Chelsea took home the three points and with it a crucial away goal as Olivier Giroud’s beautiful bicycle kick ensured that the Blues stay in the driving seat, securing a 1-0 win over La Liga leaders Atletico Madrid in their Round-of-16 tie. From an entertainment standpoint, this wasn’t the best game ever, but it had its moments, more for Chelsea than for Atletico. The Blues kept the ball in their hands for the majority of the game, and through their excellent counter-press they won it back when they lost it. There were some low-points from this game, but rest assured, Chelsea fans: The win and the clean sheet are the two things that matter most in the first leg away from home, and Chelsea got both.
So, what all stood out from this game?
1. All Olivier Giroud needs is one touch
Olivier Giroud is something else. This guy can change the game on his own even if he’s having the worst game. Well, it wasn’t the worst game at all from Giroud, but he wasn’t seeing the ball that often. Whenever someone from deep played a long ball towards him, he had trouble winning the aerial duels against the likes of Felipe, Hermoso, etc. He did win a bunch of them, but Atletico did a very good job of making sure that he doesn’t see the ball all that much. When he was inside the box, there were so many crosses that came towards him but either they were overhit, or they were cleared by an Atleti defender. It was looking as if it’ll be a tough night for Giroud. Until, until that one moment. That one moment where he thought that he should take matters into his own hands.
He was standing with his back to the goal, just behind the defensive line in an offside position. Mario Hermoso flicked the ball in the air towards his own goal, and Giroud was thinking, “Alright, this is going in”. You already know what happened next — the French striker latched onto the ball, and hit a beautiful bicycle kick and scored the goal for Chelsea. This proves that the man doesn’t need a few things to go his way so that he can gain some confidence and have a good game. All he needs is one touch — one moment of brilliance. Wow.
2. A bunch of imperfections
There were a few things that worried me from the performance. Those didn’t necessarily have an impact on the outcome of the game, but they were worth noting. One was that at the start of each half — the first ten minutes of both halves were very problematic for the Chelsea defense. The defenders struggled to deal with Atletico’s high press, little as that may have happened, but it did. And it resulted in quite a few ball losses, especially in the first few minutes of the first half. Atletico pressed really, really well, though it was so sporadic, because of which Chelsea had most of the possession. Now, here’s the problem: Because Atletico is trailing in the tie, they will obviously up the tempo in the next leg. They’ll be more aggressive, more offensive, and even more efficient with their press. Tuchel needs to address this issue because it is crucial for Chelsea’s advancement.
Also, because of the pressing, goalkeeper Edouard Mendy probably had one of the toughest games in a Chelsea shirt. It wasn’t even because of the shots that he might’ve faced. It was just that he was clumsy in possession, and Suarez, Correa and Felix were always there to press him whenever he got the ball. One of such mistakes almost cost Chelsea a goal at the very start. Even in the second half, whenever he was pressed, he tried to pass the ball into the flanks but because the passes were overhit, the ball went out for an Atleti throw-in. It was a tough game for him, but he’d be happy to see out the game without having the ball end up in the back of his net.
Speaking of overhit passes, Chelsea, in general, had quite a few of those. Jorginho, Mason Mount, Azpilicueta, all tried out great passes to slice open the rigid Atleti defense, but so many of those passes were overhit, so they lost possession because of that. The idea was right, of course, but the execution was lacking heavily sometimes. There were some points where they looked absolutely brilliant, which we’ll get to, but this was one problem that was prevalent throughout the game for the Blues.
The biggest challenge for Tuchel’s Chelsea yet — and they succeeded
This performance wasn’t really pleasing to the eyes because of the way Atletico played. But tactically speaking, Tuchel’s game plan was near-perfect. His substitutions were perfect. The counter-press was excellent. We saw Chelsea lose possession and win it back in five seconds so many times because the players were willing to cover ground at the time of losing the ball. The execution wasn’t ‘near-perfect’ as I explained in the previous point, but Tuchel completely outsmarted Simeone in the first leg. He subbed on Kante because A) they needed some sort of energy and B) they needed someone to fight for every ball because Atletico dialed up the intensity and had the ball for comparatively longer after they conceded. They needed a ball-winner in place of a tired soldier, and they got it. Kovacic had a great game, and he ran a lot and was rightfully given the rest.
Callum Hudson-Odoi was subbed off for Reece James because the Englishman had proved his point. He did what he was asked to do. He pressed pretty well, and his body language was correct! Reece James came on for him because they needed fresh legs and a two-way fullback to help in defense and offense, now that they had a win to secure. Even though we saw Tuchel scream at his own players, generally speaking, he’d be proud of the performance and be glad to see that his game plan worked. Tuchel is well and truly a brilliant tactician. He needs to deal with a few problems for the second leg, but I’m sure he’ll deal with them just fine.
What lessons did you learn in this one? Let us know in the comments and on Twitter!