’t been restricted to opposition teams’ penalty areas either, as Chelsea have also been quite shaky at defending set-pieces this season (goals against West Ham and Dynamo Kyiv immediately coming to mind).
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But on Tuesday, the Blues took advantage of the corner kicks as Cahill scored the first goal after bundling in the rebound from his own header. Then, late in the game, Kurt Zouma, who came on as a late replacement for the injured John Terry, finally sealed the win with another header from Cesc Fabregas’ corner kick (his second of the season and first in Europe), albeit with a massive dose of luck as Rajkovic managed to fumble it into the back of the net.
But the defining moment of the game came from another Willian free-kick special, his 6th in all competitions and 4th in the Champions League, which is starting to border on the ridiculous. This is the second time in the UCL that he has managed to spare the team’s blushes from a direct free-kick, as he scored the winning goal against Dynamo Kyiv.
Willian has taken up the mantle from Hazard to become Chelsea’s star player this season. He has become the Blues’ sole shining light so far and has even taken his exceptional run of form to the national team where he has become second only to Neymar in terms of importance for Brazil.
And the best part: he has managed to do this without shrieking his other responsibilities! He still remains Chelsea’s first line of defence without the ball, always showing the willingness to graft for the team that has made him Mourinho’s favourite player and which has also endeared him to the crowd. Now he has become the team’s undisputed set-piece master. The standing ovation he received from both sets of fans as he stepped off the pitch was just reward for another inspired performance.
Eden Hazard could learn a thing or two from the Brazilian about making sacrifices for the good of the team!
Next: Final Thoughts